Elmhurst members will be familiar with Lord Foster’s Private Members bill in which he is attempting to require government to deliver on previous energy efficiency commitments through legislation.

In summary, Lord Foster is asking that the Secretary of State must ensure that:

• All domestic properties achieve at least EPC Band C by 2035, where practical, cost-effective and affordable.
• All new private sector tenancies shall have an energy efficiency performance of at least EPC band C from 31st December 2025.
• All existing private sector tenancies shall be at least EPC band C from 31st December 2028 where practical cost effective and affordable.
• All mortgage lenders must by 31st December 2030 at the latest ensure that the average energy performance level of their portfolios is at least EPC band C.
• All owner occupied homes to which this section applies shall be EPC band C by 2035
• All social landlords must ensure that a significant amount of their residential properties are at least EPC band C by 2035.
• The Future Homes Standard will require that all homes built from 1st January 2025 are zero carbon ready.

Lord Foster, and Elmhurst, would welcome your support and this is best done by us all contacting our local constituency MP directly but if you don’t know who your MP is, enter `my MP` on google then click on Find Your MP and enter your post code. The MP`s name and email address will appear.

The justification for these significant regulations is:

1. That the Bill is simply trying to achieve what the Government says it is committed to
2. The importance of putting those commitments on a statutory basis to give business the certainty to trigger the investment required.
3. That increasing energy efficiency will reduce fuel bills – a Government aim and something that will be popular with their constituents.
4. That the Climate Change Committee has pointed out that this level of energy efficiency (at least) is essential to enable net zero by 2050 to be achieved

Martyn Reed, Elmhurst’s Managing Director commented: “most of the points in the bill will be familiar to energy assessors but by getting these aspirations into legislation will increase the likelihood of them happening and also give building owners and business the certainty needed to plan and invest”

Time is of the essence because the next milestone is in early June.