England needs new climate legislation to ensure councils protect their areas from extreme weather, a leading local government think tank has argued.
Localis has launched a campaign for a Local Resilience Act that would place a new statutory duty on local authorities to provide 'the best adaptation measures for the built and natural environments'.
Changes to transport, buildings, local businesses, land use and biodiversity could all be covered by the new law - which would also need to give councils the powers and funding for delivery, the think tank said.
The current funding landscape for local government resilience is 'far too piecemeal and insufficient', Localis argued, adding that the responsibilities between local, central and industry are 'too fragmented and disconnected'.
Instead, a new law could streamline the existing legislation to allow climate change and resilience adaptation to take place at the local level - the level 'most able to mitigate the risks of dangerous weather changes'.
Localis chief executive Jonathan Werran said: 'Even under the most minimal of warming scenarios, infrastructure, public health, and GDP will all worsen due to the weighty pressure of extreme weather events. Different areas are undergoing their own unique changes, and specialised adaptation is necessary.
'Failure to fund whole place resilience is folly. The prolonged breakdown of infrastructure and the sustained inability of our built environment to withstand extreme weather will cost the nation far more further down the line – perhaps to the point where it will threaten to undermine economic growth and social stability.'
Localis head of research Joe Fyans said: 'If action is not taken, the UK might see damages of up to 7.4% reduction of its potential GDP by the end of the century, alongside devastating shocks to its agricultural sector and to the health of its population. However, with suitable upstream mitigation and preventative measures in place, that figure would drop to a predicted 2.4%.'
'The structure of funding for local authorities needs to transform in order that adaptation can take place, and that long-term planning is enabled for the sake of minimising future long-term costs.'
Jonathan Werran has written for our sister publication The MJ on this issue. Find out more here.
