Council’s climate change work highlighted by Channel 4

A Channel 4 programme that explores what we need to do as a society to eliminate our carbon emissions sees Grand Designs presenter Kevin McCloud highlighting Lancaster City Council’s work to improve environmental standards in housebuilding.

Aired on Wednesday evening (November 22), The Great Climate Fight followed Kevin in his quest to examine the opportunities and barriers we face in reaching net zero.

Helping to provide the ammunition to build his case was Diane Neville, Principal Planning Policy Officer at the city council. She outlined the council’s decision to review its Local Plan and the work that has been done to include more measures to mitigate the effects of climate change and reduce carbon emissions.

However, despite the council’s best efforts, it is being frustrated by a ministerial statement that limits the energy efficiency measures that can be demanded of new housing developments.

Armed with this evidence, Kevin tracked down Michael Gove (Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities) to demand change and to try and arrange a meeting between him and the city council to discuss the issue in more depth.

Diane explained: “The council’s decision to review the Local Plan was borne from a desire to strengthen its approach towards mitigating against the impacts of Climate Change following the declaration of a Climate Emergency in January 2019.

“One of the key areas that requires change is how housebuilding can respond to climate change and as part of the review, Lancaster put forward a much tougher set of environmental standards than central government propose, which would have led to more energy efficient homes and significantly cheaper utility bills for occupants.

“Preventing us from doing so is a ministerial statement from eight years ago, despite the fact that it is not expressly referred to in any national planning guidance or law.

“Kevin was keen to find out more and see if he could be of help in persuading the Government to withdraw the statement as this would go a long way to helping to improve environmental standards in house building, helping both residents and the environment.

“Although, the meeting with Michael Gove ultimately did not take place, we’re still hopeful that something can be arranged via Kevin, as the Secretary of State had originally agreed.”

Also featured in the episode is the Lune Walk development in Halton, which has created 20 new low-energy Passivhaus standard homes. Kevin uses the scheme as an example of the type of energy efficient homes the country needs to tackle the climate emergency, while benefiting residents with lower bills.

Lancaster City Council is leading the way amongst districts in tackling climate change and recently topped a leaderboard for district councils in an assessment of the actions being taken to achieve net zero.

Climate Emergency UK assessed councils on their efforts to decarbonise and the city council scored a total of 61%, making it the top performing district council in the country.

The district council average was 29% and only four district councils scored over 50%, with Lancaster the only district council to score over 60%. Some of the projects that the council has undertaken and helped it to achieve top place include the decarbonisation of Salt Ayre Leisure Centre and the introduction of a car club with Co Wheels to make electric vehicles more accessible.

• The Great Climate Fight is available to watch now at Channel4.com.

Last updated: 23 November 2023