South West council adopts policy requiring new housing to be net zero
A council in the South West of England has adopted a “groundbreaking” policy requiring all new housing developments to be net zero.
Bath & North East Somerset Council’s new planning policy, adopted as part of an update to its local plan, includes rules that all housing developments must be 100% self-sufficient.
Developers will have to show that proposed new buildings are net zero, meaning the schemes will not contribute any additional carbon to the environment.
The council said that in “exceptional circumstances only”, some residential developments with more than 10 homes will have an option to offset any residual on-site renewable energy generation to match total energy use.
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The funds generated through this “last-resort offsetting” will be used to install solar PV on existing low-income households and social housing, it added.
A second policy will introduce a cap on the amount of carbon emissions resulting from the materials used in the construction of large-scale developments.
These ‘upfront’ embodied carbon emissions will be limited to 900kgCO2e/m2.
Net zero operational carbon standards for new major non-residential development will also be imposed.
The new rules, which have been approved by an independent planning inspector, were passed with overwhelming approval from councillors at a special meeting of Bath and North East Somerset’s full council.
According to the local authority, the local plan update will also help to replenish housing supply, enabling the council to meet its housing requirement in a “planned way” and have greater control over speculative planning applications.
It will also help the council to better manage off-campus, purpose-built student accommodation schemes where they meet a “demonstrable need”.
Tim Ball, cabinet member for planning and licensing at Bath & North East Somerset Council, said: “Adoption of the local plan partial update ensures our policies are aligned with the latest national policy and put us at the forefront nationally with policies related to the climate and ecological emergencies.
“Bath & North East Somerset Council is the first local planning authority in England to have an adopted local plan policy requiring a net zero energy balance for new housing and we are the first in the West of England to adopt a biodiversity net gain policy.”
A similar policy has also been developed by Cornwall Council and will be considered for adoption in February.
The council’s new policy is the first to be net zero aligned based on 2030 trajectories of industry-leading organisations such as the London Energy Transformation Initiative, the Royal Institute of British Architects and the Chartered Institute of Building Services Engineers.
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