Agenda item

Report for Decision

ORDERED that Executive:

 

1. Approves the Council taking part in Warm Homes: Local Grant Scheme.
2. Approves entry into associated agreements in relation to the grant.

 

AGREED that Executive:

 

1. Notes that the scheme will be delivered by Darlington Borough Council on behalf of Middlesbrough Council.
2. Notes that the Public Protection service will performance manage the grant usage of the scheme in Middlesbrough and report this to the Director of Environment and Community Services.

The Executive Member for Neighbourhoods submitted a report for Executive’s consideration. The purpose of the report sought approval for the Council to take part in the Warm Homes Grant Scheme which would enable eligible residents to access funding to make their homes warm and safe to inhabit.

 

The government had committed to partnering with combined authorities as well as local and devolved governments to deliver insulation measures and other improvements such as solar panels, PV batteries and low carbon heating.

 

Their aim was to cut bills for families, reduce fuel poverty, and reduce carbon emissions in support of its net zero 2050 target.

 

The Warm Homes: Local Grant scheme was a government-funded scheme delivered by local authorities that would take the first steps to delivering on the ambitions of the Warm Homes Plan. It would provide grants for energy performance upgrades and low carbon heating to low-income households living in the worst quality, privately owned homes in England to achieve energy bill savings and carbon savings.

 

Middlesbrough Council, in partnership with Darlington Borough Council, Redcar and Cleveland Borough Council and Stockton on Tees Borough Council had been awarded Warm Homes grant funding of £13.9m. The scheme aimed to improve the energy efficiency rating of around 700 homes in the Tees Valley.

 

The four local authorities had been developing the Tees Valley scheme to ensure the requirements for administering the grant funded scheme were met. The scheme would be delivered by a single private energy provider, chosen through the NEPO framework, and who had a proven track record of delivering energy efficiency schemes. The provider would use its own workforce and local trades to identify properties that would benefit from home energy improvements, assess what energy efficiency measures could be made to dwellings and carry out works to improve energy efficiency rating to EPC ‘C’ or above.

 

By working with an energy provider, who had extensive knowledge and experience delivering home energy improvements, this enabled a more streamlined, cost-effective and manageable delivery of the scheme. A turnkey provider could handle the complexities of delivering this large-scale programme of home improvements, deliver consistent services, address technical issues and supply issues effectively, as well as provide a single report on the delivery of scheme to consortium members.

 

Should the delivery of the grant scheme be managed by the local authorities granted funding, this would have significantly increased the demand on resources in each authority and as such may have led to the scheme not being viable.

 

There were three ways that properties could be approved for energy efficiency improvement works. These were:

 

i.              The household lived in a valid postcode that fell within eligible income deciles 1-2 of the Indices of Multiple Deprivation. The report stated that properties in Income Deciles 1-2 of the Indices of Multiple Deprivation in Middlesbrough were predominantly in postcode areas TS1, TS2, TS3, and TS4.

ii.             ii. The household was in receipt of a specified means-tested benefit.

iii.            iii. The household’s gross annual income was below £36,000 (or the equivalent) ‘after housing costs’ threshold for their household composition.

Darlington Council would coordinate and manage the grant funding on behalf of the consortium members. Middlesbrough Council’s Public Protection Service would performance manage the grant usage in Middlesbrough and report this to the Director of Environment and Community Services.

 

The Mayor stated this was an important initiative and the Council had not played a role in housing for some time. He also stated there was a need for residents to have a decent standard of housing.

 

OPTION

 

Not to approve Middlesbrough’s involvement in the delivery of the Warm Homes: Local Grant scheme. This decision was not recommended due to the benefits the scheme would bring to low-income households and the investment in housing stock in Middlesbrough.

 

Many local authorities had taken a consortium approach when applying for grant funding for local home improvements. This approach enabled authorities to benefit from economies of scale, maximise the amount of grant funding that could be awarded, effectively engage with a single turnkey provider and deliver the scheme on a large scale. Darlington Council had developed considerable experience in the delivery of home energy improvement schemes, alongside Stockton on Tees and Redcar & Cleveland. By joining with these Councils it had enabled Middlesbrough Council to offer a home energy improvement scheme that would benefit local people, particular those in low-income households.

 

ORDERED that Executive:

 

1. Approves the Council taking part in Warm Homes: Local Grant Scheme.
2. Approves entry into associated agreements in relation to the grant.

 

AGREED that Executive:

 

1. Notes that the scheme will be delivered by Darlington Borough Council on behalf of Middlesbrough Council.
2. Notes that the Public Protection service will performance manage the grant usage of the scheme in Middlesbrough and report this to the Director of Environment and Community Services.

 

REASONS

 

The proposed recommendation supported the Council’s ambition to achieve a healthy place. To improve the energy efficiency of properties occupied by low-income households and properties that had substandard energy performance ratings.

 

The grant would improve energy performance in private residential dwellings to reduce fuel poverty and the health risks associated with poor energy protection, including risks linked to damp and mould. It would also make houses more cost-efficient to heat and create more sustainable dwellings.