A panel of MPs has urged communities secretary Eric Pickles to reconsider plans to scrap the code for sustainable homes.

According to a report issued on 20 November by the Commons Environmental Audit
Committee, the policy has succeeded in driving up home building standards and supported a sustainable UK building industry.

The MPs' report argues the existing policy, which supports ‘practical, sustainable local solutions will be radically curtailed and replaced with a lowest-common-denominator national standard'.

It also stated the Department for Communities and Local Government has failed to
back green growth and green innovation by setting clear standards on sustainable construction materials.

‘The secretary of state should think again before demolishing the code for sustainable homes, said Joan Walley, chair of the Commons Environmental Audit Committee.

‘The coalition agreement promised that the Government would ‘return decision-making powers on housing and planning to local councils' but this decision bulldozes local choice in favour of a one-size-fits-all approach designed to benefit developers who want to build homes on the cheap,' Ms Walley added.

In response, communities minister Stephen Williams said: ‘New homes are already being built
to high standards of energy efficiency introduced by this government, saving people up to £200 a year on their fuel bills and £60,000 for businesses, as well as making major reductions in carbon emissions from all new buildings.

'We will be going further still by making all new homes zero carbon from 2016.

‘There exists an array of additional standards that councils can apply, or not, on their patch creating a bureaucratic mish-mash of rules that housebuilders face across the country.  We are consulting on how best to end this confusion and create a simple and effective set of standards that councils and housebuilders can understand and that support new home building without compromising safety or sustainability standards.'