Mark Isherwood
Shadow Housing Minister Mark Isherwood is concerned that the Housing Minister’s announcement of a temporary revision to the energy efficiency target will not be enough to help struggling homebuilders in Wales.
Mr Isherwood raised the matter in the Assembly Chamber in response to the Housing Minister’s Statement on Improving the Energy Performance of Buildings in Wales.
He said:
“Prior to your announcement last July, home builders told the Cross-Party Group on Construction that, although they are adapting their business model to adjust to the burden of regulation in Wales, they also predicted a flow of investment into England. I therefore joined the Home Builders Federation in welcoming your announcement of the revised energy efficiency target last July. However, the housing providers have also still expressed concern that deferring Wales-only regulatory costs is not enough when they are making long-term investment decisions. When revisiting this in 2016, therefore, how will you ensure that this is done with rather than to housing providers, prior to public consultation, to ensure that there are no cross-border disincentives to the delivery of housing supply in Wales via uncoordinated delivery of the European Energy Performance of Buildings Directive?”
The Minister told Mr Isherwood he has regular dialogue with the building industry and will continue to do so up to and until 2016, when he will be reviewing the part L regulations.
Mr Isherwood added:
“When the Minister announced his revised energy efficiency target, equivalent to an 8% improvement on 2010 standards for new homes in Wales, this was lower than the 40% originally consulted upon, but reflected responses to the consultation on Part L of the Building Regulations which highlighted the potential unintended impacts on the property and employment market as it struggled to recover from the 2008 crash. However, the Minister must listen to homebuilders when he again reviews minimum energy standards in 2016 before going to public consultation, or once again risk driving investment in new homes across the border into England.”
