Motion on Climate Change (Oxfordshire Liberal Democrats)

Oxfordshire Liberal Democrats <info@oxfordshirelibdems.org.uk>

Motion on Climate Change

September 12, 2006 11:30 PM
By Cllr Zoe Patrick in Full Council

I am not going to make a long speech about climate change and the need to reduce our environmental impact. I think we all know only too well, the dangers of doing nothing. However, what really concerns me are the new housing development figures forced on the South East by this government.

Oxfordshire is already taking a large amount of extra housing, without the necessary infrastructure to support it and we will bear the consequences of this, not least through all the extra traffic implications, especially on the A34 - let alone anything else.

So all I am asking here is if there is to be more housing, at the very least they need to be built to environmental standards. There have been national guidelines drawn up and some work with district councils has already begun, but more needs to be done to encourage house builders to follow best practice guidelines on energy efficiency for all new-build dwellings.

We are calling on the government to use its powers to promote energy efficiency. More needs to be done to house builders housebuilders are required to use the highest standards possible for eco-friendly homes. This is about more solar panels built in, more insulation and more attention being paid to create housing which will require less energy to heat in winter and remain cool in summer. We also need to consider water use and waste water. I am not going to go into all the technicalities of modern technology here, this is for the experts to work on.

However, there are regulations that improve the energy efficiency standards of new buildings which have been laid down in Parliament recently. So, for example, in a development that along with other changes to strengthen the Building Regulations could raise efficiency by 40%. The new measures call for building developers to use the latest energy saving techniques, such as high-efficiency boilers and low or zero carbon systems such as solar, where possible.

The new regulations, which come into effect also cover air pressure testing, simplifying the process for calculating a building's energy performance. A large-scale training programme has been launched by the ODPM to help builders and building control authorities to adapt to the changes.

"By increasing energy efficiency standards by 40% our changes to building regulations make a significant contribution to the Government's effort to tackle climate change and offer householders reduced fuel bills too," this was said by Housing and Planning Minister Yvette Cooper. "Alongside making new homes more sustainable we are also looking at further measures to improve the sustainability of existing homes and new planning guidance to further promote micro-generation and tackle climate change."

So all I am asking Council to do is to support this motion so that we can urge government to use these powers further and ensure that all developers who put forward their planning applications within Oxfordshire, are required to ensure they follow these best practice guidelines, so that houses built will be sustainable and actually save energy for the future.