Prioritise eco retro fitting – councillor
WOULD ‘HELP FAMILIES’
MEASURES to make more homes energy efficient need to be prioritised as they would “truly make a difference” to working families, a councillor says.
Councillor Sue Jeffrey said socalled ‘green’ retro fitting of existing properties would really deliver on levelling up ambitions for the likes of Redcar and Cleveland. But “no-one in the borough seemed to be taking it seriously”, the former council leader claimed.
The Government’s Green Homes Grant funding scheme, which is administered by energy company E.On and overseen in this region by the Tees Valley Combined Authority (TVCA), allocated £2.1m to Redcar and Cleveland Council in 2021/22.
The scheme, which prioritised those owning their homes who are on a low income, has now closed and to date has enabled improvements to 192 properties in the area with eligible households being able to access up to £10,000 worth of funding each.
But a report by Councillor Louise Westbury, the council’s cabinet member for climate change, environment, conceded that amid a cost-of-living crisis and increasing fuel poverty it represented just a “small proportion” of those householders needing support.
Cllr Jeffrey said: “It’s a tiny amount. The fact that we haven’t got sufficient cash to do this work is just appalling.”
She said figures published in March showed there were an estimated 6,385 households in Redcar and Cleveland in fuel poverty, meaning they could not afford to adequately heat their homes.
Cllr Westbury’s report said a ‘home upgrade’ grant being made available from the summer and again funded by the Government would enable low-income households who aren’t connected to the gas network to become more energy efficient and make provision for low-carbon heating. In addition, a successful joint bid by
TVCA on behalf of Tees Valleybased councils and social housing companies to a further Government scheme aimed at de-carbonising social housing stock had been successful and will result in 48 Beyond Housing properties in Redcar and Cleveland undergoing improvements.
The report said: “Government support funding will be crucial on an ongoing basis if significant inroads are to continue being made into tackling emissions and domestic utilities demand.”
Cllr Jeffrey, who warned earlier this year that many householders were living in “dire circumstances”, said well-insulated homes could save an average of £400 a year on bills. She said: “I believe that retro fitting to make houses warmer, reduce energy costs and so reduce carbon emissions is one of the policies that can really deliver levelling up, but no one in the borough seems to be taking it seriously. This is one policy intervention that can truly make a difference to the lives of working families across the borough, but sadly I can’t see anyone in either the Government nationally or our council locally making it the priority it should be.”
The South Bank ward councillor recently expressed disappointment that the “parameters” of a separate bid being prepared by the council for money from the Government’s levelling up fund did not allow for a programme of further green grants for householders which she said could be administered locally and benefit local businesses.
“Why can we not expect to see more properties improved in this way than we are doing?” she added.
A spokesman for the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy said: “We are investing £6.6bn in total this Parliament to improve the energy efficiency of homes and buildings across the country and we continue to work with local authorities to ensure that advice and information about our grants is readily available.
“We have already directly provided councils in the North East with over £87m to help improve energy efficiency and we continue to look at ways to make UK homes cheaper to heat, particularly in light of increased energy bills.”
MAKING HOMES MORE ENERGY EFFICIENT