Communities and Local Government

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Planning, building and the environment

Environment

We are committed to protecting and enhancing the environment and tackling climate change - one of the most serious threats facing us today. One way of making a major contribution is through the planning system and the way we build new homes.

An ambitious package of innovative measures to reduce carbon emissions from new homes was announced by Communities Secretary Ruth Kelly in December 2006. She set out a new timetable and strategy to make all new homes zero carbon by 2016 - that means that there will be no net carbon emissions from all energy use in the new home over the year.

The measures in the strategy include:

• gradually tightening up building regulations up to 2016 to increase the energy efficiency of new homes and eventually make them zero carbon
• a Code for Sustainable Homes to give homeowners more information about how green their property is
• a draft Planning Policy Statement on climate change.

We are also committed to supporting local government to take the lead on climate change. The Local Government White Paper gives councils new opportunities to drive local action on offsetting the impact of climate change and adapting.

Our commitment to protecting and enhancing the environment is demonstrated in other areas. For example, we are:

• identifying measures to conserve water, especially in areas where there is high demand for housing. We are consulting on new minimum standards to make new buildings more water-efficient
• looking at ways of improving the energy and water efficiency of existing homes
• making sure that developments include important green spaces which are vital to people's health and wellbeing

We are also working to ensure the Department is run and managed with environmental impacts in mind.

Find out more in this section about the work of our cleaner, safer, greener programme which works to ensure everyone has access to good quality open spaces.

There is more detailed information about the consultation document, water efficiency consultation and our other environmental projects on our policy site.

Related publications

• Review of Sustainability of Existing Buidings: The Energy Efficiency of Dwellings - Initial Analysis

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  • Site: Planning, building and the environment