Agenda item

Report of the Corporate Director Communities.

Mark Broadhurst, Head of Housing and Community Services, will attend the meeting and introduce the report.

The Corporate Director Communities submitted a report in response to a request for information from the committee regarding domestic gas and electricity consumption in Wyre. 

Mark Broadhurst, the Head of Housing and Community Services, attended the meeting and introduced the report.

He told the committee that the report set out reporting done by the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy and outlined the estimated mega wattage consumption of both electricity and gas in the borough.

He then highlighted the work done in regards to improving the energy efficiency of the Boroughs homes through the Cosy Homes in Lancashire (CHiL) initiative, and the work of the enforcement teams in ensuring that private rented properties in the borough met the domestic Minimum Energy Efficiency Standard (MEES) Regulations.

Members asked questions regarding the CHiL initiative, how it was advertised and whether residents and their landlords were contacted directly. They also queried how residents, who did not feel empowered to go to their landlord directly, might apply for a CHiL grant.

The Head of Housing and Community Services explained that Government had provided funding for CHiL to procure a PR firm, through which they had commissioned high profile adverts including on the local radio. Officers had also arranged for areas of the Borough to be leaflet-dropped for example across our off-gas areas and specific areas that had populations on higher levels of means tested benefits, including Fleetwood.

He said that contacting landlords directly was sometimes difficult and that landlords were generally difficult to engage in the energy efficiency agenda.   Instead awareness of the initiative to date was through letting agents and via the public advertisement of the scheme.

He told members that any Lancashire home, which met the eligibility requirements, could apply and that this was a way to promote energy efficiency measures in the community. This also included a new scheme specifically for off-gas areas such as Over Wyre. He praised the work of the partnership and that the initiative was leading nationally; representatives from the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero would be visiting Lancashire to view an installation of an air source heat pump in Out Rawcliffe.

In response to a question over the eligibility requirements for the initiative and the percentage of people in the borough that could qualify for the scheme, Mark told members that he was not sure of the specific number. The potential high percentage of houses in the borough not meeting the highest energy efficiency standards was a reflection of an older housing stock. These issues were common to most local authorities. Nonetheless he was confident that any eligible resident who applied for a grant for eligible works and who could pay their contribution to the scheme would receive a grant..

A question was raised over the social housing in the borough managed by Regenda and the influence of the council over the energy efficiency ratings of social housing. Mark explained that the council had a partnership board with Regenda, and was pleased that they had been able to successfully complete the upgrade of 114 homes using funding from the Social Housing Decarbonisation Fund. They had been due to roll out phase two which would have extended the scheme, but this had been stalled due to funding issues. If there were issues with energy efficiency ratings in social housing, the council had the same enforcement powers on social landlords as they did private landlords but he was confident in the work of Regenda in addressing such issues without the need for enforcement action.

A question was raised on whether tenants were experiencing section 21 evictions if they reported their landlord over not meeting energy efficiency standards.

Mark explained that the council received relatively few complaints from tenants unless there was a serious problem; he believed that tenants were generally cautious in terms of their tenancy security.

The Chair thanked Mark Broadhurst for his attendance at the meeting.