The Scope of the Inquiry
1. In October 2005 we announced our decision to return
to the subject of sustainable housing by conducting a follow-up
inquiry to our predecessor Committee's Report, Housing: Building
a Sustainable Future, published in January 2005.[1]
Whilst this represented a very rapid return to this subject,
we felt that it was justified by both the critical importance
of the whole housing issue, and the pace of developments since
the Report was published. Not least of these developments is the
Government's decision to increase the proposed rate of new build
housing from 150,000 per year to 200,000 per year by 2016.
2. In our press release, we expressed a desire to
hear responses to the following questions:
- Can a voluntary Code for Sustainable
Buildings possibly deliver the degree of change needed in the
building industry to achieve well-designed, energy efficient sustainable
buildings which have minimal impact on the local environment?
[2]
- Is the Government doing enough to promote the
Code, with the industry and the general public, ahead of its imminent
introduction early in 2006?
- Should the Government be introducing fiscal measures
to reward higher building quality and greater environmental performance?
- Does the ODPM Five Year Plan, Sustainable
Communities: Homes for All demonstrate a greater recognition
of, and greater commitment to tackling, the impact of increased
house building on the environment or does it merely pay lip service
to it?
- To what extent does the Five Year Plan address
the environmental implications of the geographical distribution
of demolition versus new build?
- The Government has consulted on the new construction
standard for dwellings (LPS2020). On the basis of that consultation
is it possible to determine whether the new standard will be a
positive force for change and add value to the construction process?
- Is the Government doing enough to secure sufficient
funds for the timely provision of infrastructure, such as transport
links, schools and hospitals in the four Growth Areas?
- Are the water companies doing enough to secure
the supply of water resources to the four Growth Areas? And is
concern about security of water supply, in the South East of England
in particular, a valid one or simply a knee jerk reaction to a
few hot, dry summers?
- Is there sufficient effort being made by the
Government, the Environment Agency and the water companies to
educate people about water efficiency?
3. Forty-five memoranda were received, some of which
were supplementary to evidence sessions. Oral evidence was heard
from nine individuals or organisations, including Yvette Cooper
MP, Minister for Housing and Planning, Office of the Deputy Prime
Minister (ODPM), and Elliot Morley MP, Minister of State, Climate
Change and Environment, Department for Environment, Food and Rural
Affairs (DEFRA). We are grateful for all the evidence given to
us in this inquiry. There was a great deal of consistency in
the evidence we received and it is clear that housing, and the
impact of the proposed new communities in particular, remains
an emotive issue with many of those who contributed to this inquiry.
Background.
4. Our predecessor Committee's Report, Housing:
Building a Sustainable Future, was published in January 2005.
The Report acknowledged the need to increase the supply of affordable
housing in certain parts of the country, accepted that this would
inevitably mean building new homes, but expressed deep concern
about the potential environmental impacts associated with that
housing growth. The Report concluded that,
It is surely better to build sustainable housing
for sustainable communities slowly, prudently and well than to
put up poorly considered, planned, designed and constructed housing,
which may solve an immediate problem but which will only lead
to longer term difficulties in the future. Gradual, careful construction
of sustainable housing is vital if we are to operate within environmental
limits.[3]
5. The Report went on to identify what were considered
to be imperative issues the Government had to address. In our
view, these imperatives have not changed and are still relevant
today. They are therefore worth reproducing here to set the context
for this follow-up Report. They were:
- Infrastructure must run concurrently
with housing construction and not follow it, or fail to materialise
at all;
- There have to be minimal carbon emissions during
both the construction of new housing and during its lifetime use;
- New housing must be durable, built to last from
sustainable, recycled or recyclable, and - where possible - locally
sourced materials. Funding must be made available for the research
to ensure that this becomes increasingly possible;
- New housing should be constructed to higher average
densities than at present, whilst maximising the use of available
brownfield sites;
- Housebuilders have to be made to improve their
performance across the board, to accept innovation and more stringent
regulations for ensuring higher quality housing;
- The skills base and environmental awareness of
planners, architects, builders and all those involved in planning
and construction needs to improve;
- Local and regional planning decisions for new
housing should be made by elected bodies, answerable to all those
who live in or around the areas to be affected;
- A National Spatial Framework for England should
be drawn up to challenge the assumptions that currently favour
over-development in the east and south-east and under-development
in the north and west; and
- The environmental principles within sustainable
development must be better understood by local authorities, by
developers and the construction industry, and by national government
- and their importance taken to heart.
6. Just before our predecessor Committee published
its Report, the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister (ODPM) published
its Five Year Plan, Sustainable Communities: Homes for All.[4]
Unfortunately, this proved to be too late for our predecessor
Committee to give it any formal consideration in its Report. More
than twelve months on from publication we believe this is an ideal
opportunity to test the value of the Plan and some of the initiatives
and work streams which have resulted from it.
1 Housing: Building a Sustainable Future, First Report
of Session 2004-05, HC135-1 Back
2
The Code for Sustainable Buildings became the Code for Sustainable
Homes when it was published as a Consultation Paper in December
2005. Back
3
Housing: Building a Sustainable Future, First Report of Session
2004-05, HC135-1, page 3 Back
4
www.odpm.gov.uk Sustainable Communities: Homes for All Back
