Greater and greener homes More homes, ready for net zero

The housing shortage The supply of new homes has not kept pace with demand in some parts of the country, contributing to the significant increase in house prices in recent decades. [...] This means there is a greater political incentive for local authorities to limit the number of new homes in response to local opposition than to increase supply in line with national objectives.20 Local opposition is exacerbated by the failure of the planning system to encourage attractive design, as the Building Better, Building Beautiful commission report found.21 Unquestionably, reforming the p. [...] The Government’s productivity strategy, Fixing the Foundations,87 announced that it would not proceed with the plan to require new homes to be carbon neutral from 2016, which was originally advocated by the last Labour Government and officially introduced by the Coalition Government in the 2010s. [...] The Government’s response to the consultation in 2021 confirmed it would introduce the interim standard from 2022 and the Future Homes Standard from 2025.89 Heat and Buildings Strategy published in 2021.90 This outlined the actions the Government will take to decarbonise buildings by 2050. [...] The Coalition Government published The Carbon Plan in 2011, which included the 2016 zero carbon homes commitment.95 In 2013, the Government consulted on its plan to deliver zero carbon new homes,96 and introduced powers to implement its proposals in the Infrastructure Act 2015.