At a time when rural communities need investment the most, too many barriers exist to allow growth in rural house building. The coalition government is unwaveringly refusing to reverse a combination of the housing and climate change policies formulated by Ed Miliband as secretary of state for energy and climate change in Gordon Brown’s last Labour government.

With a kick start for the economy so desperately needed, the current government must view the support of the housing market (especially in rural areas) as a real opportunity to show their commitment to growth. The coalition announced its new housing package earlier this month, but not enough has been done to overturn these inherited policies. They are continuing to force the costs of rural house building to rise, when it is already more expensive to build in the countryside.

These negative impacts are the legacy of a climate policy that was conceived in 2006, when the previous Labour government announced that all new homes would be ‘zero carbon’ by 2016. The timetable set for this was based on housing market assumptions that no longer apply. Significant reductions in public sector housing budgets, and the collapse in private house building, have resulted in the failure to create growth opportunities for the building industry – especially in rural areas.

The department of communities and local government estimates that the average additional costs for small and medium sized building firms of building on green field sites could be as high as £37,793. Such figures would arise from the implementation of the Code for Sustainable Homes, which many local authorities require, over and above the legal minimum sustainability standards under the current Building Regulations.

The government’s plans to make further changes to the building regulations, through the removal of the fuel factor, will add additional barriers to rural growth. These regulations will add an extra target, just for rural areas, of a further 24% CO2 saving in new build – adding many thousands of pounds more to the cost of building a house. A removal of the Fuel Factor will hit the 5 million people who live in rural Britain.

There is a widely acknowledged major shortage of affordable housing in rural areas. A report by Halifax last month showed that house prices in the countryside are already 16% higher than in urban areas with average property prices £27,000 higher than in cities. Developing affordable housing is a crucial factor in the economic and social strength of rural communities, and it is a major contributor to long-term community sustainability, yet the Coalition government seem determined to ignore this.

Rural new building has all but collapsed in recent years. Even if the present government did manage to release land through a relaxation of planning regimes, no one would be able to afford the houses which may be built. This will not just have a negative impact on many British-based industries such as energy and building but also to rural communities and sustainable growth in the countryside. The rate at which the coalition is pursuing the aim to be ‘the greenest government ever’ is too much, too soon.

Paul Blacklock is the head of strategy and corporate affairs at Calor