Cllr Jane MacBean is a councillor on Buckinghamshire Council and is member of the Community, Assets, Recreation and Environment Committee.
Home ownership and environmental stewardship cut to the heart of conservative values. We believe that every generation should have the opportunity to work hard, save, and buy their own home. We also want to leave behind a healthy and stable environment for our children and grandchildren.
However, the latest data from the Office for National Statistics shows home ownership is at its lowest level in four decades, whilst the number in privately rented homes has doubled since the turn of the century.
Sadly, the new homes that we do build are contributing to our other great challenge: climate change. Building regulations do not require new homes to be equipped with low-carbon sources of heating, like electric heat pumps, despite these being more efficient and commonplace in countries like Norway, where 60% of homes have heat pumps. These homes will have to have their gas boilers replaced in future.
House builders are not required to limit the ‘embodied’ carbon emissions in building materials or construction either. Embodied carbon emissions are greater than emissions from aviation and shipping combined. Reducing emissions in construction would help to scale up low-carbon steel and cement production in the UK and support the growth of our domestic timber industry.
In addition, our planning system does not incentivise more homes in towns and city suburbs close to shops, offices and public transport. This undermines the Government’s target for half of all journeys in towns and cities to be on foot or bike by 2030 and puts ever growing pressure on our green spaces.
That’s why I welcome Bright Blue’s new report, Greater and Greener Homes, which shows we can tackle climate change and build more homes at the same time. It recommends changes to building regulations so that homes are ultra-efficient and equipped with the latest technologies, like rooftop solar panels and smart appliances which consume cheaper power at off-peak times. This will save households money on their energy bills as well as help us reach our 2050 net zero emissions target. The report also calls for new regulation, backed by industry, for embodied carbon emissions and better access to the government’s Skills Bootcamps for aspiring heat pump installers to plug the skills shortage.
I am most excited by its proposal for the planning system, which draws upon the innovative, community-led approach we are taking in Chesham. Politically, we still bear the scars that the 2021 attempts at planning reform exacted on our local and national election campaigns, but our residents know that we need to build more homes for the next generation. We also need our town to grow to ensure our high street and local economy continue to recover from Covid and thrive in the future.
Understandably, residents do not support the extension of the town into the Green Belt when there is potential to create more homes within the town. We are therefore working with residents to develop the Chesham Neighbourhood Plan (CNP) to encourage ‘gentle densification’ of the town centre and specific land sites. This involves developing four Neighbourhood Development Orders which, if approved by residents in a referendum, will permit specific development based on local design preferences without house builders having to submit a separate planning application.
This could be a win-win for residents and local house builders. It means the people of Chesham can bring forward the homes they want to see rather than waiting for developers to put forward their own, often contested, proposals. For house builders, it reduces the risk of local opposition, which has often been a barrier to brownfield development. Reduced planning risk on small sites will particularly benefit small, local house builders.
It is also good for our environment. Building new homes centrally will reduce the number of vehicle journeys into the town centre, since the homes are within walking distance of the train station and closer to our offices and shops. To that end we are simultaneously working with ARUP to build a comprehensive Local Cycling & Walking Infrastructure Plan (LCWIP) to encourage residents into making ‘greener’ journey choices. The LCWIP will ensure developer contributions and council tax revenues can support investment in our transport infrastructure and unlock the potential of national funding. ‘Re-greening’ our streets with more planting and trees and extending our universally loved Communi-Tree project is both environmentally and politically sound. And we plan to use the design codes for the new homes to make them sustainable by using materials that have lower embodied carbon, whilst ensuring they are beautiful.
James Cullimore, author of Bright Blue’s new report, is urging the government to create and fund a pathfinder programme to encourage more communities to follow Chesham’s example. This would dovetail with the government’s pathfinder programme for design codes, which has funded 25 areas to draw up rules for sustainability, materials and style with input from residents. Once local design preferences have been established, an NDO could follow to approve new homes of a particular form and density.
If we can show this model to be successful, it could bring forward more homes in urban neighbourhoods. This would help local councils and communities meet their housing needs while protecting green spaces, as we are determined to do in Chesham.
Delivering more homes and leaving our environment in a healthier state for future generations are fundamentally conservative goals. In Chesham, we’re determined to prove that they are not in conflict. Policymakers in Westminster are sitting up and taking note. I urge the Government to adopt the proposals in this report so that more areas bring forward the greener homes that we all need.