Every newly-built home should be fitted with rooftop solar panels as standard, the Local Government Association (LGA) has argued, warning that voluntary uptake is too slow to meet national climate targets.
In a new report, the LGA reveals that six in ten new properties are still completed without any solar provision. Mandating solar from day one, it says, would cut an estimated £440 a year off the average household energy bill, while delivering a sizable dent in residential emissions.
Councils ready, but policy missing
The LGA insists councils are ‘central’ to the UK’s net zero transition, yet lack the powers, long-term funding and coherent policy framework needed to drive local decarbonisation at pace. Its blueprint sets out a package of legislative tweaks, multi-year funding and green-finance tools it wants to see in the forthcoming Spending Review.
Alongside compulsory solar on new homes, the Association highlights four national priorities where local government could accelerate progress if appropriately empowered:
- Warm Homes Plan – place-based retrofit schemes to upgrade five million dwellings by 2050.
- Energy System Reform – a new local–national partnership to modernise grids and unlock clean power.
- Clean Power by 2030 – support for Local Area Energy Plans and fast-tracked community energy projects.
- Protecting Nature – stronger powers and funding for councils to restore biodiversity via Local Nature Recovery Strategies.
To deliver these, the LGA is calling for a unified climate-governance framework, the right to set higher local energy-efficiency standards, a Green Finance Delivery Support Unit to crowd-in private capital, and a coordinated green-skills strategy.
Funding plea ahead of Spending Review
Cllr Adam Hug, the LGA’s Environment Spokesperson, said local authorities stand ready to lead Britain’s low-carbon push provided Westminster grants the right toolkit:
“This report sets out what councils can achieve and how to do it, if the Government is able to back them with the powers and funding to turn this into a reality.
“Councils are ready to go further and faster on climate action – but we need a plan that works in partnership with local government. However, the funding or policies needed to empower them to help fully realise this ambition are not yet in place.
“The Government should use the Spending Review to ensure that councils are sufficiently funded, and take on the policy recommendations that will help local government fulfil its role in tackling climate change.”
Why solar first?
The LGA argues that making solar a planning requirement is the fastest, least disruptive way to reduce future carbon emissions from the housing stock. Panels installed during construction are considerably cheaper than retrofits and, coupled with on-site battery storage, could slash peak-time demand on an already strained grid.
With the Future Homes Standard due tightening energy-efficiency rules this year, the Association says there is a narrow window to embed rooftop solar as the industry norm rather than an optional extra. Failure to act, it cautions, will lock another generation of homes into higher running costs and retrofit expense.
