WMCCE is creating a Thematic Club known as the West Midlands Sustainable Built Environment Forum. The Forum will draw in practitioners from public and private sectors, academics and policy makers from within the West Midlands Region. It is expected to be in place by early 2010.
Within the West Midlands Climate Change Action Plan (WMRA 2007), six regional climate change priorities have been identified to guide early action and enable the Region to move towards a well adapted, low-carbon future. Each of these priorities is supported by a number of regional actions, which are outlined on the following pages. The climate change priorities for action are as follows:
Planning and Environment:Plan for low carbon, well-adapted sustainable communities with high quality green infrastructure and thriving biodiversity, with low-carbon new development, improved existing stock, and sustainable transport and waste planning to deliver substantially reduced emissions and resilience to likely climate change impacts. | Leadership:Ensure that regional partners lead by example by significantly reducing carbon emissions from their own premises, activities and services and by ensuring that their assets and services are resilient to likely climate change impacts. |
Economy:Facilitate the transition to a low-carbon economy by promoting energy efficiency and low-carbon energy generation, increasing take-up of lowcarbon technologies, removing barriers to new technology investment, supporting the development of environmental technology and low-carbon business sectors, and enabling businesses to prepare for the opportunities and risks of a changing climate. | Communication:Increase awareness and understanding of the implications of Climate Change and appropriate mitigation and adaptation actions for the West Midlands amongst regional policymakers, public sector organisations and businesses. |
Implementation:Ensure the delivery of substantial carbon reductions and climate change adaptation measures by removing barriers and providing appropriate support and ncentives for regional, subregional and local delivery agents. | Targets and monitoring:Where there are gaps in national monitoring or where Regional accountability is required for progress, establish appropriate regional carbon reduction targets and adaptation goals, and a robust and transparent framework for monitoring and reviewing progress. |
Under the Planning and Environment section of the detailed action plan, action P2 states:
"Raise design and environmental standards for new build funded by regional partners’ capital investment programmes, in order to improve the quality of the built environment through the roll-out of the West Midlands Sustainability Checklist for developments, and other measures."
This provides the starting point for the West Midlands Sustainable Built Environment Forum, but the forum will not be limited to just new build.
The aims of the forum are broadly:
Those interested in becoming involved in the West Midlands Sustainable Built Environment Forum should contact WMCCE and speak to either Michael Thompson or Phil Wilson - tel: 0121 688 4050.
