Colin_p said:
In my opinion Part P should have far more in it than it does and this means if it goes up from 47 pages to 547 pages, so be it.
No, you're wrong again, Colin. How can I make this as simple as possible for you... ?
For all the physical things that affect a building there are regulations, approved practices, etc,
which already exist.
These things are well researched by experts and are the subject of specialist areas of expertise. Let me list a few:
Structural Integrity
Fire Safety
Resistance to moisture penetration
Ventilation
Hygiene
Services - water gas, electricity
Drainage & waste disposal
Conservation of energy
Etc...
The Building Regulations, in essence, only require that works which affect any of the above (and more areas besides) are compliant with the already proven and accepted practices. The Building Regulations certainly do
not attempt to reinvent the wheel/s.
What they do is state the bare requirements, such as,
"Reasonable provision shall be made in the design and installation of electrical installations in order to protect persons operating,maintaining or altering the installations from fire or injury." (You may, or may not, recognise that one, because that is all that is required by Part P.) The Approved Documents then offer guidance. Such guidance often takes the form of pointing you at
existing regulations such as British Standards: 7671, 5839, 5930, 8103-1, 5618, 8208 (to take a random sample from just three of the approved documents) along with many hundreds of BRE Digests, codes of practice, acts of parliament, etc, etc, etc, etc...
The facts are that buildings, even ordinary dwellings, are complex structures and what you do in yours, today, may affect the safety, utility, or health of owners/occupiers/visitors tomorrow. The Building Regulations have a long history, evolving since 1667, through various public health acts, to finally emerge as The Building Regulations 1965, whereupon technology has heaped change after change on them.
So, you'd incorporate all those references, in full, in every section of The Building Regulations?
It's hard enough for professionals to keep up with the changes, so what chance does the average DIY-er have? With things like electricity a little knowledge can be a very dangerous thing. As the (pre-2004) adage had it, "Red to red, black to black, blue to bits."