[Committee] Representation received. ID:944

[Cambridge City Council]

Thank you for using our LDF online system to submit your representation,
which we recieved as follows:

Representation Number: 944
Document: Sustainable Design and Construction SPD
Section: 3. The Sustainable Design & Construction Checklist, 3.1 The
Checklist
Support/Object: Comment

Avoiding the need for air-conditioning in the future (when it will be
warmer) is an excellent proposal provided it is taken seriously. It would
involve introducing some of the features of the PassivHaus. These items are
important. However the option “preferred” is an invitation to developer to
disregard if it becomes costly or difficult.  There should be an estimate
of the amount of additional CO2 which will be emitted to cool the houses
down by e.g. 5 or 10 degs.Celsius.

The risks of increase of storms are hard to predict but they are could be
quite serious. It may be hard for the developer to adapt to this risk but
it should be essential to consider it seriously. (This has not been done
e.g for the Clay Farm application)

The section on energy is unsatisfactory and more or less out of date (see
later comments as well). The 10% and all its consequences could lead to
Cambridge being a local hot spot in carbon dioxide release. It goes against
the more serious government targets such as a 60% reduction of CO2
emissions by 2060 (note that this these developmenst will all ADD to the
CO2 even if they are improved); it also hinders the achievement of the 
government target of 10 gw of combined heat and power by 2010. Why not
redraft this section to try to make Cambridge set a good example like
Southampton or perhaps London? It also goes against the document
“Sustainable Practice in Cambridgeshire”  which asserts that "environmental
sustainability is built in from the start.” 
para.2 page 2. 

 


SUMMARY

Preferred is not good enough for dealing with climate change nor is 10%.
The Mertgon rules stand in the way of progress and shou.ld be replaced by a
more modern approach. 



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