BREAM is not available for single house developments. This policy should be modified to encompass this. The policy places a significant burden on small developers which will supress demand for those builders who generally get houses built more quickly

The snappy punchline of 'Green to the core' and 'Live well locally' is a bold attempt to show a commitment to protecting rural communities and local ecology but your HELAA land allocation of CAT0001 and potential site CAT0016 in Catsfield fly in the face of these claims/promises.
The proposal of 60 new houses (some proposing to be built on protected AONB land) in this small rural village (doubling the size of the main village), is absolutely shocking and I object strongly to these sites being included for allocation in this plan.
These proposals would not only destroy ancient woodland, biodiversity and protected wildlife habitats, they would also severely impact the lives of local residents with increased pollution and a serious decline in the already insufficient utilties and local infrastructure.

Surely any new building must have solar panels, be built with the most eco friendly products and use rainwater for toilet flushing

Pleased to see the option for future higher standards included in policy. Not sure what small scale housing is. The space heating standards for that seems to be passivhaus which is commendable but is it achievable with current builders? Why is there no similar standard listed for other housing-only the LETI TEUI.
I do feel that any building (commercial or otherwise) that want to include air-conditioning, should have some form of renewable microgeneration included to offset the power use. e.g solar panels.

Whilst the Council’s commitment to meeting both its and the UK Government’s target of net zero carbon emissions is commendable, it appears that the Council is going to achieve this through having mandatory carbon and climate standards from adoption of the plan that may go beyond government targets. However, it is our view that any requirement should be ‘stepped’ in line with Government targets and the proposed changes to the building regulations.

This approach is confirmed within the Ministerial Statement (statement no : Statement UIN HCWS123 available from Written statements - Written questions, answers and statements - UK Parliament) released on 13th December 2023. The ministerial statement confirms that with respect to the net zero goal….

‘The improvement in standards already in force, alongside the ones which are due in 2025, demonstrates the Government’s commitment to ensuring new properties have a much lower impact on the environment in the future. In this context, the Government does not expect plan-makers to set local energy efficiency standards for buildings that go beyond current or planned buildings regulations. The proliferation of multiple, local standards by local authority area can add further costs to building new homes by adding complexity and undermining economies of scale. Any planning policies that propose local energy efficiency standards for buildings that go beyond current or planned buildings regulation should be rejected at examination if they do not have a well-reasoned and robustly costed rationale’ and ‘To be sound, local plans must be consistent with national policy – enabling the delivery of sustainable development in accordance with the policies in the National Planning Policy Framework and other statements of national planning policy, including this one’.

Deleting the policy and aligning the Council’s requirement for carbon neutral development with those of Government would therefore be pragmatic, more achievable and consistent with national policy. The industry also needs to have a consistent nationally prescribed approach to these changes in order to ensure that a suitable transaction is achieved and not a viability shock which would simply stall development in individual areas. Furthermore, none of these additional standards have been viability tested and shown to be deliverable as yet.

Add the word 'built' after (A) All new...
This is an all-encompassing policy requirement apparently relevant to all new development.
Such a proposal can only apply to those forms of development where building performance standards, BREEAM, Home Quality Marks etc apply. A change of use application for example would be encompassed as 'development' but could not satisfy the policy requirement.

Great to see whole life carbon targets being included. The UK Net Zero Carbon Buildings Standard will be setting a whole suite of limits (rather than targets) for both EUI and Upfront embodied carbon, for different building typologies and for building retrofits.
Can this new and consolidated guidance be incorporated once its published on Autumn?

Please see attached submission.