Agenda and draft minutes

None.

To confirm the minutes of the previous meeting held on 22 January 2025.

RESOLVED – that the minutes of the meeting held on 22 January 2025 be agreed and signed by the Chair.

To receive an update on the Council’s Affordable Warmth Strategy.

The Service Delivery Manager: Strategic Housing & Regeneration presented an update to the Committee on the Council’s Affordable Warmth Strategy for 2021 – 2026.

Adopted in April 2021, the Affordable Warmth Strategy covers the current period up until 2026 and aims to reduce fuel poverty through identifying and supporting households that struggle to afford adequate heating, improve the health and wellbeing of vulnerable residents by ensuring homes are energy efficient and reducing the number of fuel-poor households.

As part of the Strategy, an action plan was developed focusing on three key areas which include:-

• Raising energy awareness & support by educating residents about energy efficiency and providing support through initiatives such as the Telford Energy Advice (TEA) hotline.
• Improving energy efficiency & raising standards by attracting grants to retrofit homes to ensure properties meet the minimum energy performance standards and promoting green construction practices.
• Maximising household income & benefitting from the local economy by providing financial assistance through schemes such as the Household Support Fund and supporting local business owners through retrofit contracts.

Members heard that Central Government had changed the definition of fuel poverty which had led to an increase in the number of households classified as fuel-poor, thus posing a greater challenge since the strategy was first adopted by the Council. Additionally, the cost of living crisis and energy price hikes had exacerbated the situation in recent years.

The Council had worked with the Marches Energy Agency to provide a full-time ‘one stop shop’ hotline through match funding, known as the Telford Energy Advice (TEA) service. Since the initial set-up of the hotline, support was provided to 7,000 fuel-poor households in Telford and Wrekin, including 347 home visits. The hotline provided residents with various types of energy efficiency advice and also provided for a number of small measures such as heated throws to offer immediate support for elderly or vulnerable residents who had limited mobility. The service had also provided flyers to households, offering money-saving tips, an energy calculator app and assistance with switching energy tariffs and price caps. For some households, TEA had advocated with suppliers to secure better tariffs and helped register for priority services. An expression of interest form had recently been introduced to make it easier for residents to access support when needed.

As part of the Strategy, the Council had attracted a surplus of grant funding from various streams, including a £4m grant to retrofit homes, improving 400 households with insulation, heating, and solar panels.  Other Council grants, such as the Emergency Boiler Fund had assisted 14 households in making habit changes to heat properties more efficiently and cost-effectively. The Council's Warm and Well Telford scheme had targeted low-income households, addressing the gap in the market for households with combined incomes of up to £50,000 who were still defined as ‘fuel-poor’. Climate Change funding was used to upgrade temporary accommodation properties and supply thousands of energy-saving lightbulbs, ensuring vulnerable residents had adequate ratings. The Private Sector Housing service ensured legal compliance with minimum EPC ratings, whilst Nuplace  ...  view the full minutes text for item COMSC21

The review the updated Work Programme for the Communities Scrutiny Committee.

The Service Delivery Manager: Registrars, Public Protection, Legal & Democracy presented the updated work programme to the Committee. Members were advised that there were no further meetings scheduled to take place for the 2024/25 municipal year and any remaining items on the work programme would be carried forward into the next year.

Members discussed items for the 2025/26 work programme and it was suggested that an item on the process surrounding Traffic Regulation Orders could be put forward.

The Chair thanked Members for their contributions over the municipal year and for their involvement in the elections review and fly-tipping workshops.