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The draft NPPF consultation (published in December 2025) proposes to prevent local authorities from setting local standards in planning policy, particularly energy efficiency standards (see PM13: Setting Standards). If the consultation proposal is adopted as it stands, it will no longer be possible for local authorities to set targets in terms of energy, carbon, and overheating. Instead, national building regulations (which are meant to represent the minimum standard – i.e. the ‘floor’) will essentially become the only standard – i.e. both the ‘floor’ and the ‘ceiling’. All homes will be built to the lowest common denominator. We think that this
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