Making rooftop solar mandatory for new builds

The government has launched a new consultation on building standards, which closes on 27th March, and is considering making rooftop solar panels a basic expectation for most new buildings including all new houses.

Dorset CPRE’s primary remit is to protect and enhance the countryside, but we fully support net zero. We have been actively promoting solar rooftop for some years to fight climate change, particularly as there has been over-reliance on building solar farms to meet solar energy targets. Some farms cause harm to protected landscapes, such as National Landscapes (formerly Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty), heritage assets such as historic churches, and are being built on the best agricultural land which is inappropriate at a time of rocketing food prices. However we are well aware that we still need more solar farms to combat net zero and we support particularly small community funded ones, such as the Dottery Solar Array near Bridport.

Making rooftop solar mandatory for new builds would be a huge win for our rooftop solar campaign and would help cut carbon emissions and energy bills whilst protecting space for nature and farming. We contributed to the National CPRE response.