Government accused of caving in to building lobby amid plans to shake up housing sector in England

The government has been accused of bowing to lobbying by housebuilders, in proposals that would prevent English local authorities from pursuing improvements to low-carbon homes standards.Under a consultation on planning rules, councils would be issued with guidance that would effectively limit their scope to demand builders construct new homes within their areas to the highest possible standards.These changes to the National Planning Policy Framework would benefit housebuilders, which could be assured of the same standards across England, but would bind the hands of councils, some of which have declared a “climate emergency”.Ministers have yet to publish separate much-delayed rules for the future homes standard (FHS), which requires new homes to be built with low-carbon equipment such as heat pumps, high-grade insulation and solar panels. But there are fears that the FHS will not go far enough.The government has refused to mandate specific technologies in the FHS, preferring to “set performance outcomes” according to a document seen by the Guardian, which could lead to builders trying to avoid installing technology such as heat pumps and solar panels, or installing too few solar panels on new homes.It could also mean builders might try to continue to connect new homes to the gas grid, for instance under the pretext of using “hydrogen ready” boilers, despite multiple studies having shown that hydrogen is not viable for home heating.Coupling the FHS with the proposed changes to the National Planning Policy Framework would mean the FHS would act as a ceiling on low-carbon building, prohibiting councils from mandating the clean technologies that are likely to be missing from the FHS. This could include compelling builders to install batteries as well as solar panels, which adds to the expense for housebuilders but saves on energy bills for householders.Experts have suggested the government has a history of yielding to pressure in the face of lobbying by the housebuilding sector. Labour has committed to its flagship target of building 1.5m new homes, on which it is already falling behind.Jess Ralston, the head of energy at the Energy and Climate Intelligence Unit thinktank, said: “New homes in the UK can be notoriously shoddy and for too long housebuilders have got away with it because, for the last decade or so, there’s been no significant changes to energy standards in building regulations. The future homes standard is a real opportunity to ensure that new homes are better quality and cheaper to live in, but limiting the ability for local authorities to set higher standards mean that more ambitious projects are stunted – meaning less benefit to the household while lining the pockets of the builders.”Ralston added: “The government might be in thrall to the major housebuilders lobbying but it’s households that could suffer as a result.”A group of more than 60 organisations, including local authorities, businesses and civil society groups, has written to Steve Reed, the housing secretary, to call for the planning policy proposals to be changed and to allow councils to set tougher regulations.Magnus Gallie, the senior planner at Friends of the Earth, one of the signatories to the letter, said: “The changes being proposed to national planning policy would effectively prevent local authorities from adopting cutting-edge energy efficiency standards that go above and beyond the current, inadequate building regulations for greener homes. This means new housing will fail to address rising fuel poverty or deliver truly zero-carbon homes. With the climate crisis already a reality, we need our homes to be fit for the future, not planning policy watered down to appease developers.”He said: “Councils must be free to adopt local standards that push developers to build warmer, energy efficient homes, so long as such policies are well-evidenced and builders can meet their requirements financially.”The Ministry of Housing, Communities & Local Government has been contacted for comment.