The Monitoring Officer to report on the receipt of any questions, representations or statements of case received in accordance with Council procedures.
Three questions have been submitted:
Ms Z Zelter submits the following questions:
1) “In light of the climate emergency and fuel poverty, does the council intend to require all its new developments to be to Passivhaus/Zero Carbon standard with renewable generation? If not, why? And if yes, what is the time line?”
2) “Would Leicester City Council consider actively checking and enforcing all private rental accommodation to ensure it is reaching minimum carbon efficiency standards, and licencing them to cover the cost of checks and enforcement?”
3) “Given that there is to be a consultation in the next few months on a carbon action plan for the city, please would this commission press for an additional person to be added to the City Executive (beyond the deputy city mayor for environment) whose sole role would be to push for all council policy and actions to be in line with tackling the climate emergency to be part of that carbon action plan.”
Minutes:
The Director of Housing was present to respond to three questions submitted and supplementary questions that arose.
The Chair said the questions submitted cut across multiple areas of the council and multiple scrutiny committees, and answers to the questions had been collated to be presented at the Housing Scrutiny Commission.
Mrs Zina Zelter was invited to the table to ask her questions.
1) “In light of the climate emergency and fuel poverty, does the council intend to require all its new developments to be to Passivhaus/Zero Carbon standard with renewable generation? If not, why? And if yes, what is the time line?”
Reply
The Director of Housing said from a planning perspective, current policy sought to address this through the adopted Core Strategy.
Core Strategy policy stated all development must mitigate and adapt to climate change and reduce greenhouse gas emissions. The policy required development to meet the Code for Sustainable Homes Level 3 and where feasible, encouraged development to incorporate best practice energy efficiency and sustainable construction methods, and encouraged development to include connection to an existing Combined Heat and Power or Community Heating System, wherever feasible.
The city council was currently in the process of producing a new local plan, which would seek to enhance the strength of policies addressing climate change. Whilst there had been a climate emergency declared on the local level, national government had limited the scope of planning policy available to allow local planning authorities to set energy performance standards higher than the Building Regulations.
National planning policy guidance currently did not allow local planning authorities to set energy performance standards for new housing above the equivalent of Level 4 of the Code for Sustainable Homes.
The energy efficiency standards of new development was being considered as part of the new local plan process. There would be future consultation on a draft local plan, but the scope would largely be defined by how far national policy allowed local authorities to go in policy development and adoption.
From a Leicester City Council housing building perspective, not only was the council committed to building high quality, good value affordable homes for those people on the housing register, it also wanted them to be environmentally friendly and cheap to run.
The first phase of new homes (29 units) were being built to the current Building Control standards and were due to be completed in the Summer of 2020.
The council aimed to build subsequent phases to higher standards and the way it would be achieved would be decided on a site by site basis. It could not be confirmed at the meeting if it would specifically include the use of specific renewable technologies or that all developments would be built to Passive House Standards.
The council had not ruled out any form of construction or methods for achieving good quality homes that were kind to the environment and cheap to run
Supplementary Question
Should not housing be required to be built to level 4 standards?
Response
The Director of Housing said the first step for LCC was to get back in to building Council housing and produce a good quality product, balancing the needs of the City and delivering on the new homes that it needs with producing a good balanced environmental produce which was excellent value for money. Now the first phase was up and running and the council is back into house building there was the possibility of doing particular schemes in order to be an example for others.
He added the Heathcote Road site, sold for £1 in conjunction with a Housing Association was already built to passivehaus standards. Each site going forward would be assessed on a case by case basis. It needed to be noted that a number of the sites that LCC would be delivering on would be small sites with low profitability or expensive to deliver in the private world. This would cost the authority more and the council needed to make sure it delivered the right number of homes that the City needs.
2) “Would Leicester City Council consider actively checking and enforcing all private rental accommodation to ensure it is reaching minimum carbon efficiency standards, and licencing them to cover the cost of checks and enforcement?”
Reply
The Director of Housing responded that as a local authority, it was responsible for maintaining standards in houses in multiple occupation (HMO) and temporary accommodation, as well as rented single and family properties. The council ensured HMOs applied for mandatory license, inspected private rented properties for disrepair and hazards, and offered services and support to ensure properties were safe to live in, were in good repair, and had adequate fire safety measures and facilities. Furthermore, the council could act to help tenants who felt their landlord was failing to maintain a rented property to a satisfactory standard.
In relation to energy efficiency, in April 2018 the Minimum Energy Efficiency Standard (MEES) regulations was introduced and meant that private landlords could not let domestic properties to new or existing tenants if the Energy Efficiency Certificate (EPC) rating was F or G (unless an exemption applied). From 1 April 2020 the prohibition on letting F and G properties would extend to all relevant properties, even where there had been no change in tenancy.
As part of the process in awarding mandatory licenses, an Energy Performance Certificate was required for properties when they were let. The Energy Performance Certificate provided details on the energy performance of the property and what could be done to improve it.
If a local authority
believed a landlord had failed to fulfil their obligations under
the MEES Regulations, they could serve the landlord with a
compliance notice. If a breach was confirmed, the landlord might
receive a financial penalty.
The council was now undertaking work to introduce a Selective Licensing Scheme (SLS). The scheme aimed to improve the standards of property management in the private rental sector in specific areas of the city. Selective Licensing schemes were established in many places around the country, with local authorities reporting benefits for their communities such as better housing, increased housing demand and protection of vulnerable people who currently lived in poor condition properties; it was the council’s intention that as part of the work energy standards were also considered.
However, in Nottingham following consultation with landlords it was decided it would be unfair to place a burden of heavy charges on landlords who were good, and instead target those landlords who were not so compliant.
Supplementary Question
Am I understanding you don’t routinely consult?
Response
The Director of Housing said that a number of different organisations and stakeholders would be consulted, and what was in place in other parts of the country would be looked at.
The Chair said that private landlords and licensing fell under the Neighbourhood Services Scrutiny Commission and further questions on the issue should be forwarded to that Commission.
3) “Given that there is to be a consultation in the next few months on a carbon action plan for the city, please would this commission press for an additional person to be added to the City Executive (beyond the deputy city mayor for environment) whose sole role would be to push for all council policy and actions to be in line with tackling the climate emergency to be part of that carbon action plan.”
The Chair said it was important that climate change impacted on every service in the city. It had been seen on the news how it had come to the forefront, and it was important the council took it seriously, and that climate change impact be included in reports.
Members requested a report be brought to the Commission to explain in more detail outlining what level of house building standards could be achieved, and the trade-off between long-term benefits to short-term higher costs on build. It was further added the council should be building to the highest possible standards, and if law prevented the Council from doing so, the law should be challenged.
The Director of Housing said the council was trying to obtain a balance in delivering a significant number of homes for the city, and meeting climate and energy efficient standards and making sure good value was provided for the city.
AGREED:
1. That a detailed report be brought to a future meeting of the Housing Scrutiny Commission on house building standards.
2. That climate change impact on proposals be routinely included in reports
The Chair reported that items would be considered out of the order given in the agenda.