Housebuilder accused of pushing for weaker climate targets

Taylor Wimpey, which is one of the biggest housebuilders in the UK, has been accused of pushing for weaker climate targets by Unearthed, the investigative journalism arm of Greenpeace.

Unearthed journalist Zach Boren was able to expose Taylor Wimpey calling for weaker climate change targets using a Freedom of Information request to obtain the company’s responses to a Government consultation into green housebuilding goals.

Proposals to reduce the environmental impact of housebuilding and homes include replacing gas heaters with heat pumps, which warms up air from outside the house to heat up the home.

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In its responses to the consultation, Taylor Wimpey stated the Government’s target of a 75-80 per cent cut in carbon emissions from new-build properties by 2025 was “too ambitious”.

Concerns have been raised over what impact Taylor Wimpey’s stance could have on the area.

Taylor Wimpey is headquartered in High Wycombe, and has eight developments across Buckinghamshire, with two in Aylesbury, two in Newton Leys,  two in Milton Keynes and one each in Olney and High Wycombe.

It currently has three developments in Berkshire, with one being located in Newbury and the other two located in Spencers Wood.

Taylor Wimpey is also a partner in the Jealott’s Hill development project, which would see 2,000 homes be built at the Syngenta site in Warfield.

READ MORE: A look at who's behind the massive Jealott's Hill development

Patrick Kennedy, the chairman of the Save Jealott’s Hill campaign which is opposing the proposed development, has questioned the validity of having Taylor Wimpey on board on the project given the revelations exposed by Unearthed.

The plan is in its embryonic stages, and can only go ahead if Jealott’s Hill is redesignated from Green Belt land into land suitable for development.

A bid to designate Jealott’s Hill as suitable for development forms part of the Emerging Bracknell Local Plan, which was submitted this May and will set the planning agenda for the area for the next 16 years (until 2037).

For its part, a representative for Taylor Wimpey said it is exploring a “highly innovative technological design” to deliver reductions in energy, water use, and carbon emissions to form an “exemplary environmentally friendly development.”

They also highlighted that, over the past eight years, Taylor Wimpey has reduced its carbon emissions by 39 per cent, which it claims is an industry leading position.

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Responding to the allegations by Unearthed, the representative said: “Climate change is one of the great challenges of our age and we recognise that urgency is required to mitigate it. At Taylor Wimpey we constantly look to improve our environmental strategy, which in the past year has been updated to include an ambitious carbon reduction target approved by the independent Science Based Targets initiative.

“Taylor Wimpey communicated its support in the consultation response and remains fully supportive of the UK Government’s target to achieve net zero emissions by 2050. We also embrace the Future Homes Standard with its ambition to reduce carbon emissions from homes in use by 75-80 per cent by 2025.

“In response to the Government’s calls for honest interaction and dialogue around the Future Homes Standard in 2020, Taylor Wimpey identified a number of challenges relating to the practical implementation of the proposals. These challenges led to concerns that the delivery of viable and much-needed new housing could be prejudiced, which we duly communicated to the government in our response.”

Additionally, Taylor Wimpey has offered to meet with representatives from the Climate Change Panel at Bracknell Forest Council to discuss its approach to delivering more sustainable homes at Jealott’s Hill.