Agenda item
Public Participation
- Meeting of Council, Monday, 13th July, 2020 3.00 pm (Item COU/38/20-21)
- View the background to item COU/38/20-21
In accordance with Council Procedure Rule No 8 to allow members of the public to ask questions about the Council’s activities for a period up to fifteen minutes. The replies to any such questions will be given by the appropriate Cabinet Member. Questions must be received in writing or by email to the Monitoring Officer by 12 noon twelve clear working days before the meeting.
Question submitted to Councillor J Kenyon, Portfolio Holder for Transformation and Climate Change from Anne Thoday
Minutes:
In accordance with Council Procedure Rule No 8 members of the public were allowed to ask questions about the Council’s activities for a period of up to 15 minutes. The replies to any such questions will be given by the appropriate Cabinet Member. Questions must be received in writing or by email to the Monitoring Officer by 12 noon twelve clear working days before the meeting.
The following question was submitted to Councillor J Kenyon, Portfolio Holder for Transformation and Climate Change from Anne Thoday
Our UK Government has made a commitment in legislation to achieve net zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050 (1). If we are to meet this target we need a rapid reduction in the carbon emissions associated with household energy consumption. In a report last year The Committee on Climate Change warned that the UK’s legally-binding climate change targets will not be met without the near-complete elimination of greenhouse gas emissions from UK buildings.
‘New homes should be built to be low-carbon, energy and water efficient, and climate resilient. The costs of building to tight specifications are not prohibitive, and getting the design right from the outset is far cheaper than retrofitting later. From 2025 at the latest, no new homes should be connected to the gas grid. They should be heated using low-carbon energy sources, have ultra-high levels of energy efficiency alongside appropriate ventilation, and be timber-framed where possible. (2)
The key role of planning in reducing greenhouse gas emissions is acknowledged in North East Derbyshire Climate Change Action Plan 2019-2030,(Theme 5) states:
‘Local authority planning functions are a key lever in reducing emissions and tackling the effects of climate change. The planning process can make a major contribution by shaping new and existing developments in ways that reduce carbon emissions.’
This plan goes on to highlight a new development at The Avenue, Clay Cross as a case study in sustainable living ‘The Avenue is the creation of a new sustainable community balancing urban and environmental design.’
North East Derbyshire Local plan 2014- 2034 includes a requirement that new developments promote energy efficiency to a sustainable level.
Policy SDC12: ‘High Quality
Design and Place-Making ‘proposals for development will only
be permitted provided that they .
. . j. Include measures to
promote environmental sustainability, including those which address
energy and water efficiency where practicable and viable to do
so;
And ‘Increasing GHG emissions and energy consumption. Use of renewable energy and recycled materials will be encouraged at new development at all stages. New developments will also be more likely to be energy efficient and sustainably designed.’
The Sustainability Appraisal of the North East Derbyshire Local Plan Feb 2018 includes a statement on the role of local authorities in reducing greenhouse gas emissions,
‘10.1.2 Mitigating climate change is a priority in the UK and it is necessary for local authorities to help minimise their contribution to its causes, such as by reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and energy consumption.
The national and local documents quoted above all include statements on the role planning must play in reducing the production of greenhouse gases through minimising energy consumption. North East Derbyshire Council currently have plans in place for large areas of future new housing development including in the Clay Cross area up to 824 dwellings on the Biwater site and up to 700 on the Avenue site by 2034.
On average, the generally expected and acceptable lifespan of a new house is at least 60 years and some sources believe should be up to 100 years; in practice it is frequently much longer. If houses currently in the planning stage (including those in North East Derbyshire), are likely to last towards the end of this century and some of them well beyond, they need to be achieving zero carbon or passive house standards if they are to meet the requirements of the UK net zero greenhouse gas targets.
Given that houses built now are unlikely to undergo substantial refurbishment before 2050 it is imperative they are built to a zero carbon standard now.
With this in mind, can the Councillor please describe the following:-
1) What efforts have been made to engage, and work with local housing developers of zero carbon homes, and can the Councillor explain exactly what percentage of the housing currently planned for the Biwater and Avenue sites will achieve net zero carbon emissions (level 6) using the standard set in The Code for Sustainable Homes, or be built to Passive House standard? (3)
2) What efforts have been made to ensure the highest possible levels of on-site energy production (electrical and thermal) on new buildings? (4)
http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2008/27/contents
https://www.theccc.org.uk/2019/02/21/uk-homes-unfit-for-the-challenges-of-climate-change-ccc-says/
Councillor J Kenyon, Portfolio Holder for Leisure, Transformation and Climate Change, thanked Ms Thoday for the question. Councillor J Kenyon stated that currently there were only a small number of net zero houses or passive houses being built anywhere in the UK. He confirmed that there were none in the first phase of the Avenue and Biwater sites. Councillor J Kenyon explained that net zero for houses did not mean zero emissions, it meant that the total energy consumed by the house was balanced by the total energy produced by on-house generation. Unfortunately, the energy consumption was mainly in cold months and energy production was mainly in the warmer months so extensive off-house energy production would still be required for a house in winter even if every house was net zero.
Councillor J Kenyon went on to explain that district heating offered some better long term possibilities and there were interesting options such as energy from old coal mines, particularly in the Avenue area, or using waste heat from other processes and the Council was investigating several possibilities. The question rightly referred to the long life times of housing being built today and Councillor J Kenyon stated that he shared the view that 100 years would be better than 60 years. However, any on-house production equipment such as solar panels was only going to have a short life span compared to the life of the house. Typically equipment would be used for 20 to 30 years before needing to be replaced. This allowed more efficient solutions to be introduced over time. He added that the fundamental way to reduce emissions from housing was to reduce the energy needed to heat and cool a house which was down to better design and insulation and other things such as reducing water usage. That was why building standards for new houses focused on these elements and the Council’s planning officers spent considerable time working with developers setting out expectations in the Council’s planning policies, reviewing planning applications and ensuring energy efficiency requirements were met and exceeded. Councilor J Kenyon stated that the additional build cost for a house built to level 6 standard compared to current regulations was around £20,000 but housing already built today would still be the vast majority of housing in 2050. So while it might be mundane to install high efficiency heating and insulation, doing that in all the housing delivered very high emission reductions and that was the Council’s main goal. One key focus would be making sure that North East Derbyshire residents used the recent government initiative which offered home owners up to £5,000 to improve the insulation and boilers in their homes and that went up to £10,000 for people on low income. Another focus would be to continue the Council’s program of improving council housing stock via external wall insulation, internal insulation and boiler replacement and also whole house replacements to current standards where needed. The Council’s focus was on achieving the biggest reductions and that was where the Council was focusing its efforts.
SUPPLEMENTARY QUESTION
In exercising the right to ask a supplementary question of Councillor J Kenyon, Ms Thoday asked if the Council had sought legal planning guidance to establish how the highest standards of energy efficiency that could be required from housing developments could be achieved within the buildings regulations framework rather than settling for the minimum amount that developers could produce. Ms Thoday also stated that Councillor J Kenyon had not answered part of the first question in regards to what effort had been made to engage and work with developers of zero carbon homes.
Councillor J Kenyon responded that the Council was putting its effort into where it believed it would be most effective to be able to achieve the goal of reducing total emissions. Councillor J Kenyon stated that the Council’s planning officers were aware of the legal requirements but that they were limited by the legal framework and national requirements they had to operate within, which the Council was not able to change. In 2015, Councils had been told that they could not force the adoption of the level 6 standard. Councillor J Kenyon added that in practice, being limited by national policy and also the difference in cost between level 4 and level 6 standard was substantial and the Council had to balance the need to build affordable homes for the growing population against the extra efficiencies gained between the level 4 and the level 6 standard. Councillor J Kenyon said that he looked forward to the new future homes standard because it would significantly increase the efficiency of new buildings and estimates put the reduction of the carbon footprint at 60% to 70%. Once that was part of the national regulations it would give a long term benefit to new housing.
Supporting documents:
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