Recognising the threats of climate change to the historic and natural environments and to our national prosperity, English Heritage welcomes the Government’s commitment to reduce the emissions which contribute to global warming. We support measures to reduce fuel consumption, increase energy efficiency and exploit renewable energy sources. In addition, through our own sustainable development strategy, we are committed to reducing the environmental impact of our own activities.
Nevertheless, we also recognise that some renewable energy technologies have the potential to cause serious damage to irreplaceable historic sites, which are themselves an integral part of the wider environmental and sustainability agenda.
A truly sustainable approach to renewable energy generation needs to secure a balance between the benefits it delivers and the environmental costs it incurs. English Heritage therefore supports an approach to renewable energy generation which:
- acknowledges the need for society to invest in a wide range of renewable energy generation technologies
- recognises the potential environmental impacts of different technologies, including their implications for the historic environment
- keeps the balance of environmental benefits and disadvantages of each technology under continual review
- continually seeks to limit and mitigate adverse impacts
English Heritage believes a pro-active and strategic approach to the land-use planning system will maximise the benefits of renewable energy projects, while minimising their adverse effects on the historic environment. This should be achieved by considering the cumulative effects of projects as well as their specific impacts and by ensuring that the implications of renewable energy developments are adequately reflected in national, regional and local planning policy and at all stages of the environmental impact assessment process.
We also believe that high quality design should play a key role in minimising any adverse effects of projects, whether this is directed at the disposition of wind turbines and energy crops in the landscape or the positioning of photo-voltaic cells on historic buildings. Fundamental to achieving high quality design will be a sound understanding of the character and importance of the historic asset involved, whether at the scale of individual buildings and sites or more extensive historic areas and landscapes.
Given the rapidity with which renewable energy technologies are evolving, considerable weight should be given to ensuring the reversibility of renewable energy projects and their associated infrastructure. English Heritage therefore believes that where sensitive greenfield land is used for renewable energy developments, it should not subsequently be regarded as brownfield land once installations are redundant.
