The House of Commons Environmental Audit Committee has accused Ministers of “dragging their feet” on action to protect people from heatwaves and is calling on the Government to do more.

The Committee was commenting on the Government’s response to its report - Heatwaves: adapting to climate change – published in July warning that there will be 7,000 heat-related deaths every year in the UK by 2050 if the Government does not act.

The ECA report called for a range of measures to protect people, including

• public information campaigns
• a minister responsible for co-ordinating heatwave response across government
• urban green infrastructure
• adoption of 110 litres per person per day as the mandatory standard in Part G of the building regulations for all new buildings
• updating the forthcoming revised National Policy Planning Framework to require Sustainable Drainage Systems (SuDS) in all new developments

The Government’s response to the report accepts some of the recommendations. However, the EAC said that ministers have not properly acknowledged many of the conclusions on which the report is based.

The Government has resisted the Committee’s call for DEFRA to require local authorities to report on how they are adapting to climate change, on the basis that they already have a number of duties and reporting obligations on a range of climate risks. However, it will consider the recommendation to re-instate the Regional Climate Change Partnerships.

Insufficient evidence to suggest increasing urban green space to 2001 levels would be right focus

Responding to the recommendation that the Government should introduce an urban green infrastructure target as part of the metrics for the 25 Year Environment Plan and in the National Planning Policy Framework, the report says that the Government has committed to encouraging investment in green infrastructure in urban areas.

The report says the Government has committed to define what “good” green infrastructure is in order to create a level playing field for investors and to help focus attention on areas where provision is insufficient. Natural England is currently leading the establishment of a national framework of green infrastructure standards which will be published in 2019.

With regard to the recommendation to increase urban green space to 2001 levels and higher if possible, the report says “we do not currently have sufficient evidence to suggest that this would be the right focus.”

However, as part of the implementation of the new framework of standards, the Government will support Local Authorities to assess green infrastructure provision against the framework.

The Government has also rejected the Committee’s call for the adoption of 110 litres per person per day as the mandatory standard in Part G of the building regulations for all new buildings, saying that Part G of the Building Regulations already offers a stricter optional standard of 110 litres per person per day which can be adopted by local authorities in areas of water stress.

Requiring SuDS in all developments could potentially encourage deployment of SuDS in areas where use is inappropriate

The response goes into some detail on the EAC’s recommendation that before publication of the revised National Policy Planning Framework it should be updated to require Sustainable Drainage Systems (SuDS) in all new developments.

“National planning policy is clear that local planning authorities should ensure that priority is given to the use of SuDS (Sustainable Drainage Systems) in all developments in areas at risk of flooding, unless demonstrated to be inappropriate. The revised Framework now incorporates strengthened policy to ensure sustainable drainage systems are provided in all major developments, unless demonstrated to be inappropriate, and includes the requirements for such Sustainable Drainage Systems.

“We have made clear in the planning guidance that supports the National Planning Practice Framework that the policy applies to areas at risk from all sources of flooding, including from surface water, overwhelmed sewers and drainage systems.”

“The guidance is clear that particular types of sustainable drainage systems may not be practicable in all locations so in this context requiring SuDS in all developments could potentially encourage the deployment of SuDS components in areas where their use is inappropriate.”

The Government goes on to say that recent revisions to the National Planning Policy Framework put the onus on the applicant to provide ‘clear evidence’ that SuDS, where required by the Framework, would be inappropriate.

The response also points out that the review of planning legislation, government planning policy and local planning policies concerning the provision of sustainable drainage in developments published in July this year found that:

• just over 80% of all adopted local plans included SuDS policies that went further than national policy expectations (e.g. SuDS being required for all developments regardless of location and scale). This proportion increases to 90% when only emerging local plans are considered;
• almost 90% of approved planning applications sampled explicitly stated that SuDS would feature in the proposed development.

“Government’s admission that all new properties are prone to overheating is astonishing”

The Committee was particularly critical of the Government response to its recommendation to the Committee on Climate Change’s Adaptation Sub-Committee’s recommendation in 2015, the Referring to research in 2015 which investigated the impacts of overheating in new homes, the response says:

“It was found that all new homes exceed the overheating threshold to some extent and that this overheating can be mitigated in most circumstances using passive measures such as shading and ventilation.”

Chair of the Environmental Audit Committee, Mary Creagh MP, said:

“The Government has committed to create sustainable cities and healthy communities as part of the Sustainable Development Goals. Ministers must act to protect people from the risks of heatwaves - especially with the UK’s ageing population.

“There is a worrying lack of co-ordination across government, and the Government’s admission that all new properties are prone to overheating is astonishing.

“We are particularly disappointed that the Government have decided to press ahead with using public money to build modular homes, which are particularly vulnerable to overheating, flooding and only last fifty years.”

Click here to download the EAC Report Heatwaves: adapting to climate change

Click here to download the Government response