A SENIOR politician has called on the council to put together a list of “bad” building developers.

Leader of Leeds City Council’s Conservatives group Coun Andrew Carter (Con, Calverley and Farsley) told a meeting of the authority’s development plan panel that a list of developers who put forward plans with poor environmental specifications should be made public.

The comments came during a discussion on a report which outlined how the council was putting together a list of “best practice” developers. Coun Carter said: “I am pleased you have a list of those developers who have good practice. We need a list of those who don’t – they are the problem. If we should have a list of good practice developers, we should also have a list of poor practice developers, and we should not be shy of making that public.”

The report which went before members told of what measures could be put in place to encourage building companies towards making more environmentally friendly developments.

It read: “A means of engaging with the development industry is to be established with the view of changing the current mind set of developers.

It later added: “Other means of engaging with industry will be considered, including: the potential to extend the Leeds architecture awards to include “best carbon saving” and “best climate resilient” categories; a Leeds Climate Change Summit and a best practice web-site showcasing exemplary delivery such as CITU. ”

Following Coun Carter’s comments, fellow panel member Coun Caroline Gruen (Lab) added: “It was my idea to get a list of good practice developers. One developer was saying they could put forward and demonstrate good practice to make it more difficult for those who aren’t.

“We have made a good start. I am not so foolish to think all builders will fall into line, but you have to start somewhere.”

A council officer told the meeting: “The report sets out the role of the planning system in terms of supporting a mitigation of climate change.

“It also sets out positive policies the council already has in the local plan – in benchmarking policies the council has compared to other core cities, it leads to us doing very well.”

He added that the council’s current ratio of replacing every tree lost with three new trees should be increased.