Party says new plan will set ‘commons-sense rules’ which will save households money and cut emissions
The Labour party has vowed to make all new homes zero carbon by 2022, a move it said would save households £200 a year.
In a general election pledge the party said the “tough new ‘zero carbon standard’” would mean the day-to-day running of a new home “won’t add additional carbon to the atmosphere”.
The strategy would also mean people living in new build homes would cut around £200 a year off their energy bills.
In 2015 David Cameron scrapped the last Labour government’s Zero Carbon Homes standard just a year before it was due to come into force. Under legislation by 2016 all new homes were meant to be carbon neutral.
But last month the Tories introduced plans for a Future Homes standard, which would mean new homes would be gas-free and energy efficient by 2025.
Announcing Labour’s latest zero carbon policy John Healy, Labour’s shadow housing secretary, said: “The Conservatives’ decision to cave in to property developers and slash green standards means we are building homes today that aren’t fit for the future, they’re bad for the environment and expensive to run.
“After nearly 10 years of the Conservatives outsourcing housing policy to commercial house builders, we need a Labour government that will set common-sense rules which save households money and cut emissions.”
The current government’s proposed standard is the subject of a consultation of wider energy regulations designed to improve the efficiency of new homes from 2020.
The plan sets out the government’s plans for the Future Homes Standard which will require new build homes to be future-proofed with low carbon heating and high levels of energy efficiency.
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