Developers will be allowed to buy their way out of making
homes ‘zero carbon’ under new measures in the Queen’s Speech, Liberal Democrat
sources have claimed. In 2006, the
Labour government said all new homes should be ‘zero carbon’ within 10 years –
a measure which was due to take effect in 2016. But concerns that the cost
could slow house building, ministers have decided builders will be allowed to
fit homes up to level 4 of the new code for sustainable homes rather than level
5 – the accepted standard for zero carbon homes. If they choose to do this,
however, builders will then have to pay the government a fixed fee based on an
agreed carbon price to pay for offset schemes of the government’s choosing.
Read more on Inside Housing.
