Agenda item

To receive an update on the Affordable Warmth Strategy Update.

The Cabinet Member: Homes, Enforcement & Customer Services presented the Affordable Warmth Strategy update which aimed to address fuel poverty in the borough and the improve the health and wellbeing of vulnerable people in the community.

It was widely recognised that being cold at home could cause or worsen health problems and there was a clear link to mental health and social isolation.  There had been a dramatic increase in the cost of energy prices and the resultant cost of living crisis meant that more households were threatened with fuel poverty.

During the last 12 months, the council had retrofitted 175 properties and approval has been granted for a further 104.  It has supported 126 private rented properties suffering from cold, damp and mould.  Eco grants had been issued to 79 businesses to reduce their energy costs and help them become more sustainable.    The council had also supported residents to look for external funding from hardship funds and provide contacts to partners in order to provide them with consistent, up to date advice.

In partnership with the Marches Energy Agency the council was supporting the Future Ready Homes initiative. The council were the only local authority regionally who offer an emergency boiler fund to vulnerable residents who had a cold related illness and no form of heating.    A sum of £500,000 had been used from the Climate Fund for the coldest homes and business grants. Warm and Well Telford had been launched as part of the Climate Change programme and 50 applications had been received to date. 

Over the next 12 months, the council would deliver the next phase of the Home Upgrade Grant aimed at low energy efficient off gas properties.  The Home Upgrade Grant was doing an excellent job of easing poverty in cold homes.  It was hoped that by introducing clear energy by 2030 that fuel poverty would be cut.

Members welcomed the report and were delighted that the Labour government were addressing energy price shocks with 4.29% of households in fuel poverty.  The Warm Homes national plan aimed to reduce fuel poverty and it was hoped to produce home grown energy from renewable sources.   The Council had delivered over £1m retrofit programme to improve insulation and make homes energy efficient.  It had been recognised that there were a group that sat outside the scope of the grant schemes and who were also in fuel poverty and the funding from the Climate Change agenda had been set aside to alleviate this.  They were pleased with the work undertaken with self-funders who wished to make their homes more energy efficient, environmentally friendly and sustainable by navigating them around the services available.  Joint working across the council, making available business grants and employing local contractors, would help to sustain the local economy.

The Leader of the Conservative Group felt that the ambition of the council for people to be able to live with a measure of warmth in the winter was a noble and civil ambition.  Being cold has an adverse impact on people’s health and has a wider impact.  An observation was the scatter gun and piecemeal national grant programme being applied by central government which was affecting delivery and forward planning.  There needed to be objective standards of what was a warm home, the type, use and source of energy was.  He was in agreement in relation to self-funders and he asked that the council worked with Western Power to make the arrangements fair to all.  It was his hope that the new Labour government would make a positive difference and in a timely manner.

The Leader of the Liberal Democrat Group welcomed the report.  He was passionate about retrofitting and hoped the government would provide a retrofit scheme to grow the economy and bring in standards to the building regulations to provide affordable warmth when developments come forward so retrofitting is not required.   He asked the council to work in partnership to and signpost residents to organisations to help them choose the most suitable energy provider for their personal needs.

The Cabinet Member: Climate Action, The Environment, Heritage and Visitor Economy confirmed that the government was looking at grid connection, reducing the backlog and removing those no longer required.  This would not be a quick fix so the focus would be on insulation and energy efficiency.

RESOLVED – that:

a)    the actions undertaken in respect of the Affordable Warmth Strategy be noted; and

b)   delegated authority be granted to the Director: Housing, Employment & Infrastructure and the Director: Finance & HR, in consultation with the Lead Cabinet Member, to enter into a consortium with other local authorities to deliver future capital retrofit programmes.