Green Party policies for Brent - May 22nd 2014

Brent project seeks to reduce fuel poverty and carbon emissions

The Brent Campaign Against Climate Change, of which I am chair, has had preliminary discussions with Cllr Roxanne Mashari, lead member for the Environment, on the possibility of setting up a Low Carbon Zone in the borough after our Secretary, Ken Montague, made a presentation to the Brent Executive.

That is selecting an area where a concerted programme of measures aimed at reducing energy consumption through structural changes (roof and wall insulation, double glazing, micro-generation) and educational initiatives. It would include housing, businesses, schools and public buildings in the area. The LCZ would serve as an exemplar, that after valuation could be rolled out across the borough in due course.

We pointed out that  money was available through the ECO (Energy Company Obligation) which is designed to tackle fuel poverty, affordable warmth and carbon emissions at zero cost to those in highest need.

I therefore welcome a report that goes before Monday's Executive which sets out a tender process to find a project partner to deliver an ECO programme in Brent. LINK

The report sets out the project aims:

The project’s key objectives are to:-

• Improve the energy efficiency of properties and reduce energy consumption

• Reduce carbon emissions,

• Reduce consumer energy costs and alleviate fuel poverty; and,

• Safeguard and create employment opportunities.

As the project’s primary requirement is to deliver the required improvements to domestic properties, the delivery partner will be required to treat domestic properties as the service priority, i.e. marketing its services, facilitating customers, explaining and securing the sign-up and installation of appropriate energy efficiency improvements across the Borough. 

It is envisaged that a significant portion of the market and therefore a key target for the project will be ‘hard to treat’ domestic properties i.e. those that cannot accommodate cost-effective measures and may therefore have missed out on previous energy improvements. These properties will have the potential to access ECO funding. Given the priority to be attributed to domestic interventions over non-domestic the balance of the finance, scope and value of the opportunity will favour the former. It is likely that any scheme will include the HRA stock as a priority but it should be stressed that fuel poverty and energy efficiency issues affect the growing private sector and there is an expectation that any scheme will seek to address these issues. 

Furthermore, in order to achieve long term investment in the Borough’s supply chain and employment opportunities, some form of confidence in the longevity of this market locally is required. Consequently a 5 year contract (with up to a two year extension if necessary) is sought, with a break clause included at the end of the first phase of ECO to safeguard against any major changes in legislation/obligations.

The report recognises, as with the LCZ, that an area by area approach may be beneficial:

The ECO is measured in terms of meeting carbon reduction targets; different types of energy efficiency works therefore attract different levels of funding. In addition, the situation of the existing tenant or homeowner can influence the level of funding given. A commercial partner may be likely to seek to meet its ECO obligations in the cheapest and most efficient way, for example by carrying out work on an estate or area basis to achieve economies of scale. Any commercial imperative will need to be balanced against the council’s own priorities in terms of the greatest benefit to low income households. 

There will be occasions whereby an area by area approach is the most appropriate and could offer wider regeneration opportunities and it is likely that stock within the HRA will fit this model. The position may be complicated by the presence of leasehold homes within a block - for example, if in a low- rise block of flats, external ECO funding was available to cover all of the social housing properties but within the block, 5% of flats were privately owned and considered ‘able to pay’. The position of leaseholders varies according to the terms of the lease: in some cases, the council is entitled to re-charge for improvements while in others this option may not be available. Since the expenditure in this case is not incurred by the council, it is envisaged that any re-charge would be waived. Additional staff resources may also be required to support the project and contract manage the partner. The specification will include an expectation that any requirement for this will be funded by the partner. Any other costs, which will include officer time, will be met from existing budgets.  

The Council has an existing long-standing SLA arrangement in place with ‘Energy Solutions’ and their role in this project in terms of stock analysis, encouraging take up and identifying our most vulnerable residents who require assistance needs to be formalised. 

Cllr Powney promises to investigate 'Low Carbon Zone' proposal

Could it be Brent or Wembley next?

 Making a presentation on Monday the the Brent Executive,  Ken  Montague, Secretary of Brent Campaign Against Climate Change, agreed with the Green Charter Annual Monitoring Report's comment that  while “there is progress in all seven areas of work” there was “room for improvement over the next year”. In particular he sought to bring to the Executive’s attention proposals jointly being developed by BCaCC and Brent Friends of the Earth as an outcome of their Community Briefing public meeting on 21 November, which council leader Muhammed Butt attended. A report  of the meeting has  been circulated to Councillors.

The purpose of the Community Briefing meeting, which was to make local community leaders aware of the rapid depletion of the Arctic ice cap and its affect on weather patterns around the world. This had an indirect impact on people in Brent as many members of the local community have friends and families in parts of the world being devastated by floods, droughts and fires. It was also having a direct impact through its effect on the price and quality of food.

Ken addressed  two of the three proposals that came out of the briefing meeting, which aimed to develop a community response. The first of these was about reaching out to the local community to increase awareness of the seriousness and urgency of the need to mitigate climate change. The aim was to enhance and strengthen the work of the Sustainability Forum and the Brent Climate Change Steering Group, especially its Residents’ Steering Group. This meant sending speakers to meetings of tenants’ and residents’ associations, faith groups, trade unions, etc, and on occasion booking rooms for meetings. The first request to the Executive was therefore that those organisations like Brent CaCC and Brent FoE who were identified as Green Champions under the Brent Climate Change Strategy should have use of Council premises, including public libraries, free of charge.

Monatgue went on to draw the Executive’s attention to a proposal in the early stages of development by BCaCC and Brent FoE which would require support from the Council, advice from council officers, and the involvement of specific councillors. This was for a pilot scheme to establish a Low Carbon Zone in an area of the borough still to be identified in consultation with the Council. A Low Carbon Zone involved concentrating existing agencies on the area identified in order to generate awareness of the advantages to tenants and residents of implementing measures for energy conservation and the sourcing of power from renewables, to provide advice and guidance and facilitate discount buying, and to access funding to install insulation, double glazing and combined heat and power boilers. The “existing agencies” could include the Council, private companies, campaign groups including ourselves and Transition Town, the College of North West London, and the Brent TUC.

Central to the proposal was the possibility of accessing significant funds for these purposes from the Department of Energy and Climate Change under the Green New Deal. By way of an example he mentioned that a Community Interest Company in Barnet, “Energise Barnet”,LINK  was working with the Council in making a £200 million bid. A meeting of the Brent Residents’ Steering Group and council officers was being held on 22nd January to prepare a bid to DEC but this could only go ahead once the Council had decided whether to apply as a “Large Scale Green Deal Provider”, as a Marketing Partner” or a “Small Scale Green Deal Provider”. The second request to the executive was therefore that it make a decision on the form of its application in order to facilitate an appropriate bid to DEC being decided at the meeting on 22 January.

Responding, lead member for the environment  Cllr James Powney promised to designate an officer to investigate the proposal. 

Declaration of interest:  I am Chair of Brent Campaign Against Climate Change