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Peter Black and South Wales West Liberal DemocratsRepresenting Aberavon, Bridgend, Gower, Neath, Ogmore, Port Talbot, and Swansea |
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Minister confirms that Welsh Government will fail to deliver carbon neutral buildings by 2011
April 30, 2008 12:00 AM
The Welsh Liberal Democrat Housing Spokesperson, Peter Black, has accused the Assembly Government of failing to deliver on another One Wales' commitment after the Environment Minister admitted in the Assembly today that the devolution of building regulations will not be completed in time to deliver carbon neutral buildings in Wales by 2011.
The Welsh Government has a commitment to pursue the devolution of building regulations and also to 'commit to targets on the carbon neutrality of public buildings'. Ministers have also said that if they are to meet their carbon emission targets then they need to start building carbon neutral homes as well, but to do this they must change building regulations.
In the chamber today the Environment Minister set out a timetable, which would mean that the Assembly will not get control of building regulations until late 2009. As any changes to these regulations take two to three years to put through then there will be no chance of any action being taken to require carbon neutral homes until after the next Assembly elections.
"This admission by the Environment Minister has underlined how difficult the Labour-Plaid Government is finding it to deliver their commitments under the 'One Wales' Agreement," said Mr. Black. "What is also evident is the degree of resistance they are meeting from the Westminster Labour Government in even meeting their manifesto commitments."
"In the light of this admission it is now apparent that the Government's aspirations for a greener Wales are in tatters. Although we are able to make some progress on recycling, thanks largely to the efforts of local Councils, it is difficult to see how Wales can make any significant contribution to reducing carbon emissions if the Government does not have the tools to bring this about."
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