Leading Liberal Democrat MPs, including Nick Clegg and Ed Davey, could end up blocking their own local councils from setting ambitious energy efficiency targets, under new plans being driven through Parliament by the coalition.
The government’s Deregulation Bill, which is currently weaving its way through Parliament, would make it illegal for local councils to set higher energy efficiency standards than those imposed nationally, in a move that industry says would push up energy bills and undermine both the government’s localism agenda and its carbon-cutting efforts.
Since 2008, local planning bodies have been able to set their own energy savings standards in addition to the government’s Building Regulations. This autonomy for local authorities has been particularly useful for the green building and energy efficiency sectors, as it has helped drive demand for low carbon building measures despite the absence of ambitious national standards and uncertainty about the precise detail of promised Zero Carbon Homes regulations.
A number of Lib Dem-controlled councils have taken advantage of the law, including Kingston upon Thames, represented by Energy and Climate Change Secretary Ed Davey. Labour’s Sheffield City Council, which is located in Nick Clegg’s constituency, also plans to set its own energy efficiency guidelines, while the city council in Bristol, where Communities Minister Stephen Williams is MP, also demands high standards of energy efficiency and thermal insulation in its new properties.
Lib Dem Commons Deputy Leader Tom Brake in particular has been along-term and enthusiastic supporter of allowing local planning authorities to set higher energy efficiency standards, having helped bring the original Planning and Energy Bill through Parliament in 2008 as a way of ensuring the highest energy efficiency standards for new builds. The London Borough of Sutton, where he is MP, also requires that all new homes meet sustainable homes code four and achieve a 40 per cent reduction in carbon emissions since 2011.
But, in what appeared to be a volte-face, Brake last month moved an amendment in the Deregulation Bill to scrap the law on the grounds that energy efficiency requirements should be set through central government.
A spokeswoman for the Lib Dems told BusinessGreen that it would be unfair to suggest the change represents a U-turn, given Brake’s name is on the amendment in his role as Deputy Leader of the Commons.
A spokeswoman for Brake confirmed: “The Deregulation Bill is Government legislation and Mr Brake, as one of the Ministers responsible for handling the Deregulation Bill, speaks for the Government in that role. This amendment was agreed to at the committee stage and it is the DCLG who are responsible for the policy and the changes in the policy.”
The Lib Dem spokeswoman maintained that the party backed the changes, as part of a move to get rid of “confusing and overlapping” standards. “Currently, house builders face a myriad of different standards to implement each time they build new homes in an area – with the standards imposed varying between areas, and often leading to duplication,” she said. “We are planning to introduce zero carbon homes which will raise energy efficiency standards to the highest in the country.”
However, industry insiders believe that many Lib Dem MPs are unhappy with the move and suspect that the amendment has been pushed through by Conservative Communities Secretary Eric Pickles as part of his deregulation drive.
In fact, the amendment was approved just days before a group of Lib Dem activists launched The Green Manifesto at an event attended by Lib Dem President Tim Farron, which set out a host of ambitious green policies, including a proposal that councils should have more power and responsibility for energy efficiency programmes.
Green businesses now fear that the Deregulation Bill could be voted through in its current form, in a move that would force local authorities to rewrite their rules and water down energy efficiency standards. Industry insiders fear the move would effectively weaken green building standards in many parts of the country for at least a year until the new Zero Carbon Homes standards comes into effect in 2016.
Earlier this month, the Sustainable Energy Association (SEA) and Association for the Conservation of Energy (ACE) wrote to Lib Dem MPs urging them to reject the amendment.
Dave Sowden, chief executive of the SEA, told BusinessGreen that it was “ludicrous” that the Bill would give local authorities the right to set their own renewable energy targets through the popular Merton Rule, but remove the same powers for energy efficiency.
“I think the Lib Dems would prefer desperately not to be in this place, having put this amendment through and we can’t really understand why they’re not being a bit stronger about fighting this off,” he said. “Of all the main political parties, the Lib Dems have been the strongest supporters of strong energy efficiency standards.”
Sensing a potential split in the coalition, Labour Shadow Energy and Climate Change Minister Jonathan Reynolds last week proposed a compromise for which he hopes to gain cross-party support. He tabled an alternative amendment stating that the regulation stopping councils setting their own efficiency standards should “not come into force until the Secretary of State has laid a Zero-Carbon Housing Strategy before both Houses of Parliament”.
If adopted, the amendment would ensure that current local authority energy efficiency standards were not watered down ahead of the introduction of the national zero carbon homes standards.
The industry now hopes Lib Dem MPs will support the compromise amendment as a means of removing overlapping regulations while not diluting current standards.
A DCLG spokesman said it is considering the amendment to the Deregulation Bill and will respond after the Easter break. He added that it would also be shortly publishing its response to the “Next Steps to Zero Carbon Homes consultation”.
“The current system is complicated, leading to confusion and variation across the country, but in future energy efficiency standards will be set through national building regulations, enabling councils and developers to better work together to build high-quality, sustainable and secure homes that communities want and need,” he said.
But with the government having already delayed the introduction of new building regulations by a year and lowered its energy saving requirements to significantly below those originally consulted on, the industry is becoming increasingly fearful that the 2016 Zero Carbon Homes target will not be as ambitious as first hoped. All of which makes the retention of ambitious local standards ever more important, and the Lib Dems push to strip councils of their powers even harder to understand.