asked Her Majesty's Government:

Whether the issue of new planning policy will affect the adoption of the “Merton Rule” (reducing carbon emissions from new buildings by 10 per cent) by the majority of local authorities. [HL2179]

The new Planning Policy Statement (PPS) on climate change will boost the use of local renewable and low-carbon energy in new development in England. The PPS sets out our “Merton-Plus” approach. It expects all local planning authorities to have a council-wide target (like existing Merton rules) and, additionally, tailored targets for sites where there is greater potential for using decentralised energy to supply new development. These targets should be flexible enough to consider community schemes (for example, wind turbines or CHP schemes serving more than one site) as well as building specific technologies.