GERMANY is famous for its Passivhaus homes, i.e. houses that are so well built and insulated that they are regarded as being carbon neutral.

They are a little dearer to buy but cost next to nothing to run, so are more affordable overall.

Exeter council is building its new council homes to this standard and other councils are considering doing so. Why isn’t Oxfordshire?

Passivhaus homes are available as sturdy pre-fabricated homes. There are even British companies making them.

This would be an ideal solution to building better quality homes, faster and where we need them. – and more affordable as running costs would be negligible.

Councils and housing associations could try to get discounts by bulk-buying these homes, placing them where really needed and rent them out.

Our rural communities, in particular, are in desperate need of such housing.

Developers are not sticking to what they state in their planning applications. Often the approximate number of affordable homes stated in an outline planning application is reduced to perhaps half the number. Then maybe only a fraction of that number gets built. Developers say it is not financially viable for them to build the development with so many affordable homes.

But developers can get Government funding to build affordable homes: on gov.uk, there is information about the Affordable Homes Programme 2015 to 2018 Contract for Developer, which states the conditions under which developers can apply for funds to build affordable homes.

So if they can get money to build them, or money towards the build cost, why are they constantly reducing the number available in each development? What is not clear is if this money is a grant or a loan.

According to the above contract, developers have to keep accounts showing all expenditure above £500 spent on the affordable homes build so that the Government’s representative can verify they are accurate.

Councils, too, can use independent auditors to verify that the viable assessments are accurate, but do they do so?

So where do we go from here?

We want zero-carbon homes which will be cheaper to run, therefore, more affordable overall. We want suitable homes in the right places for us.

We want our councils to stand up to these bullies and build what they were granted planning permission to do!

To learn more, email us at sw@sustainablewallingford.org