Greening Your Home
Help the Environment, Save Energy, Water and Money
Whatever type of homes we live in, we can all take actions to make them greener, healthier and more comfortable places to live.
- Greening Your Home Guide
- Renewable Energy
- Is planning permission needed for renewable energy systems?
- Low Carbon Zones
- Sustainable Design and Construction SPD
Greening Your Home Guide
The Greening Your Home guide will provide you with information that will help you put into practice ideas and approaches for renovating your home in an environmentally sensitive way. Positive changes can be made in many ways, from changing a light bulb or your boiler to larger scale renovation works, and opportunities will arise over time as you gradually repair, extend, rebuild and replace parts of your home.
The information in this guide will help you to:
- save energy and money
- save water and reduce water pollution
- choose environmentally sound materials
- reduce your household waste
- live in a healthier more comfortable home
- improve your garden and enhance biodiversity
- find sources of further information
- find sources of funding for greening your home.
You can find the Greening Your Home guide in the attached files section below.
|back to topRenewable Energy
Climate change is a key environmental challenge today. Energy used in our homes contributes almost half of all carbon emissions in Haringey.
We encourage all residents to take steps to use energy wisely and to consider the use of renewable energy technologies in their homes.
Living in a conservation area or a listed building means that you need to pay attention to the special character of your property when considering energy conservation and use of renewable energy.
Below you will find information on appropriate ways to install renewable energy systems without impacting upon the special character of your property.
- The Use of Renewable Energy systems in Historic Buildings and Conservation Areas guide is in the attached files section below.
Is planning permission needed for Renewable Energy Systems?
Many (but not all) renewable energy projects can be done without Planning Permission; they are Permitted Development. This is defined by the government, and they have chosen to make as many renewable energy projects as possible permitted development to encourage them.
Unlike for most other forms of development that can be Permitted Development (PD), the PD rights for renewable energy systems apply to blocks of flats as well as houses. So renewable energy installations that are permitted development to houses are also to flats and planning permission would not be needed provided the relevant conditions are complied with.
Installation of Solar Panels (for heating hot water or generating electricity) in most situations is permitted development. The exceptions are anywhere in certain Article 4 Direction Areas, to walls of buildings in Conservation Areas (if visible), where they are in a different plane or higher than the roof, certain free standing panels (not fixed to the building) or any panels not in single family dwellings, although in non residential locations they can be permitted development if more than 5m from a boundary.
Installation of Ground Source Heat Pumps, Water Source Heat Pumps, a Flue forming part of a Biomass Heating System or Combined Heat and Power System, an Air Source Heat Pump and a Wind Turbine can also be Permitted Development provided detailed conditions relevant to the type of renewable energy system are complied with.
The best place to find out exactly what is permitted development and read the relevant conditions is the government's Planning Portal (external link) You can also see the guide on our Do I need planning permission page where you can also find details of how to talk to a Haringey Planning Officer for advice.
|back to topLow Carbon Zones
The Muswell Hill Low Carbon Zone project is a community-led initiative to test different measures to reduce carbon emissions. It aims to deliver a 20 percent carbon saving in an area of Muswell Hill by 2012, through a partnership between the local community, businesses, schools, the council and other organisations. Further information can be found on the dedicated web pages for the Muswell Hill Low Carbon Zone.
To assist advisors and participants in the Muswell Hill Low Carbon Zone project, the Planning Department prepared a guide to planning issues with and constraints on common energy saving home improvements, 'Planning Issues in The Muswell Hill Low Carbon Zone', which can be downloaded from the Attached Files Section below.
Although the document is targeted at Muswell Hill, most of the comments in the table on the second page apply to other areas of the borough. It can therefore be used as a useful guide to assessing whether planning permission would be needed for the same sorts of projects elsewhere. However some local factors elsewhere in the borough, such as Listed Buildings and Article 4 Directions, are not covered in the table. If you have any queries please consult with a Haringey Planning Officer.
Sustainable Design and Construction SPD
More detailed guidance on sustainability for all buildings can be found in our Sustainable Design and Construction Supplementary Planning Document (SPD). This shows how the design and construction of all buildings can incorporate sustainability, protect natural resources, enhance biodiversity and reduce construction waste, environmental pollution and CO2 emissions. As an SPD, part of the Council's Local Development Framework of planning policies, it's contents have greater weight in the consideration of planning applications.
This SPD is currently under preparation, including a wide ranging public consultation. Full details, including the consultation draft version of the document, supporting documents and details of how to participate in the consultation, can be found on the Sustainable Design and Construction draft SPD page.
|back to topContact
Planning, Environment and Transport
Level 6
River Park House
225 High Road
Wood Green
London
N22 8HQ
Tel 020 8489 5562
Fax 020 8489 5552
Email ldf@haringey.gov.uk
Attached Files
| Filename | Filetype | Size |
|---|---|---|
Greening Your Home  | 836 KB | |
| renewable energy systems.pdf | 1087 KB | |
| planning issues in the muswell hill low carbon zone.pdf | 313 KB | |
| PDF documents require Adobe Acrobat reader. Please click here to download. | ||
Useful External Links
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