England risks building new ‘death traps’ as experts warn of overheating crisis

England risks constructing a new generation of “death trap” buildings that can fatally overheat unless the government tightens standards and prioritises climate safeguards, planning experts have said.

Fears are growing about the plight of vulnerable people in heatwaves, with research this week suggesting that 2,700 people had died in the May and June heatwaves in England and Wales. Yet only about half of local plans being drawn up by councils and local authorities require new buildings to have a cooling or ventilation strategy to prevent overheating, according to findings from the Royal Town Planning Institute (RTPI) and the Town and Country Planning Association (TCPA).

While nearly all English councils say they intend to include green infrastructure in new housing developments – such as trees that can cool streets or provision of access to waterways – only about a quarter of them use a recognised tool that would ensure this.

“This is a matter of life and death,” said Celia Davis, interim director of operations at the TCPA. “We need to avoid building death traps.”

She warned that although many local authorities had high aims for dealing with heat, this was not always borne out in practice. “There is a gap between what they say they want and what they achieve,” she said.

The RTPI report, entitled Local Plans and the Climate Crisis, used AI to assess local plans from English councils, including those already adopted and those still under consideration. While the authors acknowledged that the use of AI was “experimental” in such a report and had the potential to result in some inaccuracies, the RTPI said it was confident that the method gave a broadly reliable picture.

Earlier this year, ministers unveiled the “future homes standard”, a new set of regulations that will govern how houses are built from 2028, and which includes provisions for keeping homes warmer in winter and cooler in summer. But the standard will not apply to buildings such as schools, hospitals and care homes. The rules, which do not require new homes to have the louvres and shutters recommended by experts to block out heat, may also be insufficient to stop overheating, planning experts told the Guardian.

“The future homes standard is not enough because you also have to consider the surrounding area,” said Dan Slade, head of research and practice at the RTPI. “If there are not enough trees or shading or green space, that will affect the heat these homes experience.”

Slade also pointed out that “permitted development rights” also allowed for dwellings to be built from converted offices without the regulations that apply to other homes. “Many of these are glass boxes that can easily overheat,” he said. A survey in London found 14% of such homes, of which there are about 120,000 already, had no windows that could be opened.

The Woodland Trust charity, in a separate report published on Tuesday, also called for more trees to be grown near housing in the UK for their cooling effect. It found more than 11 million people in the UK are living in areas where less than 10% of land gets shade from trees, with people on low incomes worst affected. England has one of the lowest tree canopy levels in Europe, according to the report, with the average tree cover at 17.5%. Only a third of people in English towns and cities enjoy tree cover at the minimum recommended levels.

The RTPI report did not consider whether air conditioning should be provided. It found that while 99% of local plans included green infrastructure, only 27% used a “green space factor”. This is a tool, regarded by RTPI as best practice, that planners can use to ensure building developments include enough green space and use it correctly.

A government spokesperson said: “Our national building regulations and planning policy mean all newly built homes and their surroundings must minimise unwanted heat, regardless of local plans – the future homes standard is designed to address energy efficiency.

“We are reviewing the relevant building regulation to assess whether we can apply overheating rules to homes converted from commercial buildings.”