London Borough of Hackney has just launched their BAP. the BAP acknowledges the importance of green scapes for both biodiversity and human health.

Ecosulis’s has been appointed by the University of Cambridge’s Sustainability Leader programme to produce a casestudy into the externalities of corn production. The valuation of externalities is important to understand how sustainable an activity is when non monetised aspects are included.

Last week Ecosulis has received notification from the Ministry of Defence that we had been successful in our bid to be a participating consultant/contractor in a three year framework agreement.

It is hugely impressive that the Scottish government is currently on target to meet their goal of generating the equivalent of 100% of electricity demand from renewables by 2020. In contrast it is harder to identify how the coalition has supported the sector so that England can meet its 2020 obligations.

The Localism Act 2011 has modified what is required in terms of public consultation in support of planning applications. We consider how carefully-planned communication campaigns can enhance public/developer relations, reduce objections and increase the likelihood of permission being granted.

Consultation on the NPPF finished on 17 October 2011. There has been a high rate of response, of about 14,000 responses and the debate has certainly polarised opinion! The Planning Inspectorate initially stated that the draft NPPF was a material consideration and “gives a clear indication of the Government’s `direction of travel’ in planning policy”. They withdrew that statement in September, and their guidance now states “It is a consultation document and, therefore, subject to potential amendment. It is capable of being a material consideration, although the weight to be given to it will be a matter for the decision maker in each particular case. The current Planning Policy Statements, Guidance notes and Circulars remain in place until cancelled.”

In the second unscheduled change this year feed in tariff rates for solar PV have been cut. The government argues the subsidises were over generous. The reality of the situation is that one of the few technologies the public seem willing to adopt will no longer be financially attractive, substantial job losses are likely and the changes will reduce investor confidence in emerging subsidy regimes.

Further to our recent blog on localism and comunity rebewables we write further on the broader process of developing a project.

The 2011 EIA Regulations consolidate previous Regulations from 24 August 2011 applications will only need to refer to this one set of Regulations for planning related EIA in England. What are the other key changes?

Will the localism bill enable community renewable energy project - potentially!