Brown's green agenda

He is going to exempt zero carbon homes from Stamp Duty in the 2007 budget, and said that all homes must be zero carbon by 2016. Following on from Brown, communities secretary Ruth Kelly published the Code for Sustainable Homes which will come into force in June 2007. Under the code homes will receive sustainability marks of between one and six stars. Zero carbon means that the net emissions from all energy use in the home equals zero. This means better insulation, more efficient heating and use of renewable energy. Such homes will get six stars.

Also in December, economist Kate Barker published her second report, looking at land supply. She came up with some ideas for speeding up the planning process, including setting up an independent commission to deal with big infrastructure projects, and reducing the number of minor planning applications such as housing extensions and loft conversions. Barker also said that councils should review greenbelt land.