‘I’m astonished new Lidl not being built with solar panels’

I MUST express astonishment that the new Aldi store proposed in Biddulph was not designed with solar panels, despite having a large south facing roof. It is, of course, commendable that the Aldi proposal has heat recovery and insulation embedded in the design but those design features do not bring it to net zero for CO2, which could be possible if solar panels and an interseason heat store are included.

As was pointed out by the planning officer, the SMDC Local Plan only advises and does not insist on measures to achieve net zero CO2 in new housing and other buildings. SMDC has rightly declared a climate emergency but seems reluctant to act in any way to reduce the CO2 pollution produced in the district.

This is not surprising since they are following the lead of a government which cancelled building regulations that could have made our housing stock fit for purpose within 30 years.

They also cancelled the Feed in Tariff, which was a useful incentive to help finance the installation of solar panels. The government’s current proposals to feed taxpayers’ money into the gas and nuclear industries should instead be directed to multiple small scale renewable energy initiatives, which have some chance of being completed within time and within budget, rather than vanity projects such as nuclear fusion, which will not produce any power before 2040.

SMDC needs to act rapidly to ensure future building stock is fit for purpose. For this reason Moorlands

Climate Action expects the Cabinet Member for Climate Change to urgently bring forward proposals to improve the environmental credentials of building regulations in the SMDC Local Plan.

Nigel Williams Chair Moorlands

Climate Action