This paper seeks agreement to approve the output of the proposed environmental building design standards which will set the standard for future developments and retrofit of housing schemes across the county.

The cabinet member environment and economy introduced the report. She explained that she and the cabinet member for housing, regulatory services and community safety had been working with officers and experts for a number of months to put together these standards. She further explained that this document would relate to housing that the council planned to build itself. A separate process was under way to put together a supplementary planning document (SPD) on building standards which would apply to all housing across the county. There would be wide consultation on the SPD in the future.

It was proposed that paragraph 7 in the covering report be removed as this was duplicated by information further on in the resource implications section. Achieving Passivhaus standard in building design was slightly more expensive but costs were coming down and these design standards would be a consideration for any individual sites that subsequently came forward, alongside other considerations.

Cabinet members welcomed the report and noted the importance of housing being affordable to run as well as to purchase. It was hoped the council’s approach would encourage other builders to achieve similar standards.

It was noted that the government was consulting on future homes standards but this was not expected to be in place for some time and other councils were also pushing ahead with adopting similar standards.

Group leaders were generally supportive of the proposals and it was noted in discussion that:

·        The proposals link to the council’s work to address fuel poverty;

·        There would also need to be investment in retrofitting existing housing stock;

·        The need to position houses in places that did not exacerbate flooding would be included in the SPD and the cabinet member environment and economy would ensure this was done;

·        There was a modest additional cost to achieving these standards, but the cost of retrofitting properties was much greater and the finances did stack up when the whole life cost was taken into account;

·        The quality of landscaping around the properties was important;

·        The council was lobbying for national changes through a number of networks;

·        The standards were designed to allow flexibility for individual sites and set outcomes to be achieved rather than specific methods to be used.

It was unanimously resolved that:

(a)   The Herefordshire Future Homes report be approved; and

(b)   The recommendations in the report are adopted as the recognised standards for future housing developments and retrofit work undertaken by the council with the removal of paragraph 7 of the covering report.