Sustainability Draft Supplementary Planning Document
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Sustainability Draft Supplementary Planning Document
1 INTRODUCTION
Representation ID: 10415
Received: 19/02/2024
Respondent: Green Heat Coop
This letter is a response to the consultation on the North Hertfordshire District Council Sustainability Supplementary Planning Document dated November 2023.
The Green Heat Coop is based in Royston and is a non-profit, community-based company focused on the transition away from fossil-fuels to high efficiency, low carbon, high comfort home heating systems. As such, the Coop wholeheartedly supports the aims of the draft SPD.
The Coop also recognises that the SPD cannot introduce new planning policies or add unnecessary financial burdens on development, and that the Ministerial Statement made in the House of Lords on 13th December 2023 unfortunately limits the scope of local authorities yet further in this regard. We would like to draw your attention to the response and interpretation of the Ministerial Statement prepared by LETI (the Low Energy Transformation Initiative CIC), which is available here. That said, the Coop would support, wherever possible, the encouragement of more ambitious efforts to reduce carbon dependency in new and existing homes. We note that buildings constructed under today’s Building Regulations will need to be retrofit to meet the net zero carbon targets laid out by central government (2050 target) and North Herts DC (2040 target).
We support the use of the checklists to encourage developers towards the Gold standards and we encourage North Hertfordshire DC to set the Gold standards at an ambitious level. We are pleased to see that the Gold standard for energy efficiency is the Passivhaus / LETI standard (or equivalent) and that the Gold standard for On-site Low Carbon and Renewable Energy is set at 50% or more reliance on renewable energy in the draft SPD. We believe the Gold standard could reasonably be set at an even higher level (perhaps up to 67%) to encourage the use of heat pumps and solar panels in new construction.
In addition, further guidance and support for householders who wish to retrofit their homes with, for example, more efficient insulation or renewable energy provision, would be welcome – whether within the SPD or beyond it. The Green Heat Coop has applied for funding to expand our capacity to assist householders in retrofit activity, and is exploring how we can work with the Hertfordshire Climate Change and Sustainability Partnership (HCCSP) and others to do more in this area. We would be delighted to discuss this with North Herts DC in due course. Our contact details are as above.
This letter is a response to the consultation on the North Hertfordshire District Council Sustainability Supplementary Planning Document dated November 2023.
The Green Heat Coop is based in Royston and is a non-profit, community-based company focused on the transition away from fossil-fuels to high efficiency, low carbon, high comfort home heating systems. As such, the Coop wholeheartedly supports the aims of the draft SPD.
The Coop also recognises that the SPD cannot introduce new planning policies or add unnecessary financial burdens on development, and that the Ministerial Statement made in the House of Lords on 13th December 2023 unfortunately limits the scope of local authorities yet further in this regard. We would like to draw your attention to the response and interpretation of the Ministerial Statement prepared by LETI (the Low Energy Transformation Initiative CIC), which is available here. That said, the Coop would support, wherever possible, the encouragement of more ambitious efforts to reduce carbon dependency in new and existing homes. We note that buildings constructed under today’s Building Regulations will need to be retrofit to meet the net zero carbon targets laid out by central government (2050 target) and North Herts DC (2040 target).
We support the use of the checklists to encourage developers towards the Gold standards and we encourage North Hertfordshire DC to set the Gold standards at an ambitious level. We are pleased to see that the Gold standard for energy efficiency is the Passivhaus / LETI standard (or equivalent) and that the Gold standard for On-site Low Carbon and Renewable Energy is set at 50% or more reliance on renewable energy in the draft SPD. We believe the Gold standard could reasonably be set at an even higher level (perhaps up to 67%) to encourage the use of heat pumps and solar panels in new construction.
In addition, further guidance and support for householders who wish to retrofit their homes with, for example, more efficient insulation or renewable energy provision, would be welcome – whether within the SPD or beyond it. The Green Heat Coop has applied for funding to expand our capacity to assist householders in retrofit activity, and is exploring how we can work with the Hertfordshire Climate Change and Sustainability Partnership (HCCSP) and others to do more in this area. We would be delighted to discuss this with North Herts DC in due course. Our contact details are as above.
