Policy H6 - Heritage and Energy Efficiency Retrofit

Justification:

The Hoe Neighbourhood Area community supports Plymouth City Council's declaration of climate emergency and associated Climate Emergency Action Plan as well as Plymouth and South West Devon Joint Local Plan Policy DEV32 that aim to deliver a low carbon future and to halve 2005 levels of carbon emissions by 2034.

The Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) Act 1990 protects buildings within the Hoe and Barbican Conservation Areas from the impacts of development. The Plymouth and South West Devon Joint Local Plan Policy DEV21 requires the conservation of the historic environment and Policy DEV22 also requires that proposals sustain local character and distinctiveness and also conserve and enhance the historic environment, heritage assets and their settings.

Plymouth Plan Policy GRO7 seeks to encourage the uptake of retrofit insulation and renewable/low-carbon energy generation equipment and infrastructure to existing buildings and to promote other energy demand reduction measures.

The Hoe Neighbourhood Development Plan recognises that changes are required to both new development and existing buildings to achieve the aim of reducing carbon emissions and mitigating and adapting to the impacts of climate change and that particular sensitivity is required to improve the energy performance of listed buildings and properties in the Conservation Areas.

The Plymouth Hoe Design Guide provides support and guidance for how energy-efficient technologies can be incorporated within existing buildings. These may include a variety of technologies to achieve high energy performance. However, the Hoe has many sensitive heritage assets across two Conservation Areas, including dozens of listed buildings and non-designated heritage assets. It is sensible to encourage energy-efficiency measures whilst ensuring that retrofitting of historic buildings is done sensitively. The Plymouth Hoe Design Guide sets out that the redevelopment or restoration of buildings of architectural merit should ensure they retain their strong sense of place. It also adds that 'Proposals to alter existing buildings should demonstrate a detailed understanding of the history and design qualities and provide a clear rationale for how this is taken account of in the design of the alterations proposed.' To achieve this, the redevelopment of historic buildings should be completed to a high standard to preserve and enhance heritage assets.

This policy adds value to the Plymouth and South West Devon Joint Local Plan and the Plymouth Plan adding detail the heritage and energy retrofit policies.

Intent:

Policy H6 seeks to support mitigation and adaptation to climate change whilst protecting heritage assets from the impact of energy efficiency retrofit.

Key Evidence Sources:

• The Hoe Conservation Area Appraisal and Management Plan
• Barbican Conservational Area Appraisal and Management Plan
• Hoe Neighbourhood Area Local Heritage List
• Plymouth and South West Devon Joint Local Plan Policies DEV21 and DEV22
• Plymouth and South West Devon Joint Local Plan Heritage Impact Assessment
• Plymouth Plan Policy GRO7
• Plymouth Climate Emergency Action Plan
• Plymouth Hoe Design Guide