Royal Commission on Environmental Pollution

The Chairman of the Royal Commission sent the following letter concerning wall heat insulation provisions in the Building Regulations to the Deputy Prime Minister on 11 April 2001.

Rt Hon John Prescott MP
Deputy Prime Minister
Department of the Environment, Transport and the Regions
Eland House
Bressenden Place
London   SW1E 5DU

The Royal Commission was concerned and disappointed to see, from a recent answer to a Parliamentary Question by the Construction Minister Nick Raynsford, that the new Part L of the Building Regulations will set standards for wall heat insulation considerably lower than those that DETR had originally proposed.

The Royal Commission’s 22nd report, Energy - The Changing Climate, pointed out that the UK had lagged behind other nations of north west Europe for many years in building warm homes and argued for major improvements. The report also pointed out that the heating of domestic and commercial premises represents a very large component of the UK's emissions of the principal greenhouse warming gas, carbon dioxide. We pointed out that improving the thermal performance of the UK's building stock is an essential part of the actions to meet commitments on reducing emissions of the gases which cause global climate change.

Furthermore, in our response to last September’s consultation exercise on amending the energy efficiency provisions of the building regulations, enclosed, we argued that there appeared to be a purely economic case, on the basis of the department’s own economic analysis, for setting higher insulation standards than the DETR envisaged. With growing concerns about the impact of climate change associated with fossil fuel consumption, the case for challenging and stringent standards becomes even stronger. Housing built to inadequate standards today will still be wasting heat for many decades to come. We believe you have given too much weight to the arguments advanced by some sections of the construction and development lobby - and too little to house purchasers and the wider public interest - in deciding to water down the proposed insulation standards. We understand a number of housebuilders are working to attain higher standards, and your decision can only undermine their effort. Even at this late stage, we ask you to think again.

I am sending copies of this letter to Nick Raynsford and Michael Meacher.

Sir Tom Blundell
Chairman, Royal Commission on Environmental Pollution
11 April 2001

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