Petition for sustainable, Low-carbon New Build homes in Co Durham

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Petition for sustainable, Low-carbon New Build homes in Co Durham

Cllr Amanda Hopgood, Cllr Mark Wilkes, Cllr Elizabeth Scott

14% of carbon emissions in England come from heating our homes.

To reduce carbon emissions, it is critical that all new houses have sustainability and renewable, low cost and low carbon heating built in from the start.

Sign our below petition letter to the leaders of Durham County Council to make this happen. This could be the start of making Durham a greener, cleaner and cheaper place to live.

Sponsored by

Climate Action Durham

To: Cllr Amanda Hopgood, Cllr Mark Wilkes, Cllr Elizabeth Scott
From: [Your Name]

Dear Councillors Hopgood, Wilkes and Scott,

RE: Sniperley Park development

I am writing to express my support for the City of Durham Parish Council’s recent report entitled FACING THE ENERGY AND GLOBAL WARMING CRISIS (6 May 2022) which advocates maximising the use of renewal energy solutions and energy efficiency provision during the construction of the Sniperley estate. I would like to add to it that all future housing developments in County Durham should be held to those standards. That report calls for SEVEN SPECIFIC MEASURES – all of them are tried and tested technologies and standards. Let’s commit to them, no ifs and buts!

1) A detailed Energy Assessment for the entire site designed to minimise energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions with all properties satisfying the 2030 operational energy and embodied carbon targets set by the RIBA 2030 Challenge which identify the optimal set of energy solutions to minimise energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions.

2) All homes and buildings to be built to EPC A rating standard as a minimum.

3) No connection of the site to the national gas network

4) Photovoltaic panels and battery storage in all homes and buildings.

5) Ground and/or air source heat exchange systems for all homes and buildings.

6) District heating system using any potential geothermal energy from the underlying abandoned and flooded coal mines

7) All houses to have electricity supply points for electric cars.

I would encourage you to see the golden opportunity to present Durham County Council as a leader in the fight against Climate Change by taking such a strong stance. This would reflect well on County Durham and your administration’s leadership.

Durham County Council’s Climate Emergency Response Plan has been recognised (see https://data.climateemergency.uk/councils/durham-county-council/), and to maintain and strengthen our reputation as a county that takes climate action seriously, we rely on you to send a strong message to developers, citizens, other local authorities, and the UK government. We recognise and applaud the vision presented in the SNIPERLEY PARK: SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT MASTERPLAN VISION DOCUMENT. Since that masterplan was written, consulted on, and is now being finalised, the imperative for energy efficiency and renewables has become even more urgent. We CANNOT allow housing with a significant carbon footprint to be built in the 2020s when Durham County Council has declared its ambition to be carbon neutral by 2050;

All new buildings in England are to be ready for net zero emissions by 2025, and the UK has a 2050 net zero carbon emissions target which has been enshrined in law.

Please demonstrate your leadership and give the citizens of County Durham reason to be optimistic and proud about contributing to a future in which energy costs are manageable for all and the planet’s warming remains within safe limits.

We call on you to commit to this by insisting that the new build homes in Sniperley Park, Co Durham, are built to sustainable low carbon standards