Responding to the Chancellor's 10th PBR, the NFB said Roger Humber, strategic policy advisor to the House Builders Association, part of the National Federation of Builders, said:
�Creating a zero carbon target for new houses is another example of �gesture politics� with very little thought for implementation.
�New house builders shouldn�t be made the scapegoat for solving environmental problems. The government should instead concentrate its efforts on the energy supply industry, developing renewable sources that can be utilised across the entire UK housing stock and not just the 200,000 new homes built each year.
�The government�s time would also be better spent encouraging carbon neutrality � the process whereby new Co2 emissions are balanced by carbon savings on existing homes. House builders should be encouraged to pay a local carbon levy which will pay for improved insulation and other energy saving measures in existing housing.
�By setting achievable targets, more efficient measures will be encouraged which contribute to the renewable energy supply. The NFB will be proposing such solutions rather than promising the impossible.�