Diane Neville, Senior Planning Policy Officer from Lancaster City Council talked about their current Local Plan Review to address the climate emergency.

Diane works as a Principal Planning Policy Officer at Lancaster City Council within the Planning Policy and Housing Strategy team.  She is a chartered member of the RTPI and has been working as a town planner for over 15 years in both Policy and Development Management.  Diane has experience of working in both urban and rural areas, having worked in Blackburn with Darwen, Ribble Valley and Lancaster.  She has a BSc (Hons) degree in Geography from Lancaster University, and two Master’s Degrees; an MA in Urban Regeneration and Development from the University of Manchester and an MA in Town and Regional Planning from Leeds Metropolitan University.  Diane is the Climate Change Policy Hub team leader and is currently leading on the review of Lancaster’s Local Plan, which is being updated to reflect the declaration of a climate emergency by Lancaster City Council. .

Dan Stone MaTP MRTPI Project Manager, Low Carbon Neighbourhood Planning Programme www.cse.org.uk/neighbourhoodplanning talked about Local & Neighbourhood Plans and their contribution to addressing the climate emergency. See his article “Are local plans planning for the zero-carbon future we need?”

On 29 July 2020 Lancaster City Council formally adopted its Local Plan: Strategic Policies and Land Allocations DPD and Review of the Development Management DPD. This document shapes the future of the Lancaster district up until 2031, and plans for more housing, new employment, open spaces, shops and community facilities, all of which are necessary to create places in which people want to live, work and do business.   

On 30 January 2019, the council declared a climate emergency. Whilst the newly adopted Local Plan does seek to address climate change, it was too far advanced in the plan preparation process to incorporate some of the actions and directions of the climate emergency declaration. We are therefore entering into an immediate Local Plan review to ensure that the aspects of this important agenda are adequately considered and include the necessary mitigation and adaption measures necessary to address the climate emergency.