DEVELOPERS could be urged to build more energy efficient homes in Cheshire East if a Knutsford councillor’s proposal gets enough support.

Independent Cllr Quentin Abel, Cheshire East Council’s deputy cabinet member for environment, wants the local authority to push developers to build to the greenest possible standards.

In a motion put forward to today’s full council building (December 19), Cllr Abel wants CEC to consider encouraging developers to build to Passivhaus standards – where insulation and heat recovery keep energy use to a minimum – or provide ground-source heat pumps and induction hobs.

He also wants the council to lobby central Government to bring forward a legal requirement to achieve zero-carbon developments and conversions.

Cllr Abel said: “CEC is actively working out ways that we can really encourage and start tree planting and other forms of carbon capture, but various developments around Cheshire East are going in with gas fired boilers.

It seems ridiculous to be trying to capture carbon on the one hand and not try to encourage developers to have the best form of heating standards in new builds on the other. It is just counter-intuitive.

“I know that this is not going to be something that is enforceable, but if you don’t try to improve things what future have we got? We have got to start putting pressure on so that we can improve all our futures.”

Cllr Abel’s proposal comes seven months after CEC set a policy to become a carbon neutral council by 2025, while more recent environmental plans include work to improve carbon capture.

If a second councillor gives their support to the motion on Thursday, it will either be debated at that meeting or passed onto a CEC committee for consideration.

He added: “There is a market for this and developers could be charging more for it. It’s a bit like electric cars – the upfront costs are a bit greater but the running costs are incredibly low.

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“We need our developers to have a bit more vision and we need central government to be more proactive. Developers that do this can be more profitable, not less.

“It is a little bit frustrating because it is the short-sightedness that would lead us to uncontrolled climate change.”