Sustainability and the Planning System - What should the priorities be?

The UK’s planning system is built with good intentions; to ensure good development happens in the right place, balancing economic, social, and environmental needs. It works to protect important assets like historic buildings, green spaces, and the unique character of villages and towns. While this is an ambitious and important task, we can’t help but wonder: is the planning system always prioritising the right things?

The Wapan Houses Eco Community in Bristol’s green belt aims to create a small, net-zero community focused around a beautiful, biodiverse, productive garden. The 16th-century farmhouse on-site is undergoing a deep retrofit using healthy, natural materials such as hempcrete and wood fibre. Two new houses are being built to Passivhaus standards, also using natural and reclaimed materials to ensure minimal environmental impact.

The project is currently underway, with exciting groundworks taking shape. But, as with any green belt development, there have been strict planning regulations to navigate. The green belt and the context of the nearby village meant that any new houses had to have zero visual impact on the ‘openness of the green belt’ and no effect on the ‘character of the village’. Essentially, the new homes had to be invisible.

To achieve this, the houses have been sunk into the hillside, so they cannot be seen from the village or public footpaths. While this was a necessary solution to meet planning requirements, and is certainly going to result in a beautiful place for the community to live, standing on-site today, it’s hard not to feel that the large holes and mounds of earth, along with concrete (albeit, low-carbon) used in the retaining walls, feel at odds with the project’s net-zero, biodiverse vision.

An earlier design iteration had the houses located behind the farmhouse on level ground in a semi-detached form. This design would have caused far less disruption to the land, with a much lower embodied carbon and a more energy-efficient form.  Yet, the planning department deemed that this approach would negatively impact the openness of the green belt. It’s difficult to see how these modest homes, forming part of the village cluster of buildings, could have negatively impacted anyone’s experience of the greenbelt. Do you think the planning department has the right priorities?

As we push forward with this project, we remain committed to our belief that the world needs more housing like the Wapan Houses, which are innovative, sustainable, and in harmony with nature. It’s time for the planning system to evolve, reflecting a more progressive, environmentally conscious future.

Credit: Rob Brimley and Sarah Price Landscapes