The government has revealed it will review the timetable for introducing its new standard for improving the energy efficiency of new build homes, which will also ban the installation of new gas boilers.
It consulted last year on proposals for a Future Homes Standard (FHS), which is designed to cut carbon dioxide emissions from new homes by 75 to 80 per cent of current levels from 2025 onwards.
A white paper on planning published this morning (6 July) by the Ministry for Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG) promised that a full response to the FHS consultation exercise will be issued in the autumn.
As part of this, the white paper said the government intends to review the “roadmap” to the new standard to ensure that it can be implemented in the “shortest possible timeline”.
It said the government has considered the Committee on Climate Change’s (CCC) response to the consultation, which recommended that the timetable for legislation to introduce the FHS should be accelerated. The CCC, backed up by Energy UK in its response to the FHS consultation, urged the government not to wait until 2024 – its current target date – to table the legislation.
The white paper, entitled ‘Planning for the Future’, said the MHCLG will explore options for the future revisions to energy efficiency standards beyond the FHS’s introduction in 2025.
It also said the government will “clarify” the role that councils can play in setting energy efficiency standards for new build developments.
The removal of wider planning duties from councils will free up local authority resources for enforcing compliance with the new tougher energy efficiency standards outlined in building regulations, according to the document.
A proposal in the FHS consultation paper to take away powers from councils to set their own tougher local for energy efficiency planning policies attracted widespread criticism.
Jonathan Marshall, head of analysis at the Energy and Climate Intelligence Unit, tweeted that the wording in the white paper suggests that the government knows the FHS “isn’t up to scratch”.
The government said the FHS is designed to make new build homes “zero carbon ready”, for when the electricity grid has completely decarbonised, without the need for costly retrofitting work. It announced, when it unveiled the new standard in March last year, that it would include a ban on fossil fuelled boilers in new homes.
The key plank of the white paper is an overhaul of the planning system which will take away powers for councils to determine developments in areas already zoned for growth in their local plans.
As part of this shake-up, the white paper said the government intends to ensure that the reformed planning system can “most effectively” play a role in mitigating and adapting to climate change.
The paper said the National Planning Policy Framework will be “clear” about how local, spatially-specific policies can continue to play a role in identifying places where renewable energy can be accommodated.