Bristol City Council is introducing Enplanner: a new tool to assist planning applicants to meet on-site renewable energy policies.

Developers, architects, agents and consultants have been invited to a workshop at CREATE on 19 June to learn how it can help them meet the on-site renewable energy requirements which are now part of every planning application.

Enplanner makes it easy for applicants to show, by creating an energy statement, that they have met local policy requirements. This means demonstrating that they have included sustainable energy measures such as biomass, solar or combined heat and power, wherever expected.

-- Advertisement --

Enplanner has been developed by Encraft with the Carbon Trust for use by all local authorities with on-site renewable energy policies. It doesn’t just provide guidance. It also features low-cost template energy statements which applicants can complete on-line without having to know the technical jargon and the specific detail sought by planners.

The Committee on Climate Change has praised Bristol’s outstanding work in the fight against climate change. Bristol City Council has set itself a target of reducing annual emissions by 40 per cent between 2005 and 2020, and by 2009 had already cut them by 15 per cent.

Councillor Anthony Negus, Executive Member for Planning, Property and Regeneration, said: "Every person building or extending property - however large or small scale - can make a difference by applying this policy. Most developers welcome the opportunity to address climate change in their proposals - but many need help navigating the technical requirements. Enplanner is useful and needed, and it has my full support."

(CD)