A raft of legislation
Stephen Cirell, head of the local government group at law firm Eversheds offers a quick guide to the various bills on climate change that are currently heading through Parliament.
There are a number of climate change related bills currently going through Parliament. Chief amongst these is probably the Climate Change Bill itself. This will impose statutory targets to reduce CO2 emissions and will also authorise the creation of an independent Committee on Climate Change. It has gone through the Committee stage in Parliament but there is, as yet, no date for the Report stage.
The Climate Change (Sectoral Targets) Bill
Another Bill that has recently come to light is the Climate Change (Sectoral Targets) Bill which was introduced to set sectoral targets for energy generation and consumption and to make provision for those targets to be met. This is a private members bill introduced by Colin Challen and supported by five other MP's. It might be considered that its chances of success are limited but the Sustainable Communities Act started as a private MP's Bill too. In Clause 2 it states that the Secretary of State must take all reasonable steps to ensure that targets specified on climate change are met. The targets include energy efficiency, decreases in energy usage and also minimum renewable energy by 2020 of 20 per cent (the Government has also proposed a target of 20 per cent - see above). It could be that this Bill is an attempt to get the government to be more specific about targets for certain sectors in the Climate Change Bill. It will be interesting to see what happens to this bill, which has just had its first reading.
The Planning and Energy Bill
The Planning and Energy Bill has the purpose of enabling planning authorities to set requirements for energy use and energy efficiency in local plans. This is expected to have its Third Reading in October 2008.
The Marine Bill
Also included in the myriad of legislation under consideration is the Marine Bill, upon which the consultation has only just closed (end of June 2008). The draft Bill was published for consultation on 3 April 2008, and is currently in the draft legislative programme for next year. This will mean that the draft Bill will go for pre legislative scrutiny in Parliament in the Summer from a Committee of the House; then amendments are made to the Bill as appropriate before its introduction to Parliament when the legislative timetable allows.
This draft legislation is relevant to anyone with an interest in the marine environment, including coastal local authorities. It will introduce a new marine planning system, a streamlined licencing regime and new marine conservation measures. This is the first step towards a co ordinated system of UK marine law, and should provide a more integrated approach to the land/sea interface than has been possible to date.
The Sustainable Communities Act 2007
The Sustainable Communities Act 2007 has also been the subject of recent activity. There is a useful document Sustainable Communities Act: A Guide from DCLG which is well worth a look. The Act came into effect on 23 October 2007 and in February 2008 the DCLG consulted on guidance under the Act. This has now been finalised and was, in fact, released as part of the wider Creating Strong, Safe and Prosperous Communities Statutory Guidance, published in July 2008. In other words, the Sustainable Communities guidance was simply annexed to the wider White Paper guidance on best value, LAAs and all the other areas covered by the Local Government and Public Involvement in Health Act 2007.
The Sustainable Communities Act 2007 introduced a new procedure for local authorities to make proposals to the Secretary of State to assist with promoting the sustainability of their areas, in the wellbeing sense. Local authorities must consult a Panel before making any proposals (now agreed to be the LGA) and then the Government will consider them. The guidance offers 20 paragraphs of assistance, which is all rather predictable and uncontroversial in the circumstances.
The Home Energy Conservation Act 1995
The Home Energy Conservation Act 1995 focuses, as the title suggests, on energy conservation in relation to housing. It seeks to tackle the key areas of climate change and also fuel poverty.
The Act puts a duty on local authorities to draw up strategies to improve energy efficiency in housing and to report on progress. Earlier this year, the Government published a consultation paper, indicating that it wanted to repeal this Act as performance indicator NI 186 has largely superseded it in any event. The Government will announce the results of that consultation in the Autumn and indicate how it proposes to act.
The Climate Change and Sustainable Energy Act 2006
The Climate Change and Sustainable Energy Act 2006 is the legislation requiring the Secretary of State to report to Parliament each year on energy measures. Local authorities must then have regard to the Secretary of States proposals in exercising their functions. It also requires a report on greenhouse gas emissions and progress towards targets. It also concerns Part L of the Building Regulations, which is the part of the Building Regulations dealing with environmental standards, including the legal requirements for the conservation of heat and power in dwellings. The Code for Sustainable Homes, introduced in 2006, contains the mechanism for encouraging improvements in the energy performance standards of buildings. It is proposed that Code Level 3 (representing a 25 per cent improvement on current Building Regulations) will be the standard for all new homes by 2010. The Code goes up to Level 6, although the upper levels are not considered to be commercially viable on a volume basis. Tandridge DC in Surrey has built, in conjunction with Raven Housing Association, two properties to Code Level 5, as mentioned in the article by Stephen Weigel and I published by Municipal Journal on 14 August 2008.
Display Energy Certificates
Also on the legislative front, new rules are about to come into force in relation to Display Energy Certificates (DECs). The Energy Performance of Buildings (Certificates and Inspections) (England and Wales) Regs require that DECs must be displayed by occupiers of buildings with a total useful floor area that exceeds 1,000 square metres, where the occupier is either a public body, or is an institution that provides public services to a large number of persons and is frequently visited by those persons.
DECs will provide information about the "operational rating" of the building (ie the amount of energy actually consumed by the occupiers of the building) shown on a scale of A to G, so that members of the public can see how well a building is performing. The DEC will be accompanied by an advisory report that lists cost effective measures to improve the energy rating of the building. DECs will need to be displayed prominently so that they are visible to members of the public.
DECs are valid for 12 months and must then be replaced annually. The advisory report lasts for 7 years. The buildings must be assessed by an energy assessor who is accredited to produce DECs for that type of building. There is a list of 12 entities that accredit energy assessors to provide DECs on the Department for Communities and Local Government website. The category of building is determined by the amount of energy used over a given 12 month period.
So from 1 October 2008, this requirement will apply to local authorities and most should have put in place measures to comply. If they have not, then urgent action will be required to book the necessary assessments.
There can be no doubting the power of some of these measures. Members of the public are likely to be interested in this and it will put pressure on local authorities to ensure that they are actively considering the ratings of their buildings and how they might be improved. There are usually some "quick wins" to be had in relation to improvements which might take some effort but not much money and these should be vigorously pursued. Over time, there is likely to be less tolerance of public buildings effectively wasting energy and therefore public money. Be warned as the penalty for non compliance is a prosecution and fine of up to £500!
For those wanting more detail, the DCLG has published a guide to the Regulations.
