PlanningBlog – Brodies LLP

In regards to sustainable development being a material consideration, there is now a growing number of people and families who wish to adopt a low impact lifestyle and also many who are already living such lifestyles some undiscovered, some under the blind eye and some doing so that are coming up against the wrath of policy beating planning departments.

These people may be of the more extreme end of the green movement or many just want to live simply, in housing that is discreet, healthy, sustainable, low visual impact and usually built of natural materials, these might be roundhouses, strawbale, cob, earthships, timberframe or even simpler shelters like benders, yurts, tipis, sheds, buses, and shielings.

These low impact dwellers should not be confused with the people building quarter million pound posh eco-houses in Scotlands central rural belt. It is the latter I find council and Scottish Government sustainability policies cater for. The ideals true low impact dwellers share is back to basics living with sewage treatment that is far more environmentally-friendly than anything else in use in modern housing today, composting toilets, reed beds, reduction of all energy use, some choose to have no electricity at all or live off grid with very small-scale wind turbines or solar arrays. Wood, peat, biomass heating. Rainwater harvesting and well water along with simple greywater wastewater systems.

Importantly, they all share the value of living mortgage-debt free, meaning more of their time can be dedicated to family life and achieving some level of self-sufficiency in several areas of their lives. So, there is also an element of the back to nature and back to the land ideal mixed in as well. It is indeed very much a lifestyle choice and has yet to be recognised as such in regards to planning law and policy. Therefore, it appears that as gypsies and travellers culture and way of life is recognised in planning policy/law as a material consideration as should this emerging and growing culture of low impact developers and dwellers in regards to sustainable development.

This lifestyle is experiencing an explosion in popularity at the moment and it is largely undefined in relation to planning matters which is starting to create a fuss, both here and in England and Wales with planning and enforcement appeals being lodged and several successes south of the border. I think ‘elephant in the room’ and ‘opening the floodgates’ are relevant phrases running through the heads of planners and lawmakers alike on this issue which is preventing a proper assessment, recognition and designation within policy framework for true low impact development. In Scotland, it makes sense to work recognition of low impact development into policy and sustainability criteria as it is justifiably a potential model that would work well within the modernising crofting culture and tradition.

With both hilarity and disbelief I have heard of planning departments confronting those living or wishing to live this way with suspicion, hostility and obstination. In one hand they have their own sustainability policies and in front of them they are finding people living in a way which ultimately upstages their own sustainability policy and they fail to recognise it! Is this surprising considering we’ve seen the Scottish Government toying with the phrase, “low impact development” as far back as NPPG3 and NPPG15, yet the meaning has been lost in translation?

Stephanie Waterston

(This was submitted as a comment in response to the healthy eating post. Stephanie kindly agreed to our suggestion that it be published as a separate post)