Group claims proposed reforms to NPPF would act as ceiling for standards
A group of more than 60 local authorities, businesses and NGOs have called on the government to re-evaluate draft planning policies they say would limit councils’ ability to set higher environmental standards for new homes.
In a letter to housing secretary Steve Reed and housing minister Matthew Pennycook, the group criticised proposed changed to the National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF), which are currently being consulted on.
They claim the changes would curtail local authorities from setting standards that go beyond building regulations, creating what they argue is an unnecessary blocker to innovation that will stall decarbonisation.
‘Building regulations must be seen as a floor to increase standards across all new buildings, not a ceiling,” said Hugh Ellis, director of policy at the Town and Country Planning Association.
“The planning system is ideally placed to support more ambitious innovation on climate, and it is disappointing to see a downgrading of standards when the stakes couldn’t be higher.”
The policy in question, PM13, is intended to ”clarify the circumstances in which it may be appropriate to set quantitative local standards in development plans” and to narrow “the scope of when local variance is appropriate”.
It proposes ”preventing standards which cover matters already addressed by building regulations”, including matters relating to the constructon or internal layout of buildings.
”The policy as drafted would limit local standards for energy efficiency, as we are concerned that varying standards across local plans make it difficult for the construction sector to adapt and deploy energy efficiency technologies at scale”, it says.
Currently, councils in areas like Cornwall, Bath and North East Somerset and Central Lincolnshire require all new homes to be zero carbon in operation.
The letter, which was coordinated by the Town and Country Planning Association, urges Reed and Pennycook to rethink policy PM13 in the draft NPPF, to make clear that authorities can adopt standards that go further than building regulations.
Co-signatories include more than 40 local authorities, environmental groups including UK100 and Friends of the Earth, and organisations representing the low-carbon building sector, including the UK Green Building Council, Good Homes Alliance, LETI and Bioregional.
No comments yet