Climate Change Act – Section 72: fourteenth annual report

2. Legislation

2.1 Section 72 of the Climate Change (Scotland) Act 2009^[1] (‘the 2009 Act’), which came into force on 1 April 2010, introduced Section 3F into the Town and Country Planning (Scotland) Act 1997^[2] (‘the 1997 Act’). This report will refer to Section 3F. Section 3F requires that:

‘A planning authority, in any local development plan prepared by them, must include policies requiring all developments in the local development plan area to be designed so as to ensure that all new buildings avoid a specified and rising proportion of the projected greenhouse gas emissions from their use, calculated on the basis of the approved design and plans for the specific development, through the installation and operation of low and zero-carbon generating technologies.’

2.2 Scottish Ministers are required by Section 73(1) and (2) of the 2009 Act to report annually to the Scottish Parliament on:

• the operation of the requirement on relevant planning authorities to include policies within development plans;
• an assessment of whether the Section 3F requirements have contributed effectively to the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions from developments; and
• whether Section 3F continues to be needed.

2.3 If Section 3F is considered no longer needed, Section 73(2) enables Scottish Ministers to repeal it and Section 73, by order.