The future of Britain’s housebuilding is not looking so green after the latest changes announced by the Tory Government.
The most surprising of which was to scrap the zero carbon homes plan for new homes and the Green Deal Home Improvement Fund for existing homeowners.

The future of Britain’s housebuilding is not looking so green after the latest changes announced by the Tory Government.
The most surprising of which was to scrap the zero carbon homes plan for new homes and the Green Deal Home Improvement Fund for existing homeowners.
And that’s not all! There are a number of other green policies that have been axed.
We take a look at all of the changes and how they will affect house builders.
1. Zero Carbon Homes Policy
The plan was introduced in 2006 and set out plans for all new homes to be zero carbon by 2016. Meaning house builders would be required to use renewable energy where possible in the build process and ensure that the energy used to heat and light the home would be offset by the energy generated on site. This scheme has now been withdrawn by the government which may make the EU target of nearly all new homes to be zero carbon by 2020 less achievable.
2. Green Deal Home Improvement Fund
The aim of the green deal was to help existing homeowners lower their energy bills by installing energy saving measures such as more efficient boilers, minimising draughts and insulating the property. The government’s reasoning for abolishing the fund was because there was relatively low up take from homeowners. However there are no plans to replace the scheme to help reduce carbon emissions of such homes which make up around one third of the UK’s total carbon emissions.
3. Solar Subsidies
Recent changes to solar subsidies will see large solar projects of between 1 and 5MW now having to fund themselves or risk not going ahead. There is also speculation that the “feed-in tariff” which provides support for solar panels on domestic roofs could be scrapped due to the potential overspend on solar schemes that have already been committed to until 2020.
4. Onshore Wind Farms
The government has put a stop to subsidies supporting onshore wind farms saying that such developments need to fund themselves in a bid to save the taxpayer money. This form of renewable energy is one of the most cost effective methods so it would be a shame to see such developments come to a halt due to a lack of interest from investors to keep it moving forward.
5. Opening the door to fracking
Sites of Specific Interest may now be automatically granted permission to allow fracking across England, Wales and Scotland provided the companies can gain approval from planners. This is bad news for environmentalists that have been lobbying against fracking for shale gas.
6. Biomass Fuel
The government are introducing a cap on the level of subsidies for other renewable energy projects such as biomass fuel p