Cold homes should be illegal says Green party leader

Caroline Lucas MP, Leader of the Green Party opened a major housing event in Brighton last week by calling for a street-by street programme of energy efficiency improvements to ensure an affordably heated home for everyone.

Speaking at the Chartered Institute of Housing (CIH) South East Conference in Brighton, Ms Lucas highlighted the plight of tenants in poor private rented sector in her constituency who live in cold, damp, unhealthy homes. Ms Lucas called it, ‘"both a social and environmental scandal that anyone is living in these conditions."

She raised particular concerns about standards of energy efficiency and warmth in private rented properties, highlighting that housing is responsible for 44 per cent of the City of Brighton's carbon emissions. Ms Lucas cast doubt on the ability of the Green Deal, the government’s voluntary home energy efficiency programme, to tackle some of the worst insulated 3 million private rented homes in the country. Instead she called for a mandatory register of private landlords, where it would be illegal to rent out properties with an energy efficiency rating of less than E.

Ms Lucas also raised concerns about the Green Deal and the new Energy Commitment Obligation, which would pass the cost of improving the energy efficiency of the nation‚s housing stock onto poorer households and potentially push them further into fuel poverty. She said, ‘What we need is a massive investment in green infrastructure. Only by thinking big can we tackle these issues.’