Written question asked by Derek Wyatt (Labour) on Friday, 19 February 2010, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Wednesday, 24 February 2010. It was answered by John Healey (Labour) on Thursday, 25 February 2010 on behalf of the Department for Communities and Local Government.

Sustainable Development

Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what criteria have been established for the creation of carbon-efficient towns and cities.

Answer: Towns and cities can play a big role in tackling climate change. Many local authorities in towns and cities have set themselves targets to reduce emissions in response to National Indicator 186. We have set out our expectation of how planning authorities in towns and cities can plan new development to ensure carbon emissions are reduced in our Climate Change Planning Policy Statement (PPS) and we will shortly be consulting on a revision to the PPS. As part of the Eco-towns Programme we have set out sustainability standards for eco towns in our eco towns PPS. These include the requirement that the developments as a whole must be zero-carbon. We are working with nine groups of local authorities and individual local authorities to pilot the concept of local carbon frameworks, a new approach for local authorities to set themselves ambitious targets and plans for reducing carbon emissions.

Secondary information