 Back Latest news from Green Building Press Subscribe to our newsletter
Committee says build fewer greener houses
Posted: 04/11/2008
A new report from the Environmental Audit Committee suggests that the flagging property market could provide the perfect opportunity to change government house building policy towards higher quality more sustainable and greener developments. The EAC say construction firms hoping to profit from the government's large scale house building plans should be forced to change their focus from rapid development to slower, greener building schemes.
The cross-party committee of MPs analysed government proposals to build three million new homes by 2020 and concluded that despite its high-profile commitment to eco-towns, the government's policy continues to favour building more homes over minimising their carbon impact.
The committee report, entitled Greener Homes for the Future? An environmental analysis of the Government’s house-building plans, calls for the adoption of tighter environmental standards for construction firms.
They include: a requirement for all developments from 2016 to meet the same environmental and energy efficiency standards as the infamous eco-towns; an insistence that green infrastructure best practices, such as access to public transport, apply to all new developments; and making mandatory more aspects of the government's voluntary Code for Sustainable Homes by 2010.
The report also urges Gordon Brown to downgrade the government's target of building three million new homes by 2020 and offer fresh reassurances that green belt land will not be eaten into.
Committee chairman Tim Yeo said that the recent decline in the property market had given the government the chance to reassess its house-building strategy.
"This is an opportunity for the government to place environmental concerns at the heart both of targets and planning regulations for new housing," he said.
Green Building Press
Back Latest news from Green Building Press Subscribe to our newsletter
2716 |
