Agenda item

-       To Follow

RESOLVED: That the Committee agree the report and recommendations and that they be referred to Mayor and Cabinet.

5.1      Roger Raymond (Scrutiny Manager) introduced the report. The key points to note were:

§  It was the Committee’s job to agree the draft review report and also consider any recommendations the report should make.

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

§  The following recommendations were suggested for the review report:

o   Recommendation 1: The Council should explore the gap between the projected ‘potential’ performance of communal heating systems (manufacturer’s estimations) and their ‘as built’ performance (actual performing rates). This could be done by engaging independent engineers, paid for by the developer, to assess the performance of the installed systems at a number of practical intervals as the scheme is built out. This would enable the Council to produce a revised assessment of schemes once built, which would also incorporate any changes made during the building process.

o   Recommendation 2:

§  The ‘as built’ assessment figures (see recommendation 1) should be compared with the Standard Assessment Procedure (SAP) calculator figures to determine if schemes are performing as expected and delivering the carbon savings they are intended to deliver.

§  The Council should lobby other local authorities and housing associations to collect ‘as built’ performance data.

§  This data should be shared with the GLA and DECC to allow a thorough evaluation of installed communal heating schemes to take place in the hope that a thorough evidential foundation can be established for communal heating schemes.

§  The Council should put pressure on the GLA and DECC to undertake this evaluation and develop a systematic approach to reviewing successful and less successful communal heating schemes. This would enable, for example, the GLA to better understand the impact of their decentralised energy policies, to verify their carbon saving calculations and help establish an evidence base which might encourage better practice across the industry.

o   Recommendation 3: The Council should consider setting minimum design efficiency/loss requirements at the planning stage for communal heating schemes.

o   Recommendation 4: The Council should consider undertaking a piece of work to compare costs, heat loss, carbon savings etc. for residents in new builds with communal heating systems and those with individual boilers, and then project these forward to assess if the benefits/losses even out in the future. In this way the Council can create a realistic heat comparator for residents.

o   Recommendation 5: The Council should look very critically at attempts to down-grade or mitigate planning conditions that are made after planning permission has been granted.

o   Recommendation 6: As a local authority, Lewisham should ‘slow down’ the pace of adopting communal heating systems and make sure that we critically engage with other options available to deliver carbon savings, moving our emphasis from simple compliance to actual performance.

o   Recommendation 7: The Council should insist on the installation of ultra-low NOx boilers in medium and poor air quality zones.

o   Recommendation 8: Based on the evidence the Committee heard, the definition of what constitutes a major development (10 units+) falls below the threshold of a viable communal heating system. Planning decisions need to properly take into account the viability of such schemes, particularly given the air-tightness of new dwellings.

o   Recommendation 9: The Council should consider insisting that all developers using district heating sign up to and comply with the Heat Network Code of Practice, prioritise cases of overheating and follow good practice established elsewhere. This should include existing social housing developments where communal heating systems have been installed and where poor performance has been reported.

o   Recommendation 10: The Council’s Head of Law should be asked to comment on the equalities and other legal implications of communal heating schemes, in particular that high charges mean that some of the borough’s poorest residents are paying to deliver wider carbon savings; and that, where there is no opportunity to opt out of the communal system residents are, in effect, being denied a choice of heating and hot water supplier.

o   Recommendation 11: South East London Combined Heat and Power (SELCHP) is a good example of a large scale, viable district heating scheme. The Council should work hard to bring forward proposals to connect Lewisham housing estates to the network.

·         Once the report goes to Mayor and Cabinet, it should also be made available to other bodies, such as the Greater London Authority.

5.3      RESOLVED: That the Committee agree the report and recommendations and that they be referred to Mayor and Cabinet.