Part of 1. Questions to the Minister for Climate Change – in the Senedd at 12:38 pm on 16 June 2021.
Thank you very much for that question, Sarah. It's lovely to actually see you in person here in the Senedd. Yes, Bridgend council have been, as I said, an early adopter of reviewing the LDP process, and sustainable development is very much at the heart of that development plan process. All the development plans must comply with the requirements of the Environment (Wales) Act 2016, and they must contribute to achieving the economic, social, environmental and cultural well-being goals required by the Well-being of Future Generations (Wales) Act 2015.
So 'Planning Policy Wales' sets out issues to do with climate change. It sets out the principles of sustainable development, air quality, maximising renewable energy generation and the scale and location of new homes, and then LDPs are tested against those policies through a public examination process. So, as I just said in answer to another question, the LHMAs play some part in that as well.
Simultaneously with that, we're also bring forward a review of our building regulations. The new building regulations—the response to our energy efficiency plan was published in March last year—set out a decision to introduce a 37 per cent reduction in carbon emissions for new dwellings across all sectors, not just social housing, compared with the current standards. The new standards will be implemented from 2022, so next year, and will save, we think, homeowners averagely around £180 a year on energy bills. So, they work towards fuel poverty as well as preserving the planet. All new homes will also need to be futureproofed with low-temperature radiators and improved fabric standards to make it easier to retrofit upcoming low-carbon heating systems as they become more available and more widely implementable. The 37 per cent reduction, though, is a stepping stone towards the next change in energy efficiency in building regulations in 2025, matching our carbon targets, where new homes will need to produce a minimum of 75 per cent fewer carbon dioxide emissions than the ones built to the current requirements.
So, you can see that we have an incremental progression to both building the right homes in the right place, so the LDP process reflects that, and also to build them to the standards that future generations deserve and expect, and I'm delighted to say that Bridgend council has been an early adopter of both of those processes.