Green Warm Homes 

Green investment into housing simultaneously aims to reduce climate emissions, tackle poverty and provide genuinely affordable housing. The Main Green Party areas of focus within housing are:

Improving insulation is vital for a warm home.

• Home renovations would meet the highest energy-efficient standards and social needs and would ensure people have sufficient heating for the winter without the need to sacrifice other vital living expenses like proper meals.
• The households would be built to the Passivhaus or equivalent standard which would use 90% less energy for heating than the average home – good for the environment and saving people money.
• The Greens would ensure that the homes lived in by people on lower incomes would be the first to receive these major improvements; all the homes would have reduced natural gas use and renewable heat sources.
• The reinstatement of building control inspectors to local councils would ensure work on renovations or new builds was carried out under the required standards.

New homes

• The creation of new homes would provide quality jobs for local communities in every area of the UK as part of a Green Future for Jobs.
• Solar panels supplied as standard on all homes and mandatory on all commercial builds
• We would empower local communities to bring empty homes back into use and, alongside thousands of new council homes, would all fit within the highest energy-efficient standards as the nation shifts towards a net-zero carbon economy.
• We must reduce the carbon footprint of construction.Currently 80 tonnes CO2 is embodied in a 2 bedrrom house. Instead, we will make housing our carbon sink by going back to wood!  Cross Laminated Timber can support up to 18 storeys!

Affordability

• Green houses will be cheaper houses. Low CO2 standards mean that householders will simply face higher bills and the cost of retrofitting later.
• Affordability and sustainability are very effectively provided by Modular homes, manufactured in local factories at a quarter of the average price in Uttlesford! Fully equipped, but excluding the cost of land or groundwork, they take just 3 days to build on site. They could provide the basis of a dynamic council, privately rented and rent-to-buy market.

Green access

• The Greens would implement accessible transport routes to and from all new developments which would mean residents would not have to rely on cars to live their daily lives or commute.
• New developments should obey the 15 minute rule: all facilities within 15 minutes’ walk of homes, promoting health and social interaction. 
• They will be aligned with public transport from the outset, starting from existing sustainable transport networks, particularly the rail system.