City leaders call for power to make homes greener

A group of city leaders has linked up with the UK Green Building Council to demand the power to set ambitious environmental standards for new buildings.

Under current government plans, local authorities will be barred from setting higher green standards for buildings locally than the government itself sets in building regulations nationally.

In an open letter to housing secretary Robert Jenrick, the leaders of some of the UK’s biggest city regions, including London, Manchester and the West Midlands, called on the government to abandon the proposed restrictions.

The letter follows the decision by several local authorities to declare a climate emergency and commit to ambitious targets to reach net zero carbon emissions.

The letter states: “One of our most important levers of change is the ability to ensure that all new housing, which is much needed to address the housing crisis, does not add to the carbon problem.”

However, the government’s recent consultation on the future of Part L proposes to “restrict local planning authorities from setting higher energy efficiency standards for dwellings”.

The letter says: “Not only would this hold back those areas which want to be more ambitious than the national minimum, but it would also level down areas like London, where developers have successfully been building to a higher standard for several years.”

It urges the government to allow local authorities instead to “level up” standards, stressing that local leadership is “absolutely central” to achieving the government’s commitment to net zero carbon.

The letter, co-ordinated by the UKGBC, says local freedoms would not necessarily result in a proliferation of different local standards – a key concern of housebuilders – if the government quickly published its regulatory trajectory toward zero carbon, allowing authorities to simply move further ahead on the path should they desire it.

The letter was signed by 10 local leaders, including regional mayors of London, Greater Machester and the West Midlands, as well as council leaders in Nottingham, Leeds, Cambridge, Sheffield and Newcastle.