Code Breaker?

The Government announced national standards for new homes in March this year alongside the enactment of the Deregulation Act 2015. The Ministerial Statement accompanying the Act explained that tougher Building Regulations requirements will make it unnecessary to apply the Code for Sustainable Homes in a planning context. The Act withdraws authorities' powers to impose conditions requiring energy efficiency standards above Building Regulations requirements (which are themselves moving towards the 2007 goal of zero carbon homes by 2016). The new regime introduces 'optional' Building Regulations (Regs+) requirements (known as the new National Technical Standards) that authorities can chose to apply to new permissions.

The policy in the Ministerial Statement includes a requirement that:

From the date the Deregulation Bill 2015 is given Royal Assent, local planning authorities and qualifying bodies preparing neighbourhood plans should not set in their emerging Local Plans, neighbourhood plans, or supplementary planning documents, any additional local technical standards or requirements relating to the construction, internal layout or performance of new dwellings. This includes any policy requiring any level of the Code for Sustainable Homes to be achieved by new development; the government has now withdrawn the code, aside from the management of legacy cases.

This has understandably led to...

To continue reading

Request your trial

VLEX uses login cookies to provide you with a better browsing experience. If you click on 'Accept' or continue browsing this site we consider that you accept our cookie policy. ACCEPT