Owners of historic buildings encouraged to explore making their homes more efficient

Councillor Juliet Layton, Cabinet Member for Development Management and Licensing, said, “The Cotswolds is full of beautiful, old buildings that are a big part of what makes the Cotswolds so attractive.

“We know many people who own these buildings will want to look at ways to make them more energy efficient, but often believe that it isn't possible to alter such homes either because it won’t be allowed under planning laws or because the building won’t be suitable. 

“In our award-winning Net Zero Carbon Toolkit we provide a lot of advice on how older buildings can be adapted and there is also great advice from Historic England and other organisations. This includes listed buildings and those in conservation areas.

“We would encourage the owners of older buildings to look at the options available to them and from our side we would like to say that we will do what we can to support you to do that within the planning process. 

“We can provide advice and support to any building owners on how they can make their home more energy efficient and if anyone is unsure I would encourage them to speak to us for advice on their project.

“We will also be looking to run some online sessions in the coming months for anyone who would like to know more to be able to speak to our planners and also find out about retrofitting older homes. If you would like to be sent the information on the sessions please email communications@cotswold.gov.uk and we will email you back with details once available.”

Councillor Rachel Coxcoon, Cabinet Member for Climate Change and Forward Planning, said; “We are pushing for making all buildings across the district more efficient through our planning approach which included our recent consultation on making our Local Plan ‘green to the core’ and our planners are keen to help people retrofit their homes where possible.”

The Council operates a pre-application service where residents, businesses or developers can receive professional advice ahead of planning work to help make sure it fits within planning laws. The advice available includes that for retrofitting older, Cotswold homes. Visit www.cotswold.gov.uk/planningadvice for more information on our advice service.

Historic England provides a wide range of advice for owners of older buildings on how they can go about retrofitting on their website and the Council’s Net Zero Carbon Toolkit can be found on the Council website here www.cotswold.gov.uk/netzerocarbontoolkit