But planning experts say party鈥檚 social housing plans are undeliverable
The Green Party鈥檚 manifesto has been greeted with a mixed reception from the built environment, with praise for its ambition on retrofit offset by questions around the achievability of its housing plans.
Party co-leaders Carla Denyer and Adrian Ramsay launched their platform this morning at the Sussex country cricket ground in Hove this morning, promising a five-year programme of retrofit investments worth nearly 拢50bn in total.
Louise Hutchins, head of policy at the UK Green 黑洞社区 Council, said the party had 鈥渦nderstood the scale of long-term investment needed鈥�.
鈥淪o far, this election hasn鈥檛 been a 鈥榗limate election鈥� despite the dire warnings from scientists,鈥� she said.
鈥淭his manifesto is a useful contribution to driving the issue up the agenda given the next government will be the last capable of bringing in the game-changing policies needed.鈥�
The policy, called the 鈥楩airer, Greener Homes Guarantee鈥�, would also see an end to competitive bidding for the Social Housing Decarbonisation Fund, better access to property-linked finance for owner occupiers and a right for tenants to insist that landlords access property-linked finance on their behalf.
鈥淟andlords will not need to provide any up-front finance, but they would have to repay the debt and will benefit from the improved value of the property,鈥� the manifesto said.
鈥淩ent controls would prevent them passing repayments straight on to tenants鈥�.
Green Party鈥檚 Fairer, Greener Homes Guarantee
拢29bn over the next five years to insulate homes to EPC B standard or above, as part of a ten-year programme. 拢12bn of this will be to retrofit the social housing stock and 拢17bn as grants to retrofit privately owned homes to a similar standard.
拢4bn over the next five years to insulate other public buildings to a high standard. This is primarily for schools and hospitals, as part of a ten-year programme. 拢1bn will be made available as grants to retrofit private sector buildings to a similarly high standard.
拢9bn over the next five years for heating systems (e.g. heat pumps) for homes and other buildings.
拢7bn over the next five years to adapt homes to avoid over-heating in the hotter summers
The Greens鈥� plans also include a promise to increase council and housing association provision of social homes to 150,000 new homes a year 鈥渁s soon as possible鈥�.
鈥淕reens will push for these new homes to be delivered through various measures, including new build and refurbishment,鈥� the manifesto said, adding that it would empower local authorities to bring empty homes back into use.
Lawrence Turner, director of planning consultancy Boyer, said the lack of detail about how it would achieve this increase in new social homes was a 鈥渘otable omission鈥�.
鈥淭he strategy of piecemeal development across local areas would pose challenges in planning and delivering the necessary infrastructure to support housing growth,鈥� he said.
鈥淎dditionally, a sporadic approach to housing development, will make the delivery of the targeted number of affordable homes impossible to achieve, especially when considering the need for developments on greenfield sites as well as urban land.鈥�
He concluded that 鈥渨hile the Green Party鈥檚 manifesto for housing affordability and sustainability presents ambitious goals, it remains undeliverable 鈥� and lacks any details on how these goals will be effectively achieved鈥�.
Jane Crichton, associate director at consultant Lanpro Services, complained at the lack of 鈥渕easures to support greater delivery rates of other forms of housing 鈥� including much needed private housing 鈥� and targets for doing so鈥�.
The manifesto also included a pledge that elected Greens would campaign to change building regulations so all new homes meet Passivhaus, require house builders to include solar panels and low carbon heating systems such as heat pumps for all new homes, and upgrade the Minimum Energy Efficiency Standard to EPC C.
Crichton said this was also 鈥減robably unrealistic鈥� due to the costs and skilled workforce required.
鈥淚t would impose an enormous burden on the development industry, and significantly slow delivery, without some well-planned measures to support the transition,鈥� she said.
Election focus
With the UK set for a general election on 4 July, the country is facing some serious problems.
Low growth, flatlining productivity, question marks over net zero funding and capability, skills shortages and a worsening housing crisis all amount to a daunting in-tray for the next government.
This year鈥檚 general election therefore has very high stakes for the built environment and the economy as a whole. For this reason,
黑洞社区鈥檚 election coverage aims to help the industry understand the issues and amplify construction鈥檚 voice so that the parties hears it loud and clear.
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