Agenda item

Members of the Adults, Wellbeing and Health Overview and Scrutiny Committee and Members of the Economy and Enterprise Overview and Scrutiny Committee had been invited to attend the meeting for this agenda item.

Members considered the joint report of the Corporate Director of Regeneration Economy and Growth and Interim Corporate Director of Resources that provided Members with detail of the projects and schemes available in the County to tackle fuel poverty (for copy of report, see file of minutes)

Cliff Duff, Housing Regeneration Project Manager supported by Adrian Cantle-Jones, Housing Regeneration Project Manager were in attendance to present the report and deliver a presentation (for copy of presentation, see file of minutes).

The presentation set out who were the fuel poor and explained that the government yesterday launched their new national fuel poverty strategy called ‘Sustainable Warmth Protecting Vulnerable Households in England’, and had changed their definition to ‘The Low Income, Low Energy Efficiency’. The Housing Regeneration Project Manager informed members that feedback from Neighbourhood Energy Action, the national fuel poverty charity predicted that the new definition would see an increase in national levels of fuel poverty. The document would be reviewed, and a briefing update provided to Members on the new strategy.

Members were provided with details of the national and local context and a County Durham Fuel Poverty Map that indicated that the highest levels of fuel poverty were predominantly in the west of the county and the reasons for this were largely due to properties being off the gas grid and reliant on high cost fuels such as oil, electricity and solid fuel; secondly the properties were solid wall making insulation difficult and expensive.

The Housing Regeneration Project Manager then provided details of the Delivery and Monitoring and advised Members that fuel poverty is included within the newly adopted Housing Strategy but the principal driver is the County Durham Affordable Warmth Action Plan 2018-2020, there is also a partnership element to fuel poverty and the Energy and Fuel Poverty Partnership enables relevant organisations to work together to get the message out to residents. The Warm Homes Campaign is the mechanism used to raise awareness and get the message out to residents of various fuel poverty grants. The Housing Regeneration Project Manager advised that engagement was key to their work in raising confidence and credibility. As part of the work was to provide free boilers, discounted boilers and free central heating systems, it is important that residents have confidence to apply and understand the criteria.

The Housing Regeneration Project Manager provided a summary of assistance available including the Energy Company Obligation (ECO) which is a national programme available to those on benefits, low incomes or who suffer ill health. Information was given on the Warm and Healthy Homes project which is a local programme that works with Clinical Commissioning Groups (CCGs) predominantly in the former Durham Dales, Easington and Sedgefield (DDES) area where GPs have written out to patients asking them to complete a warm and healthy homes questionnaire. When the service receives the completed questionnaire, they then contact them to offer support and assistance.

Information was given on another local project, Managing Money Better service which provides free and impartial advice on the energy market, including changing suppliers, fuel debt, high bills and fuel poverty. An example was given of residents who received significantly high energy bills who had contacted the service and on investigation the service found the electricity metre was inaccurate. The energy company were contacted and a new metre was installed, the service then asked the energy company to monitor the fuel usage against the previous usage and the fuel debt was written off and the residents were then found to be £1,000 in credit with the energy supplier.

The Chair thanked the Officer for his presentation and update and referred to the national consultations that were taking place due to the changing government policies.

Councillor R Bell advised that he had raised in the Economy and Enterprise Overview and Scrutiny Committee meeting on 30 October that the Government were consulting on the Energy Performance Certificate (EPC) ratings and referred to rental properties needing to be EPC grade C or higher and indicated that there was a large number of terraced solid wall houses in the county and to meet this target, these properties required solid wall insulation. He was concerned about the cost of this and the effect on the housing stock and had written to the responsible Minister Lord Callanan and had received a technical response citing the minimum energy efficiency standard regulations that he would share with the Chair and the Housing Regeneration Project Manager. Councillor Bell advised the Committee that he was going to raise further queries with the Minister as there was some confusion about energy performance certificates and he did not know if the government were concerned about the cost to tenants or if their concerns related to CO2 emissions. He advised that his particular concern were for rural properties that were off gas grid, particularly in the Durham Dales where there were lots of solid fuel and oil fuel properties and in being assessed for EPC if a property had oil fuelled central heating then this would increase the EPC banding. The broader issues for the county was that if this did not come with additional extra funding or significant exemptions then a considerable amount of housing stock would become unlettable and asked if the Housing Regeneration Project Manager had views on this.

The Chair asked Councillor R Bell to keep the committee updated on the progress of his investigation as it is of concern to this committee and the Economy and Enterprise Overview and Scrutiny Committee and Adults, Wellbeing and Health Overview and Scrutiny Committee.

The Housing Regeneration Project Manager responded that there were three consultations taking place simultaneously. There was a minimum energy efficiency standard consultation that had concluded with the response currently awaited. There was also a consultation on the national fuel poverty strategy that was published yesterday and a further consultation on the national grant mechanisms, the energy company obligation that was in the third phase and a launch would take place on the fourth phase in 2022. The Housing Regeneration Project Manager advised there could be something included in the new poverty strategy but he had not had time to read it due to it being published yesterday afternoon, but the Fuel Poverty Charity had suggested there may be significant rises in funding available in relation to fuel poverty. The Housing Regeneration Manager asked the Chair if he could come back to committee once he had an opportunity to read the new strategy.

The Chair advised that perhaps the Housing Regeneration Project Manager may want to provide a briefing note to members on his findings from the new strategy.

The Housing Regeneration Project Manager referred to the position with landlords and advised that it was a big challenge for landlords to bring their properties up to the necessary EPC ratings and that some would require significant investment. The average EPC rating for rental properties in Durham was below C and a number of landlords would have to contribute a substantial amount bringing their homes up to standard. He referred to the South of the country, where income rental was much greater and property values higher, so it was perhaps easier for landlords to meet these new requirements. In County Durham this was more difficult especially in the coalfield villages where there could be issues in letting properties. The rental values were low in some regeneration areas and had to invest to bring these properties up to a EPC C rating was a big challenge and the government needed to recognise that some further investment was needed in support for areas of multiple deprivation and fuel poverty. He advised Members that the Housing Solutions service had fed into the consultation and raised this point.

Councillor R Bell responded that in his consultation submission and in his letter, he specifically made reference to the difference in the cost of a terraced house in the North of the country compared to the South so the cost proportion of the value of the property was higher for the county’s housing stock and suggested that the committee needs to keep a watchful eye on this situation.

Rosemary Morris asked how they could improve the fuel poverty strategy in the drive for net zero. She referred to paragraphs 19 and 20 of the report and if there was any collaboration with the industry to reduce gas usage.

The Housing Regeneration Project Manager referred to current schemes with northern gas networks that were operating two agendas, the new build agenda where new houses after a certain date would not be connected to gas but using alternative heating fuel. However, there were large areas of the country that were already connected to gas. Northern Gas Networks in particular areas were operating a pilot project to bleed in hydrogen into the gas network so that the boilers were operating on a combination of clean fuel and natural gas so industries were moving forward to the gas infrastructure and may eventually become a hydrogen-based infrastructure which would be a substantial step towards the net zero. In response to a follow up question from Mrs Morris regarding insisting on using alternative fuels to achieve net zero the Housing Regeneration Project Manager advised that his service did not insist on this approach this was a strategic decision that would come from the Planning service. His service worked to minimise fuel poverty in existing properties.

The Chair advised that the Council needs to look at this from a planning point of view and there were already consultations out; The County Durham Plan would need to focus on energy efficient buildings and new technologies.

Tom Bolton referred to the fuel poverty map and asked if another layer could be included on the map to show demographics and income. He then referred to the new garden village proposals for Seaham and the district central heating system which is going to use geothermal energy from the Dawdon mine water treatment plant and suggested that this maybe something to go into the committee’s next work programme and to visit these locations when it is safe to do so.

The Chair indicated that this could be raised when the committee considers the refresh of the work programme at its next meeting.

The Housing Regeneration Project Manager responded that a dialogue was taking place in relation to income, should this be agreed it could be added into the map as it would assist the service with targeting the right people. However, that is a corporate decision, but conversations are taking place. The information could also be used to target those households on low income who would now qualify for a grant.

The Housing Regeneration Project Manager updated Members on the decarbonisation of South West Durham moving from gas based fuels, coal and oil to renewable energy. They were proactively delivering on decarbonised project across the off gas areas installing the latest air source heat pump technology in homes and they could install a heat pump for someone in fuel poverty earning less than £30,000 at no cost to them. The issue was resources as the amount of money available was limited and they were bidding into national funding streams to get small amounts of funding. Installing low technology heating system into someone’s home was only half the answer, the total solution was insulation but Durham had 57,000 solid wall properties and it would cost approximately £10,000 to externally insulate a house properly and required a big initiative from the government similar to the ‘Decent Homes Programme’. The Housing Regeneration Project Manager advised that successful projects had taken place in Ramshaw, Craghead and South Moor, very good examples of where solid wall properties have been insulated. He advised that there was a need to insulate as well as installing low carbon technology.

The Chair indicated that the team were doing a great job and suggested that it was important to raise these issues within government through MPs and referred to the levelling up agenda that included these issues. He indicated that Economy and Enterprise Overview and Scrutiny Committee could perhaps raise these issues.

Councillor Crathorne indicated that she hoped that all private landlords had the homes up to EPC standard as the people who lived in these homes were in poverty. She then referred to the warmer homes campaign and getting the message out via the AAP’s and local charities who deal with people on low incomes and in poverty or people who own their homes but couldn’t afford to bring up to standard.

The Housing Regeneration Project Manager indicated that the Warm Homes Campaign has 900 community venues and that the AAPs are one of the principle drivers and mechanisms used to filter information out to residents, charities and partners, they also produce a leaflet that is distributed to organisations.

Pat Holding referred to inaccurate energy meters and asked if this was being investigated as a serious issue.

The Housing Regeneration Manager responded that if anyone had any concerns regarding their energy meters to contact the service via the Managing Money Better service as they could arrange to have the meter checked for accuracy.

Councillor Coult referred to the promotion of the various schemes and suggested that the council should push these schemes further with the use of social media as previously residents may not have needed such schemes but due to COVID-19, circumstances had changed with many working from home and using more energy resulting in higher fuel bills many now may need the support.

The Housing Regeneration Project Manager indicated that they do use social media promotions and there was a rolling programme for this. The service usually used a case study and he would bring to the attention of the COMMS team to have a further media promotion. He advised that they also use other mechanisms such as the Durham County News.

The Chair asked if members could be notified when the social media campaign was released, it would be useful if Members could also share the information.

Councillor Wilkes referred to the ECO grants where it was easy to make an application but highlighted that that residents wanting work to be done using the Green Homes Grant had found it difficult to find contractors to carry out the work and had contacted him to ask for help. He suggested that the Council could form their own database and work with these companies so that residents can access details of contractors within the various schemes, if more grants became available in the future, they would be able to help residents.

The Chair advised that through social media there was a lot of information out there, but it was difficult for residents to know which were reputable companies.

The Housing Regeneration Project Manager indicated that the Green Homes grant was the government’s voucher scheme that was a two billion pounds project that had been extended to March 2022, however the Minister has now said that this scheme would not be extended and funding had been reduced to 320 million pounds. Both Housing Regeneration Project Managers had met with the council’s procurement service to try and put in place a contractor framework to deliver in house council schemes, and perhaps this could assist residents with contacting registered contractors.

The Housing Regeneration Project Manager advised of ‘Trust Mark’ which the government has introduced and those working on green homes grant jobs must be ‘trust mark’ approved. He went on to say that the service was working on a scheme and if all went to plan the information could be forwarded to residents, the scheme would ensure that companies have all the necessary documentation and standards.

The Chair thanked the Housing Regeneration Project Manager and the Housing Regeneration Manager for their presentation and answering members questions.

Resolved: (i) That the report and presentation be noted.

(ii) That a further progress report is included in the future work programme.

(iii) That Members receive an update briefing report in relation to the National Fuel Poverty Strategy.