Originally launched as part of the Labour Party’s election manifesto, last week the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero (DESNZ) published more details of its Warm Homes Plan, which aims to help UK households reduce their energy bills, and provide warmer, cleaner energy to properties across the nation.
The latest plan includes increasing the Boiler Upgrade Scheme (BUS) budget by an extra £30M for this financial year, whilst next financial year, almost doubling it to £295M, whilst implementing an investment scheme of approximately £3.2B to provide warmer homes throughout 2025 to 2026 from the Government, social housing providers and supplier obligations, helping to deliver lower energy bills and cleaner heating for up to 300K households.
Recent amendments have been made to the plan by the Government in order to encourage more take-up of heat pumps as it aims to meet its 2030 Net Zero targets. Current planning restrictions mean that those UK householders considering having a heat pump installed at their property means the unit cannot be located within 1m of a neighbouring property in order to reduce noise levels. As part of the changes being made by the Ministry for Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG), this rule is being removed. Other changes being implemented by the MHCLG include:
Removal of the 1m boundary rule, enabling heat pumps to be installed within 1m of the property boundary.
Increasing the size limit of the heat pump for dwelling houses from 0.6m3 to 1.5m3.
Doubling the number of heat pumps permitted, from one to two for detached dwelling houses.
Supporting the rollout of air-to-air heat pumps that can also provide a cooling function.
All UK air source heat pump installations will still need to meet compliance with the relevant Microgeneration Certification Scheme (MCS) Planning Standards.
On the back of these changes, MCS are making amendments to their Standard MCS 020, which is the MCS Planning Standards for Permitted Development Installations of Wind Turbines and Air Source Heat Pumps on Domestic Premises, the current version of which has been in place since 2019; the new version is expected to launch in December 2024 and further details can be found here.
So what are you waiting for? Why not look into your eligibility to access funding to make the switch from fossil fuel to green energy?
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