‘This moment gives us a much greater chance to be radical and to do things differently’, said the Prime Minister with typical understatement in his Dudley speech at the end of June. ‘To build back better, build back greener, build back faster.’

Who could possibly disagree with that? Nobody, which is probably why the phrase was drafted like that. It means all things to all people, but the creative ambiguity, nee intellectual incoherence, is illustrated by the catchy ‘Jet Zero’ reference in that Dudley speech and lofty ambitions for the world’s first zero emission long haul passenger plane. The short-term priority is to try to save jobs and livelihoods, but that means restoring high-carbon sectors such as aviation.

The reduction of net emissions of greenhouse gases to zero by 2050 became law in the UK in June 2019. As the Committee on Climate Change recently noted though, whilst “initial steps towards a net-zero policy package have been taken this was not the year of policy progress that the Committee called for.”

The pandemic is a chance to reset the economy and to bring together the seemingly dichotomous nature of greener versus faster, but what would ‘building back better’, if it isn’t just vacuous sloganeering, mean for planning.

Sam Stafford puts this question to Hugh Ellis, Director of Policy at the TCPA; Jon Lovell, co-founder of Hillbreak (@Lovell_Jon); and Claire Petricca-Riding, Partner & National Head of Planning and Environmental Law at Irwin Mitchell (@PetriccaRiding).

Some accompanying reading:

'The sustainable, responsible and impact investment landscape', by Caroline McGill at Hillbreak

https://www.hillbreak.com/impact-finance-part-i/

The Future Homes Standard: changes to Part L and Part F of the Building Regulations for new dwellings

https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/the-future-homes-standard-changes-to-part-l-and-part-f-of-the-building-regulations-for-new-dwellings

The TCPA responds to the Prime Minister’s ‘Build, build, build’ announcements

https://www.tcpa.org.uk/news/press-release-the-tcpa-responds-to-prime-ministers-build-build-build-announcements

Reducing UK emissions: 2020 Progress Report to Parliament

https://www.theccc.org.uk/publication/reducing-uk-emissions-2020-progress-report-to-parliament/

Some accompanying listening.

Big Jet Plane by Primal Scream

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tMpY-vjLjTM