Comment

Representation ID: 22524

Received: 16/03/2020

Respondent: Broadland Green Party

In the policy on homes there is no reference to quality of homes, energy efficiency and climate change. These are critical issues to the future build of homes in Norfolk given the general poor quality of homes adhering to just the basic standards of house building, if that, in some extreme cases.
On the issue of build quality, there appears to be a woeful lack of building control inspections to ensure at least the minimum of standards adhering to the Building Regulations. We suspect this is in part due to a combination of the privatisation of Building Control (CNC) and the reduction in funding to local authorities to carry out statutory responsibilities adequately, in this case that of building control inspections. This dire situation needs to be urgently rectified.
Back in 2008 the Climate Change Strategy for Norfolk signed by all seven district councils and the county council stated: ““Most of the houses and infrastructure that we build now will still be standing in 2080, when the impacts of climate change will be much greater. The considerable level of growth planned for the county by 2026 provides an immediate strategic opportunity to plan housing and infrastructure that will be much more resilient to the impacts of climate change. This will reduce long term risks to Norfolk residents and help avoid the potentially major expense of addressing problems at a later stage, after the impacts of climate change have been felt.”
All new housing must be carbon neutral or at least built to Passivhaus standards.