Climate Change and the Natural Environment

The Camden Local Plan sets out the Council’s planning policy approach to:

• Tackling climate change;
• Promoting water efficiency;
• Reducing flood risk;
• Improving air quality; and 
• Reducing waste in the borough. 

Since the Plan was adopted in 2017 the Council has declared a climate and ecological emergency and published the Camden Climate Action Plan, with the aim of achieving net zero carbon in Camden by 2030. 

The Council’s new corporate strategy ‘We Make Camden’ emphasises the need to adapt to meet the climate challenge that faces us, work to address the causes of the climate emergency and work toward becoming a net-zero Camden, while ensuring that we are supporting and protecting the most vulnerable to the impacts of climate change, in our borough.

The Local Plan is a key mechanism for delivering the Council’s climate ambitions. Given this, as part of the Local Plan review, we are keen to explore how our policies could go further, particularly in relation to minimising carbon emissions, promoting a ‘circular economy’ that focuses on reusing, recycling and repairing, encouraging the retrofit of existing buildings over demolition, weighing the balance between the delivery of climate change measures and heritage conservation, and maximising the use of renewable energy.

We have previously asked you to suggest ideas of how we can promote energy efficiency, climate adaptation and resource efficiency, as part of the consultation on the draft Site Allocation Local Plan earlier in 2022. These comments can be viewed online and will be considered along with those made here, to inform our future planning policy approach. 

Once you have completed the questions below, click the next button at the bottom of the page, to view and comment on the natural environment section.

The Camden Local Plan sets out the Council’s planning policy approach to:

• The protection and provision of open space; 
• Play, sport and recreation provision; and 
• The protection, enhancement and management of biodiversity

Recent years have shown the important role that access to open space and nature can play in improving physical and mental health, wellbeing, and happiness. There is also greater emphasis now on the role that trees, plants and greenery can play in keeping our air clean, tackling surface water flooding, cooling our neighbourhoods and helping to tackle the climate emergency.

To promote biodiversity across the UK, the government has introduced the Environment Act 2021, which requires all development sites to deliver a net gain in biodiversity and this will come into force in late 2023. Furthermore, the Council have also published Camden’s first Biodiversity Strategy ‘Making space for nature in Camden’ 2022, which sets out a vision for how we will make Camden a place where nature thrives. 

As part of the Local Plan review, we are looking at our current planning policy approach to open space and biodiversity and are keen to hear your views on this, to help shape our policy approach in the future.

Once you have completed the questions below, click the next button at the bottom of the page, to view and comment on the next section.