Liam Fox – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Liam Fox on 2015-10-20.

To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what steps he is taking to promote zero carbon housing.

James Wharton

As detailed in the Productivity Plan – ‘Fixing the foundations: Creating a more prosperous nation’ – the Government will not be implementing zero carbon homes. The zero carbon homes standard, in particular the ‘allowable solutions’ carbon off-setting element, would have placed a significant regulatory burden on the house building industry.

The energy performance standards for new homes were strengthened by over 30% during the last Parliament. The latest changes to standards came into force last year and it is important for those changes to be given time to bed in.

The Government is keeping the energy standards for homes under review and must also meet its obligations under the Energy Performance of Buildings Directive. As part of this the Government must report to the European Commission in 2017 on whether UK building standards are ‘cost optimal’ and ensure that all new buildings are ‘nearly zero energy buildings’ from 2021.