Agenda item

RESOLVED: That the Committee note the report.

4.1      Sarah Fletcher (Sustainability & Climate Change Policy Lead) introduced the report to the Committee. The key points to note were:

§  The Home Energy Conservation Act (HECA) requires the publication of a publically-available report on the council’s plans to achieve improved energy efficiency, and for the council to report on progress in implementing the proposed measures every two years.

§  In December 2013 Lewisham Council established an OJEU compliant Energy Efficiency Installations Framework with a delivery partner.  The Framework is set up to cover a wide range of energy efficiency measures in domestic and non-domestic properties and covers the London Boroughs of Lewisham, Bexley, Bromley, Greenwich and Southwark – enabling Councils and any Registered Providers with housing stock in those boroughs to access the Framework. 

§  The Council is working with Bexley and Bromley Councils through the Department of Energy & Climate Change (DECC) Green Deal Communities Fund to deliver the Green Deal Communities Fund project, which is taking an area based approach to increasing the energy efficiency of existing housing alongside a focus on improving energy efficiency standards in the privately rented sector.

§  A number of projects were outlined, for example, the work carried out via engagement with the health sector through the Warm Homes, Healthy People scheme. It has been successful in supporting 937 residents in the last 3 years and has helped reduce pressure on other parts of the public sector as a result.

4.2       In response to questions from the Committee, the following was noted:

§  Lewisham’s sustainable energy projects and initiatives are to help enable the Government to achieve its carbon emissions target of a reduction of 35% by 2020. With regard to new build, Lewisham’s Core Strategy is in conformity with the London Plan, and follows their carbon reductions target. However, changes to the Energy Company Obligation (ECO) have meant there is less funding available to progress domestic energy efficiency retrofits.

§  Officers will populate the Home Conservation Report with the current projects that they, with partners, are undertaking to meet the requirements under the Act.

§  Feedback from customers shows that even though the “knock-on-the-door” method is not always a popular way to engage with customers in relation to home conservation schemes. However, feedback has also found that it is also one of most effective methods to get the message out to customers. Lewisham uses this method of engagement alongside a range of other methods to engage with customers, such as events, use of multi-media communication routes, letters to residents, articles in council and local press.  Where a ‘no cold-calling’ notice is displayed on a property this is always abided by and the information provided and processes are agreed with Trading Standards in advance.

§  Officers recognise there have been some problems in how developers have installed, commissioned and managed communal heating systems in some buildings in the borough.  However the review by the Sustainable Development Select Committee has also identified ways in developers have been able to address or ‘design out’ the problems – both through going back to improve existing systems and by using this information when subsequently commissioning other systems.

§  The £39 charge for the initial Green Deal Assessment is less than what other boroughs are charging for the same scheme and was introduced to try and reduce barriers to entry for residents The external solid wall work could cost approximately £6,000-£7,000, so the fee would be a small cost to assess whether the external solid wall work is necessary.  The process has been adjusted and residents now get a free technical survey with a quote and then only proceed to the Green Deal Assessment if they want to continue with the works.

§  Local authorities are finding it extremely difficult to access funding for energy efficient schemes and fuel poverty from the Government. This is because the Government has changed the scheme which means that the majority of funding has now been deployed.

§  The Council is willing to work with private sector landlords and private sector landlord organisations to improve the efficiency of their properties because that housing tenure is the least thermally efficient.  This will help to deliver reductions in borough-wide carbon emissions as well as supporting residents who may otherwise be in fuel poverty.

§  Developers have to consider the Mayor of London’s energy priorities when designing and constructing new builds. The Government introduced the ‘Feed-In Tariff’ system (from an energy supplier) in 2010, which changed the system for incentives to install an electricity-generating technology from a renewable or low-carbon source away from government grants and into a commercially viable proposition.

§  The Council would encourage community groups to access independent sources of funding, for example ‘Kickstarter’ to help raise funding for energy efficient improvements to community buildings.

§  Through the Warm Homes, Healthy People scheme, packs are handed out to keep people warm, including gloves, hot-water bottles etc, and officers would be interested in looking at any other schemes that will help further.

4.3       RESOLVED: That the Committee note the report.