Building with Nature "Excellent" accreditation for West Dunbartonshire Council’s Local Development Plan 2

West Dunbartonshire Council’s Local Development Plan 2 was the first strategic policy document to use the Building with Nature Standards to bring forward local plan policies which put high-quality green infrastructure at the heart of policy making and development strategy. The draft plan was Accredited with ‘candidate’ status in 2018, and the Building with Nature Accreditation was confirmed in 2020 after being passed by the Reporter, making WDC’s LDP2 the first policy document in the UK to achieve the Building with Nature Accreditation at Excellent level; meaning LDP2 represents an exemplar in policy making with regards policy commitment and clear policy requirements for high-quality green infrastructure through the planning and development process.

 There are many strengths to the Plan, not least an evidenced commitment to address the economic, social and environmental challenges within the plan area by integrating the characteristics of high-quality placemaking, and provision for place keeping, encompassed by the Standards framework to secure benefits for people and wildlife, and create clear policies to tackle the climate emergency.

 For example, the effects of climate change are well documented, recognising that building new homes and employment infrastructure will result in increased carbon emissions. However, and it is clear that the Local Development Plan 2 has identified practical ways to address the causes (mitigation) of climate change, and deal with its effects (adaptation). As such, an understanding of the importance of meeting the present and future challenges of climate change act as a driver of more sustainable development in all aspects of the plan.

 Antony McGuinness, Team Leader and principal author of the plan, offered this perspective:

 “West Dunbartonshire Council seeks to push the quality of design within our area to the highest possible standards. When preparing Local Development Plan 2, I was clear that I wanted it to be based on creating places for people and that it leads to creating new communities whilst strengthening existing communities through place. The Building with Nature approach resonated with those ideals I had set for the Plan after I heard a presentation from Dr Gemma Jerome on it. The approach neatly fitted with my green infrastructure first approach to design for the Plan. Working with Max Hislop and Alistair Corbett of the Glasgow and Clyde Valley Green Network Partnership we adapted the principles of the Building with Nature approach to fit with a development planning context. This involved developing the principle policy, which embeds the Building with Nature Standards within a single policy that all development must accord with. I also applied the standards throughout the Plan to our place-based policies on our major regeneration sites through to policies, such as our air, noise and light pollution policy, to demonstrate that green infrastructure can help to strengthen different policy approach’s. By being the first development plan in the UK to be accredited with the Candidate and them the Excellence accrediation demonstrates that development plans and strategic policies documents can set the scene early on for a green infrastructure first approach to development and one that creates quality places and spaces in tandem with nature.”

Building with Nature is committed to supporting local planning authorities across the UK to bring forward more effective policy documents to better define the level of quality they are looking for from applications for development in their plan area. By requiring a commitment to high-quality, sustainable and climate-resilient development, local authority planning teams can define ‘what good looks like’, which in turn helps to create more of a level playing field for developers and housebuilders. LDP2 has clear ambitions of how to deliver new development within a green network, and by setting out a framework of principles around high-quality development, Building with Nature Standards have helped to shape an exemplar policy document which serves to deliver better places for people, reduce the cost burden to the developer, and secure the quality of the natural environment for existing communities’ benefit and protect natural assets for future generations.