Agenda item

Question

Do we have a planning policy concerning building a specific percentage of carbon neutral homes in any new development and if not when will we have such a policy and what percentage will it be?

(the Zero Carbon Hub website defines the three core requirements as:

1. The fabric performance must, at a minimum, comply with the defined standard known as the Fabric Energy Efficiency Standard (FEES) and
2. Any CO2 emissions that remain after consideration of heating, cooling, fixed lighting and ventilation, must be less than or equal to the Carbon Compliance limit established for zero carbon homes, and
3. Any remaining CO2 emissions, from regulated energy sources (after requirements 1 and 2 have been met), must be reduced to zero)

Question

Do we have a planning policy concerning building a specific percentage of carbon neutral homes in any new development and if not when will we have such a policy and what percentage will it be?

(Where the Zero Carbon Hub website defines the three core requirements as:

1. The fabric performance must, at a minimum, comply with the defined standard known as the Fabric Energy Efficiency Standard (FEES) and
2. Any CO2 emissions that remain after consideration of heating, cooling, fixed lighting and ventilation, must be less than or equal to the Carbon Compliance limit established for zero carbon homes, and
3. Any remaining CO2 emissions, from regulated energy sources (after requirements 1 and 2 have been met), must be reduced to zero)

Answer

The good news is that we have already got some policies in place that do make a requirement on development proposals around environmental issues.  Our Policy CP1, which was part of our 2010 Core Strategy, already states in paragraph 12 that new development must: 

“Contribute towards the goal of reaching zero-carbon developmentsas soon as possible by:

a) Including appropriate on-site renewable energy features; and

b) Minimising energy and water consumption by measures including the use of appropriate layout and orientation, building form, design and construction, and design to take account of microclimate so as to minimise carbon dioxide emissions through giving careful consideration to how all aspects of development form.”

In addition we already have Policy CC04, the Sustainable Design and Construction Policy, and Policy CC05, the Renewable Energy and Decentralised Energy Networks of our Managing Development Delivery.  These policies require residential and commercial development in the Borough to introduce measures to contribute towards carbon reduction.

The other piece of good news is that we are currently undergoing an update to our Local Plan and in that we have an opportunity to include specific carbon reduction and sustainability targets.  This is currently being worked on by our Officers and will be put to consultation later in this autumn.  We welcome any ideas or initiatives that help us to achieve our objective of being carbon neutral by 2030.  Clearly housing and housing development is going to be a big part of that and we welcome any further ideas and suggestions that you may have to help feed into that Local Plan and into other areas of cutting our carbon footprint. 

Supplementary Question

You did not mention percentages on new developments.  Is that 100% homes you hope and also public buildings that we are going to build in the future?  Are we going to aim for carbon neutral with schools and things?

Supplementary Answer

I may need to refer you to my colleague in terms of planning for those specifics as clearly that falls under Wayne’s remit rather than mine specifically but my personal hope is that the amended Local Plan will include some very specific targets around carbon neutral homes as we work towards that plan of being carbon neutral by 2030.

Councillor Smith provided the following answer:

Having spent most of my last 15 years working for an energy company and working in new housing it is very difficult as you have to follow national policy.  There used to be the thing called the Merton rule which gave you 10% and then we had the code for sustainable homes and you follow national guidance and on every application you, as Wokingham Borough and as the Planning Committee, work to the legislation that is in front of you.  I mean one of the jobs that we have got to do as a local council is try to inform the national council on some of the policies that we are trying to implement here but developers will always apply national policy and it is not going to be easy.  But it is going to be a challenge that we are going to have to take and work with developers especially as we work through the Local Plan in building above those standards because, as you have probably heard, the Government is working towards zero carbon homes by 2030. 

Now zero carbon homes by 2030 really means that you will be supplying energy off grid so the days of gas boilers will have gone.  So you will be relying on ground source, air source and solar panels to deliver those.  All of that technology is not there today.  It is there as a cottage industry and people think it is there and they are doing it in mass production but they are not.  There is a lot of work that needs to go into the whole supply chain before that occurs in 2030. 

So the challenge for us, especially in the Local Plan, is making sure that we get a lot more of those new technologies into the Plan which encourages new developments to take place.  But as I said it is not going to be easy and the best you can get is to say that all new homes from 2030 will be zero carbon.  The biggest challenge is retrofit.  It is not easy.