Merton Rule revised not scrapped says government

In a letter to Samantha George of Merton Council housing and planning minister Yvette Cooper claims that the government’s Building a Greener Future policy “builds on PPS 22”, and that the planning policy statement is ‘more ambitious about local renewable energy, not less’.

One of the key changes Cooper outlined in the letter is for the inclusion of off-site generated renewable energy as part of a scheme’s compliance. “We believe [Merton Rules] should be sufficiently flexible to allow for off site as well as on site renewable technologies and councils should also consider wider local low carbon opportunities.

Cooper states that councils will be able to ‘continue with and adopt new Merton Rules… although, clearly, they must be well-founded to ensure they are achieving their ultimate aims of cutting carbon’.

The British Property Foundation has welcomed the change in policy. Liz Peace, chief executive of the BPF, said: “Policy on energy supply has to move on and it is unrealistic to expect all developments to stick to a rule that may not be workable in their area. We are pleased that government has taken on board our recommendations and listened to advice of the industry.”