The Merton Rule
 

At a recent meeting with a planner for a small housing site I was asked what renewable we were considering, as this particular authority was proposing to seek 10% on-site renewable. This follows from the London Borough of Merton’s initiative which is being taken up by other authorities and is known as the Merton Rule. I am sure everybody is aware of this but, if not, read on.
The ‘Merton Rule’ is the groundbreaking planning policy, pioneered by the London Borough of Merton, which requires the use of renewable energy onsite to reduce annual carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions in the built environment. Hundreds of local authorities look set to follow Merton’s lead, which will impact all new major development projects throughout the UK.
Following the publication of Planning Policy Statement 22 (PPS22), Planning Guidance on Renewable Energy, issued by the Office of Deputy Prime Minister in 2004, the London Borough of Merton was the first to formalise the governments renewable energy targets in its adopted UDP, setting the target for the use of onsite renewable energy to reduce annual CO 2 emissions for all new major developments* in the borough by 10%.
On the 8th of June 2006 Yvette Cooper, the Minister for Housing and Planning, announced that ‘Government expect all planning authorities to include policies in their development plans that require a percentage of the energy in new developments to come from on-site renewables’  Extract from web site www.themertonrule.org
If you follow the link http://www.themertonrule.org/list-of-boroughs you can view an informal list of local authorities adopting, or considering adopting, prescriptive Merton Rule-like policies.