A backbench bid to allow councils to impose higher energy efficiency standards on new homes and offices looked set to clear the Commons today.

Tory former minister Michael Fallon's Planning and Energy Bill has already been given a second reading and completed its committee stage.

Today, several amendments tabled by Labour's Andrew Dismore, a frequent opponent of backbench legislation, are due to be debated in the report stage.

But as the sitting got underway, Mr Dismore (Hendon) said it was not his objective to prevent the measure getting a third reading and going to the Lords.

The Bill, which has cross party support, allows councils in England and Wales to require that a "proportion of energy" used in developments should come from renewable sources.

It also allows them to set higher energy efficiency standards than current rules require.

The move comes after a pioneering initiative by the London Borough of Merton requiring that at least 10% of the energy needed for new housing developments should come from renewable or low carbon sources.

Opening debate on the first group of amendments, Mr Dismore said he was surprised that insulation had been left out of the Bill.

Calling for councils to be allowed to impose additional requirements for better insulation standards, he said: "The starting point has to be to reduce (energy) consumption in the first place."

Mr Dismore said improving insulation would also help reduce noise - a particular problem in houses converted to flats.

"A useful by-product of insulating a building properly for heat and therefore energy consumption is that it will also have the same effect in relation to noise as well."

He said most "forward-looking" councils would find it surprising if they did not have powers to insist on improved insulation standards as well as microgeneration targets.

Labour's Stephen Pound (Ealing N) said his fellow backbencher Bob Marshall-Andrews (Medway) had build an eco-friendly property known as the "Teletubby House" in Wales.

"It is built almost entirely underground and covered with what he calls organic insulation and the rest of us call grass," Mr Pound said.

Mr Dismore quipped: "I suspect most people would not be able to afford the sort of construction Mr Marshall-Andrews has been able to build for himself - both in terms of the cost of construction and the land involved and the insulation methods including the football pitch on the roof."

Mr Fallon (Sevenoaks) later said he felt Mr Dismore's concerns had already been addressed in his Bill.

"I would not want us to labour on under the impression that these amendments actually strengthen the Bill in the way suggested."

Junior communities and local government minister Parmjit Dhanda said ministers were not initially convinced the Bill was necessary.

But after amendment in committee it had been made a "workable piece of legislation", which fitted into wider initiatives to combat climate change.

Mr Dismore's amendment, he said, was unnecessary because existing clauses in the measure already covered the issue. The amendment was withdrawn.

Mr Dismore also raised concerns about the impact on housing supply of requiring builders to construct environmentally-friendly houses.

He said: "It's not the cost to the local authority, it's the cost that the local authority will impose on new developments in its area.

"If we are going to expect new developments to use renewable or low carbon sources, or indeed generate their own electricity, that has a price tag attached to it."

He warned: "If you make it too expensive, then developers simply won't build new houses."