Homeowners trying to get heatpumps facing six month wait

by · Mail Online

Homeowners trying to get 'eco-friendly' heat pumps being pushed by the Labour government are facing a six month wait to have them installed. 

Bureaucracy is being blamed for the delay with some people needing planning permission to have the system fitted outside their homes. 

Currently, people need permission rubber-stamped by local authorities if they want a heat pump installed in a listed building or in a conservation area. 

They must also submit an application if it will be stationed less than one metre away from a neighbour's property.  

It left one Briton being told he needed to install a £4,500 acoustic enclosure to make the noise being emitted from the pump quieter - despite modern systems being no louder than a fridge.

An increase in demand for heat pumps has slowed down the rollout with councils on average taking eight weeks to approve applications, reported The Times. 

In Birmingham applications have risen by 450pc while in Newport that figure is 600pc. 

Start-up heat pump business Aira has blasted the 'ludicrous' rules in place saying they are making things 'much more complicated than it should be' and 'impossible for half a million families a year to get a heat pump'. 

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Daniel Sarefjord, the chief executive of Swedish company Aira's British branch, wants the Government to remove planning restrictions on heat pumps.

'By having these rules in place, you make it impossible for half a million families a year to get a heat pump, because even if they wanted to they can't because you can't live for two to six months without hot water,' he said. 

Mr Sarefjord has been left baffled by the need to have planning permission saying you don't need one for a jacuzzi 'which will make far more noise with its bubbles'. 

About 40pc of Aira's customers need planning permission.

One of those was Asa Baum who had to apply for permission as it was going to be installed less than one metre from his neighbour's home.

He had to wait 16 weeks to have his heat pump approved in Harpenden, Hertfordshire.

Sir Keir Starmer looks around a completed apartment at a housing development in Walthamstow, England - August, 2022
Heat pumps run on electricity and capture heat from outside before transferring it inside
Air source heat pumps absorb heat from the outside air at low temperature into a fluid to heat your house and hot water. They are able to extract renewable heat from the environment

But Mr Baum ended up moving it to 'where he didn't want it' when the council told him he would have to build a £4,500 acoustic enclosure to make it quieter. 

The operations director had to fork out £900 for a noise assessment - which found it would be quieter than a fridge - as the council wouldn't accept the one conducted by Aira. 

'How have we spent this long arguing over something that is inaudible in any normal circumstance?' he said.  

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A Government spokesman told The Times: 'The energy shocks of recent years have shown the urgent need to upgrade British homes and our warm homes plan will make them cheaper and cleaner to run, rolling out upgrades from new insulation to solar and heat pumps. 

'We are exploring options on how to speed up the delivery of low-carbon home upgrades, including through reforming the planning system. We will publish more information in due course.' 

It has been reported that Sir Keir Starmer's Labour government plans to ban gas boilers in most new homes by 2027.

The so-called 'Future Homes Standard' aims to cut carbon emissions across family homes - and will insist that developers make sure new-builds are kitted out with electric heat pumps or non-gas alternatives.

It has been suggested that the new rules could be brought forward for an announcement next May, although would not be enforced until the following year. 

The expected measures come despite a bombshell report earlier this year revealing that the uptake of heat pumps to replace boilers had been less than half the expected levels.

A generic photo of a heat pump outside a home. Start-up heat pump business Aira has blasted the 'ludicrous' rules in place on heat pumps saying they are making things 'much more complicated than it should be'
An air-source heat pump in front of a cottage in Newbiggin-on-Lune, Cumbria, in February

The National Audit Office warned efforts to encourage homes to install the pumps have been slow with people reluctant to spend four times more than on a gas boiler.

Uncertainty over the role hydrogen could play in heating homes is also hampering investment, the report found.

The total installed in 2022 was just 55,000, well short of the Government's targets of 600,000 by 2028 and 1.6million by 2035.

The Financial Times has reported that the proposed ban on gas boilers in new homes would involve a 12-month delay to ensure housebuilders are prepared for the switchover.

The previous Conservative administration last year launched a consultation on the Future Homes Standard policy.

New legislation had been expected to be announced this month but has been put back by at least half a year following the general election last July, according to the Telegraph.

The plans form part of a mission to cut carbon emissions across all new homes by up to 80 pc - but there have been concerns over whether enough new heat pumps can be supplied to meet targets.