Future Homes Standard

Debate between Baroness Ritchie of Downpatrick and Baroness Taylor of Stevenage

Wednesday 29th January 2025 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Taylor of Stevenage (Lab)]

I just want to say that we do understand the effectiveness of solar panels in providing a direct and sustainable way to harness renewable energy and to allow homes to generate their own electricity, as well as offering the significant savings that will help with fuel bills. It is my absolute intention that the new building regulation standards that will be introduced this year will encourage the use of rooftop solar panels. I am working very fast with my honourable friend Minister Fahnbulleh to drive this forward as quickly as possible. We need to confirm the technical detail of the standards and we will share more details of them as soon as we are able.

[Baroness Ritchie of Downpatrick (Lab)]

My Lords, does my noble friend the Minister agree that, by being ambitious here, we have the opportunity to drive growth in renewable sectors such as the heat pump sector while also delivering homes that will be fit for the future, both for the cold that we expect and the excessively warmer temperatures that are now becoming more normal?

[Baroness Taylor of Stevenage (Lab)]

My noble friend is quite right that, as we set out in our Plan for Change, our growth agenda and our drive towards net zero are not exclusive: there is no conflict between them. I see three major opportunities for us here: great jobs, training, skills and apprenticeships for our young people, both in construction and in retrofitting; manufacturing capability for technology such as heat pumps, solar and maybe many new aspects of that; and building on our country’s fantastic reputation for innovation as we develop the green technologies of the future. These things are totally compatible with our growth agenda.

Housing: Permitted Development Rights

Debate between Baroness Ritchie of Downpatrick and Baroness Taylor of Stevenage

Wednesday 18th December 2024 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Taylor of Stevenage (Lab)]

My Lords, the Planning Gateway One fire safety requirements apply to applications for planning permission for relevant buildings. To apply some of the principles to permitted development, there was a prior approval on fire safety impacts in 2021 that applies to class MA: commercial, business and services to residential. It is not, however, as detailed as the requirements for a planning application. For example, it does not require the completion of a fire safety form. We need to continue to look at these issues and to make sure that permitted development is completely safe from fire.

[Baroness Ritchie of Downpatrick (Lab)]

My Lords, I congratulate the Government and my noble friend the Minister on the ambitious housing targets to meet housing need. What assessment has been made of mixed funding models using private, public, and banking and hedge fund sources to construct those houses in order to provide for the great housing need throughout the country?

[Baroness Taylor of Stevenage (Lab)]

My noble friend makes an excellent point about funding for affordable housing. Even in a very tight budget round, the Government have allocated an additional £500 million towards affordable housing, which brings the total up to around £3 billion altogether. But we need to consider all sources of funding. I spoke to a housing investment forum in the City of London just a few weeks ago, and there is great interest in this area; and of course, we still need to look at pension funds further for local investment to drive the housing market.