THE COUNCIL needs to immediately ensure house-building is carbon neutral otherwise it will “blow a hole” in its biggest green targets, Lib Dem councillors have said.

Wychavon District Council’s Liberal Democrat councillors are calling on the council to guarantee its biggest housing document, the South Worcestershire Development Plan (SWDP), works together with the council’s own Intelligently Green Plan, which sets various green targets and positive environmental choices, work in partnership.

The two documents do not yet complement each other, the council’s Liberal Democrat councillors have claimed, and the council needs to either make sure the SWDP, the major planning blueprint which is currently under review and will set out house-building in the region for the next 30 years, has stricter carbon-neutral measures or the Green Plan has higher emission-cutting targets.

Cllr Dan Boatright said: “Unless house building becomes carbon-neutral right away, the new houses proposed in the SWDPR will blow a hole in the carbon-reduction targets the council has set itself. The two plans need to complement one another and be consistent. At the moment they are not.

“Either the SWDP needs policies requiring housebuilders to make houses carbon-neutral right away, or the Intelligently Green Plan needs to include higher targets for offsetting the emissions generated.”