Day: 17 May 2023

Brexit deal must be renegotiated or UK motor operations could close

Barry White

News has broken that Vauxhall and Fiat manufacturer Stellantis has urged the government to renegotiate rules in the Brexit trade deal that it says could now force it to shut some of its UK operations, putting thousands of jobs at risk. This comes just two years after the future of its electric car plants in Ellesmere Port and Luton were believed to be safe. However, it now says it can no longer meet rules in the Brexit trade deal signed by Boris Johnson that require 45% of parts by value to be sourced in the UK or EU by 2024. More at: https://www.theguardian.com/business/2023/may/17/vauxhall-maker-says-brexit-deal-must-be-renegotiated-or-it-could-shut-uk-plant

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Planning system changes needed to promote home energy efficiency

Dr. Suzy Nelson, University of Westminster.

To meet the UK Government’s targets to reduce the emission of greenhouse gases from our homes and to address the cost of living crisis there needs to be a major programme to upgrade the energy efficiency of our homes. This involves improvements both to the fabric of homes and to the systems for controlling their internal temperature and moisture levels.

Lack of funding and shortage of skills are major obstacles to the implementation of retrofit projects on the scale needed. Through my involvement in the Architects Climate Action Network, I became aware that obtaining planning permission was another issue holding back retrofit projects, so I decided to investigate the extent to which this was a problem.

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