Planners have been told that the latest climate change projections should not require regional and local plan-making to be slowed down or planning applications deferred.
However, Communities and Local Government chief planner, Steve Quartermain, has acknowledged that new assessments of the probability of climate change impacts could mean that "there may be circumstances involving particularly vulnerable locations or sensitive development where [existing assumptions about what is reasonable] may not be the case".
His comments came in a letter sent to all planning authorities in the wake of the publication of new UK climate projections which show that by the 2080s South East England could face an increase in average summer temperatures of between 2 and 6 degrees Celsius.
Also anticipated is a 22 per cent decrease in average summer rainfall in the South East - which is already water stressed - and an increase of 16 per cent in average winter rainfall in the North West, with increases in the amount of rain on the wettest days leading to a higher risk of flooding.
Under a scenario of high emissions of greenhouse gases, temperatures would rise even more. This could mean that parts of the country would be up to 12 degrees Celsius warmer on the hottest summer days, with peak summer temperatures in London regularly hitting more than 40 degrees Celsius.
Ministers have stressed that without decisive action there will be an increase in water shortages, heat stress and floods. They have also signalled that these latest projections indicate that some climate change impacts are now inevitable irrespective of individual or societal action.
In a related development the Royal Town Planning Institute has published a set of seven commitments designed to help planners ensure the planning process is in the vanguard of reducing carbon emissions.
