Draft Climate Action Supplementary Planning Document

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Consultation has concluded

Please note that the Climate Action Supplementary Planning Document (“the SPD”) was adopted on 25 September 2025. The SPD and its accompanying documents are now available to view on the council’s website.

What were we seeking your views on?

We are committed to reducing carbon emissions from development in Islington, and to making sure that development can adapt to the changing climate. 

A Supplementary Planning Document (SPD) is a document that provides additional guidance on applying planning policy. It is useful for people involved in submitting planning applications. Islington Council has other SPDs that can be found on the Planning Policy webpage. 

The draft Climate Action SPD sets out detailed advice to ensure development in Islington meets the borough’s ambitious sustainable design policies as set out in our Local Plan. It offers practical guidance on energy efficiency, renewable energy installations, and sustainable design standards to help reduce carbon emissions and adapt to the challenges of climate change. 

We consulted on the draft SPD. Consultation closed at 11:59pm on 18 February 2025. 

The draft SPD includes a chapter on retrofit. Retrofitting is the introduction of measures to an existing building to reduce energy consumption and improve the building's ability to retain heat. The Council has also produced a draft Retrofit Handbook to accompany the SPD to support the retrofit of existing homes and other buildings in the borough. We are consulting on the Retrofit Handbook in parallel with the SPD. See the Retrofit Handbook Let’s Talk Page for details.

All planning applications now need to submit a Sustainable Design and Construction Statement (SDCS), this document shows how a proposed development will minimise carbon emissions and adapt to the changing climate. Alongside a chapter on this in the SPD the Council has developed three draft SDCS templates and checklists to enable people submitting planning applications to provide the information that is needed to assess their application. These documents are available on the Let's Talk page. We seek your feedback on how useful these documents will be, alongside your views on the draft SPD. Please complete the survey on this page. 

Summaries of two pieces of evidence which informed the SPD development are provided under the documents section of this page – this is the Chapman BDSP carbon rebasing work and the BioRegional retrofit evidence. Summaries of these studies are provided in order to meet accessibility requirements. Full versions are available on request.  

What have we done so far? 

In June and July 2023, we held public workshops about reducing carbon emissions in the borough to inform the preparation of the SPD. Workshops were held with residents and activist groups, architects and planning agents, local housing associations and businesses.  

A Scoping Paper was developed following feedback from the initial public workshops. The Scoping Paper was published for consultation between August-and September 2023. The results of the engagement and consultation carried out so far for the SPD are summarised in the Consultation Report also available in the Documents section of this page.

We the SPD considering the feedback gathered during the earlier consultations. 

The consultation period ran from 7 January and closed at 11:59pm on 18 February. 

There were three ways to comment: 

  • respond via post by writing to the following address: Freepost RTXU-ETKU-KECB, Planning Policy, Islington Council, 2nd Floor, Town Hall, Upper Street, London, N1 2UD. 

The public notice outlining the full details of the consultation can be found in the Documents section of this page. 

The documents could also be viewed in hard copy form at the reception of Islington Town Hall, Upper Street, N1 1UD (9am-5pm Monday to Friday). 

Public events 

We held two engagement events where you could join us to share your views on the documents.

Tuesday 28 January, 6 - 8pm Register to attend on Eventbrite here.

Thursday 6 February, 7 - 9pm Register to attend on Eventbrite here.

Please note that the Climate Action Supplementary Planning Document (“the SPD”) was adopted on 25 September 2025. The SPD and its accompanying documents are now available to view on the council’s website.

What were we seeking your views on?

We are committed to reducing carbon emissions from development in Islington, and to making sure that development can adapt to the changing climate. 

A Supplementary Planning Document (SPD) is a document that provides additional guidance on applying planning policy. It is useful for people involved in submitting planning applications. Islington Council has other SPDs that can be found on the Planning Policy webpage. 

The draft Climate Action SPD sets out detailed advice to ensure development in Islington meets the borough’s ambitious sustainable design policies as set out in our Local Plan. It offers practical guidance on energy efficiency, renewable energy installations, and sustainable design standards to help reduce carbon emissions and adapt to the challenges of climate change. 

We consulted on the draft SPD. Consultation closed at 11:59pm on 18 February 2025. 

The draft SPD includes a chapter on retrofit. Retrofitting is the introduction of measures to an existing building to reduce energy consumption and improve the building's ability to retain heat. The Council has also produced a draft Retrofit Handbook to accompany the SPD to support the retrofit of existing homes and other buildings in the borough. We are consulting on the Retrofit Handbook in parallel with the SPD. See the Retrofit Handbook Let’s Talk Page for details.

All planning applications now need to submit a Sustainable Design and Construction Statement (SDCS), this document shows how a proposed development will minimise carbon emissions and adapt to the changing climate. Alongside a chapter on this in the SPD the Council has developed three draft SDCS templates and checklists to enable people submitting planning applications to provide the information that is needed to assess their application. These documents are available on the Let's Talk page. We seek your feedback on how useful these documents will be, alongside your views on the draft SPD. Please complete the survey on this page. 

Summaries of two pieces of evidence which informed the SPD development are provided under the documents section of this page – this is the Chapman BDSP carbon rebasing work and the BioRegional retrofit evidence. Summaries of these studies are provided in order to meet accessibility requirements. Full versions are available on request.  

What have we done so far? 

In June and July 2023, we held public workshops about reducing carbon emissions in the borough to inform the preparation of the SPD. Workshops were held with residents and activist groups, architects and planning agents, local housing associations and businesses.  

A Scoping Paper was developed following feedback from the initial public workshops. The Scoping Paper was published for consultation between August-and September 2023. The results of the engagement and consultation carried out so far for the SPD are summarised in the Consultation Report also available in the Documents section of this page.

We the SPD considering the feedback gathered during the earlier consultations. 

The consultation period ran from 7 January and closed at 11:59pm on 18 February. 

There were three ways to comment: 

  • respond via post by writing to the following address: Freepost RTXU-ETKU-KECB, Planning Policy, Islington Council, 2nd Floor, Town Hall, Upper Street, London, N1 2UD. 

The public notice outlining the full details of the consultation can be found in the Documents section of this page. 

The documents could also be viewed in hard copy form at the reception of Islington Town Hall, Upper Street, N1 1UD (9am-5pm Monday to Friday). 

Public events 

We held two engagement events where you could join us to share your views on the documents.

Tuesday 28 January, 6 - 8pm Register to attend on Eventbrite here.

Thursday 6 February, 7 - 9pm Register to attend on Eventbrite here.

Consultation has concluded

  • Climate Action SPD has been adopted

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    Climate Action SPD has been finalised on 25 September 2025, and is now available to view on the council's website and in the Documents section of this page.

    Responses to the consultation were reviewed and used to inform updates to the handbook before it was published.

    Comments are made publicly available in the comprehensive Climate Action SPD Consultation Report available in Documents section of this page. We removed names and personal contact information. For more information on the basis on which we process, use and store your information, please refer to the council’s privacy policy: Privacy policy | Let's Talk Islington.