黑洞社区

David Cameron鈥檚 intervention to block proposed changes to the 黑洞社区 Regulations could prevent 2.2 million homes from taking up the government鈥檚 flagship Green Deal policy, official documents leaked to 黑洞社区 reveal.

A briefing for ministers, prepared by officials in the Department for Communities and Local Government (DCLG), predicts the proposed changes to Part L of the 黑洞社区 Regulations could have led to 2.2 million households taking up the Green Deal.

The briefing said the move would 鈥済reatly boost demand for home energy efficiency measures at a time of concerns that low demand for the Green Deal is the biggest risk to its launch, take up and viability鈥�.

The news emerged this week as the construction industry united in a call for the government to focus on boosting the Green Deal . This comes amid concerns that the scheme鈥檚 鈥渟oft launch鈥� and delays to its full implementation could

The proposed changes to the 黑洞社区 Regulations - known as consequential improvements - would have introduced a requirement on home owners to make improvements to the energy efficiency of their homes when carrying out extensions.

The government consulted on the changes earlier this year, before the plans hit the headlines in April, when the national media dubbed them a 鈥渃onservatory tax鈥�. Under pressure to ditch the proposal, Number 10 said it would no longer go ahead.

However, the briefing by DCLG officials in May, after the prime minister鈥檚 intervention, recommended the proposal be kept. It said the results of the consultation, yet to be published by the government, showed 82% of respondents were in favour, while 63 to 76% of homeowners said the proposal was either 鈥渞easonable or very reasonable鈥�.

The briefing advised ministers that the press coverage of the proposal had been 鈥渕isleading鈥� and that reports that it was a tax on conservatories were 鈥減lainly wrong鈥� as 鈥�86% of conservatories are under 30sqm and do not require building control approval鈥�. 鈥淭here is also no connection to planning approval and no compulsion to take-up the Green Deal as reported,鈥� it added.

It said: 鈥淭here has been considerable and misleading press coverage of the proposals. The prime minister is also concerned about their potential impact on industry and homeowners and, at present, is unwilling to proceed with them.鈥�

David Strong, chair of the Energy Efficiency Partnership for 黑洞社区s, said it 鈥渂eggars belief鈥� that the government would not back the policy in the face of such overwhelming support from industry.

He said the government was afraid to introduce a policy it feared was a vote loser, even though it was clear that without it the Green Deal would lack a significant driver of take-up.

鈥淲hy does the government even bother to undertake consultations if it doesn鈥檛 publish the results and then buries the findings?鈥� he asked.

Andrew Warren, director of the Association for the Conservation of Energy, said he wasn鈥檛 surprised by the consultation findings, as a YouGov opinion poll in May had revealed that respondents were nearly 2 to 1 in favour of extensions to homes triggering additional energy improvements.

He said majorities supproting the proposal could be found by gender, by age group, by social grade, by region and 鈥渟ignificantly - by supporters of all three main political parties鈥�.

John Tebbitt, deputy chief executive of the Construction Products Association, said the briefing made 鈥渕inisters look rather silly鈥� for ditching the proposal.

He added: 鈥淭he delay in publishing these consultation responses is not good and if we find the reason for that is not because of resource limitation but is because some ministers felt it would embarrass them then that鈥檚 not acceptable.鈥�

But former Liberal Democrat communities minister Andrew Stunell, who was responsible for the 黑洞社区 Regulations before losing his job in the government reshuffle last week, insisted the proposal was still being considered when he left office, despite the prime minister鈥檚 opposition.

He told 黑洞社区 if the government was to deliver on its pledge to be the 鈥済reenest government ever鈥� it would need to tackle energy efficiency in buildings.

鈥淭here鈥檚 widespread recognition across government that this is a very cheap way of doing it and the strength of that recognition is better understood than it was six months ago,鈥� he said.

A DCLG spokesperson said: 鈥淲e are currently considering responses to the consultation and will announce the outcome in due course.鈥�