Let’s look long-term with new buildings

It is agreed that the nation faces a housing crisis, but the Government’s ‘Build Build Build’ plan is a missed opportunity, mainly involving ‘new money’ which is not new and inviting developers to build ‘fantastic new homes on brownfield sites’.

How much better to invest in true social housing, providing enough space to do more than swing a cat, a garden or at least a balcony (for sanity in the next pandemic) and above all insulation to the genuinely world beating ‘Passivhaus’ standards. At a stroke the health and wellbeing of residents would improve, their heating bills would shrink by 70 per cent and the carbon emissions would diminish dramatically.

Google ‘RIBA Goldsmith Street’ to see what has been done in Norwich.

Our local authority is building thousands of apartments and houses - but to what floorspace and insulation standards?

As the landowner it must demand that any builder puts up future-proof houses which might help it to meet its 2050 carbon emissions target.

The Climate Emergency demands action. If a local authority cannot do this, then central government must tighten building regulations to achieve it.

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