This Government are committed to taking the action necessary to fix the foundations of local government. Today, I am updating the House on the steps we are taking to support four councils to recover and reform: Nottingham city council, the London borough of Croydon, Warrington borough council and Woking borough council.
Nottingham city council
On 4 February, I informed the House that the Secretary of State is satisfied, having considered the fourth report from the Nottingham commissioners, and other information, that the council has made significant improvement in many aspects of its operation and is now meeting its best value duty across most, but not all, themes. I proposed an ongoing intervention package to provide support to the council to ensure that momentum is maintained and that remaining challenges are addressed by reforming critical public services. I invited the council and others to provide representations by 11 February.
The Secretary of State received two representations which he has carefully considered. He remains satisfied that the council is not yet meeting its best value duty in relation to continuous improvement, and service delivery. The Secretary of State has concluded that it is both necessary and expedient for him to exercise powers in the Local Government Act 1999 as I proposed. Today, he has issued directions under section 15(5) of the 1999 Act to implement the proposed intervention package.
The package, taking effect from today and due to be in place until 30 September 2027, comprises specific actions the council is required to take, and appoints ministerial envoys to support the council and oversee the improvement work. The Secretary of State has today appointed Sharon Kemp OBE as ministerial envoy. He is confident that her extensive knowledge and experience will help the council to build further on the improvements already under way. A second envoy appointment will be made in due course. The envoys will report to the Secretary of State after six months.
The intervention package represents a de-escalation of the previous arrangements, reflecting the substantial progress the council has made to date and the strength of its leadership. It is designed to build on and reinforce that progress, enabling the council to continue driving its own improvement with the necessary support from the ministerial envoys.
In summary, the directions issued today require the council to:
Work with the ministerial envoys to establish a continuous improvement committee with appropriate membership, including external leads for adults social care and children’s services.
Work with the ministerial envoys to prepare a continuous improvement plan within three months, and respond promptly and in public to any committee recommendations on the plan and its implementation.
I wish to update the House on the publication of the Government response to the 2023 future homes and buildings standards consultation and the laying of a statutory instrument today to implement the policy resulting from this consultation.
Improving the energy efficiency of our buildings and reducing carbon emissions is challenging but essential. The 2021 amendments to the Building Regulations 2010, which increased the standards in parts L and F and introduced part O, were a good first step. But the future homes and buildings standards, which we are confirming today and laying the statutory instrument to implement, will ensure new homes and buildings in England will have good quality building fabric and, crucially, be fitted with low-carbon heating such as heat pumps. They will be “zero carbon ready” meaning they will naturally become zero carbon over time, as the electricity grid fully decarbonises, without the need for any retrofitting. This policy will help the UK avoid the more volatile price increases of fossil fuels, drive down energy bills for households, and support our goal of reaching net zero carbon emissions by 2050.
The future homes and buildings standards consultation
The future homes and buildings standards consultation received over 2,000 responses, providing invaluable technical insights. We have carefully reviewed all of the feedback and worked hard to ensure the essential technical details are right to deliver a robust and workable standard.
The Government response to the future homes and buildings standards consultation confirms that, with implementation starting from 2027, the standards will make sure new homes and non-domestic buildings are future-proofed with low-carbon heating and high levels of energy efficiency. The future homes standard will ensure new homes emit, on average, at least 75% less carbon than 2013 standards homes, and will see solar panels installed in the majority of new homes, reducing reliance on fossil fuels and strengthening energy security. This could help save families hundreds of pounds a year.
Continue to work with other councils in the Nottinghamshire area for unitary local government.
Co-operate with the ministerial envoys and provide assistance and access to them as set out in the directions and required to deliver improvement.
Pay the ministerial envoys’ reasonable expenses and such fees as he determines.
The Secretary of State has reduced the number of days of support the ministerial envoys can provide compared to commissioners, with a maximum of 75 days each per year, reducing the level of oversight and the cost to the council.
The Secretary of State will review the directions and the ministerial envoys’ roles after 12 months, to ensure that Nottingham has the support required to accelerate recovery and protect the public purse. Subject to clear and sustained evidence of improvement, the intervention may be de-escalated further ahead of the expiration of the directions.
I would like to place on record my thanks to Sharon Kemp OBE, Tony McArdle OBE, and Margaret Lee OBE for their invaluable work in supporting the council on its reform and recovery since February 2024.
I remain committed to working in partnership with Nottingham city council and colleagues across Government to test how public service reform can drive Nottingham’s recovery, including developing an innovative targeted support offer alongside the statutory intervention, to deliver the best possible outcomes for residents.
London borough of Croydon
The London borough of Croydon has been in intervention since January 2021, and commissioners were appointed in July 2025.
I have today published the commissioners’ first progress report, received in February this year, alongside my response. I am pleased that the commissioner team have established a constructive working relationship with the council, and it is encouraging that the political and corporate leadership have committed to addressing the serious challenges that Croydon continues to face. It is right that the council recognises that there are more steps it can take at a local level to transform its services and operation and improve its financial sustainability to help it move out of best value failure. Delivery of the council’s transformation plan and associated savings is now essential to help move Croydon away from an unsustainable reliance on exceptional financial support. It is now vital that both members and officers drive forward at pace the necessary changes to help return longer-term financial sustainability to Croydon and improved service delivery for residents. I am confident that the support and oversight of commissioners will help to place the council on a stronger footing for the future.
I look forward to receiving the commissioners’ next report in the summer, after the local and mayoral elections in May, and I will keep the House updated on progress.
Warrington borough council
Warrington borough council has been in intervention since July 2025, involving a team of ministerial envoys working with the council to oversee and support the required improvement work. The expectation is for the council to drive its own improvement with the support, challenge and advice from the ministerial envoys, some of whom have powers to exercise council functions that are treated as held in reserve.
Today I have published the ministerial envoys’ first report, received in February, which identifies early progress in a number of key areas. It is encouraging to hear that the envoys’ advice has been welcomed, that key leadership appointments have been made, and that steps are being undertaken to improve governance arrangements.
The council will need to maintain this open approach as the scale of the challenge is becoming clear through this early stage of the intervention. The envoys’ report clearly sets out the council’s sobering financial situation, including a significant structural deficit, major commercial liabilities, and a £130 million four-year budget gap. Addressing these issues will require the council to overhaul its past approach to transformation to improve its efficiency and the services that residents deserve.
I look forward to receiving the envoys’ next report later this year, once key appointments at the council are more established and it has further strengthened its capacity to lead the recovery work with the envoys’ guidance and oversight. I expect the council to maintain a sustained focus on delivering the improvement and recovery plan and the fundamental transformation needed to strengthen financial sustainability.
Warrington’s improvement is essential not only for the council itself but also for the wider region, given its critical role in devolution and the establishment of the Cheshire and Warrington combined authority.
Woking borough council
Woking borough council has been in intervention since May 2023. I have today published the commissioners’ sixth progress report, received in February this year, alongside my response. I welcome commissioners’ assessment that the council remains committed to delivering its improvement and recovery plan and that progress continues to be made across governance, finance and transformation.
I recognise that the council faces continued challenges as it recovers from failure and welcome the progress that has been made in delivering the asset rationalisation programme. This, alongside our unprecedented commitment to repay £500 million of the council’s debt in 2026-27 as a first tranche of support, will be crucial to reducing Woking’s unsupported debt and providing value for money for taxpayers.
The council will be abolished in April 2027 as part of local government reorganisation in Surrey. I am grateful for commissioners’ focus on readying the council for reorganisation, and the collaborative work undertaken so far with local partners to ensure an effective handover. I am clear that transition readiness will be of the utmost importance for the final year of intervention.
Conclusion
I recognise the serious challenges facing councils under best value intervention, including in some cases the need to address substantial debt burdens. I am committed to working with these councils to ensure they are delivering the high standards that local residents rightly expect. My Department will continue to take action to support improvement where needed, alongside targeted financial support and reform of the system itself, to secure sustainable recovery across the local government sector.
I will deposit in the House Library copies of the documents referred to, which have been published on gov.uk today. I will update the House in due course.
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Our ambition for on-site renewable electricity generation, such as solar, has meant we have developed a new approach to how we require this technology in the future homes standard. Our statutory instrument amends the Building Regulations to add in a new legislative functional requirement for on-site renewable electricity generation for new dwellings, which will ensure grid-connected new homes contribute towards clean energy and help manage peak demand. We have balanced this ambition with flexibility for developers constructing buildings where solar is not suitable, and appropriate exemptions for situations where installation may not be feasible, including higher-risk buildings. Higher-risk buildings, such as blocks of flats, often have limited roof space proportionate to the overall size of the building, with little available space for large equipment such as communal heating system components. Given this limited roof space, any benefit derived from requiring solar on the roof would be minimal when split across each individual flat. Residents of higher-risk buildings will continue to benefit from high levels of energy efficiency, supporting improved comfort and energy performance once homes are occupied.
The future buildings standard, which sets the performance standards for new non-domestic buildings such as offices, schools and warehouses, will also mean new non-domestic buildings feature high fabric standards, low-carbon heating, and other elements such as efficient lighting, better heat recovery, and solar panels (unless the building is a higher-risk building). This will ensure new non-domestic buildings are zero carbon ready, will lower energy use and emissions, and protect occupants from more volatile price increases due to reliance on fossil fuels.
The consultation response also includes the response to the call for evidence on part O of the Building Regulations, which came into force in June 2022. Part O requires new residential buildings to be designed and built to mitigate the risk of overheating, helping our country adapt to climate change and protecting people in their homes. The call for evidence collected input from house builders with first-hand experience of applying these requirements. Based on this feedback, the Government have decided to proceed with a comprehensive technical review of approved document O to consider how it could best be improved. The review will consider stakeholder concerns, including reviewing the adoption of the updated CIBSE TM59 for the dynamic method, exploring improvements to the simplified method and reviewing the noise and security guidance in approved document O. The review will also consider issues relating to overlaps with other parts of the Building Regulations and the use of weather files.
I am placing a copy of the Government response to the 2023 future homes and buildings standards consultation in the Library of the House.
Implementation of the future homes and buildings standards
The policies set out in the Government response to the future homes and buildings standards consultation form the policy for the 2026 changes to the Building Regulations.
Alongside publication of the Government response to the future homes and buildings standards consultation on 24 March 2026, I have laid a statutory instrument to implement the amendments to the Building Regulations, and I have published new statutory guidance.
Transitional arrangements have been established to provide clarity during the implementation of these amendments. These standards will come into force from 24 March 2027 for non-higher-risk building work, accompanied by a 12-month transition period. For higher-risk buildings, the amended regulations will be effective from 24 September 2027 in recognition of the greater complexity and length of the building control process making the standard arrangements unsuitable. Where a valid gateway 2 application has been submitted prior to this date, completion may proceed under the 2021 part L standards, except where such application is rejected or lapses. Full details are set out in the consultation response and statutory instrument.
Implementing these standards marks a pivotal step for the sector in our pursuit of net zero. It sets out a clear route towards delivering homes and buildings that are prepared for the future in their enhanced energy efficiency, low-carbon heating, and improved protection against overheating. This approach supports the transition to a cleaner, greener built environment, ensuring new homes are zero carbon ready and resilient to the impacts of climate change.