Policy information sourced from the Hillingdon Local Plan: Part 1

EM1: Climate Change Adaptation and Mitigation

The Council will ensure that climate change mitigation is addressed at every stage of the development process by:

  • Prioritising higher density development in urban and town centres that are well served by sustainable forms of transport.
  • Promoting a modal shift away from private car use and requiring new development to include innovative initiatives to reduce car dependency.
  • Ensuring development meets the highest possible design standards whilst still retaining competitiveness within the market.
  • Working with developers of major schemes to identify the opportunities to help provide efficiency initiatives that can benefit the existing building stock.
  • Promoting the use of decentralised energy within large scale development whilst improving local air quality levels.
  • Targeting areas with high carbon emissions for additional reductions through low carbon strategies. These strategies will also have an objective to minimise other pollutants that impact on local air quality. Targeting areas of poor air quality for additional emissions reductions.
  • Encouraging sustainable techniques to land remediation to reduce the need to transport waste to landfill. In particular developers should consider bioremediation(39) as part of their proposals.
  • Encouraging the installation of renewable energy for all new development in meeting the carbon reduction targets savings set out in the London Plan. Identify opportunities for new sources of electricity generation including anaerobic digestion, hydroelectricty and a greater use of waste as a resource.
  • Promoting new development to contribute to the upgrading of existing housing stock where appropriate.

The Borough will ensure that climate change adaptation is addressed at every stage of the development process by:

  • Locating and designing development to minimise the probability and impacts of flooding.
  • Requiring major development proposals to consider the whole water cycle impact which includes flood risk management, foul and surface water drainage and water consumption.
  • Giving preference to development of previously developed land to avoid the loss of further green areas.
  • Promoting the use of living walls and roofs, alongside sustainable forms of drainage to manage surface water run-off and increase the amount of carbon sinks.
  • Promoting the inclusion of passive design measures to reduce the impacts of urban heat effects.

For more information please see the Local Plan: Part 1