Decision details

Decision details

Green Homes Grant Local Authority Delivery Phase 3 (LAD3)

Decision Maker: Head of Corporate Strategy

Decision status: Recommendations Approved

Is Key decision?: No

Is subject to call in?: No

Purpose:

Participation in two schemes (Oxfordshire Local Authorities Consortium and The Greater South East Energy Hub (GSEEH) regional consortium) to deliver Government-funded energy efficiency retrofit to households in Oxford.

The funding is applicable to private sector householders with homes on the gas network, where the household has an annual income of less than £30,000 gross, and where the property has an Energy Performance Certificate (EPC) rating of D or lower.

Up to £10,000 will be available per house owner. For private rented sector properties, landlords must contribute one third of the total cost.

Decision:

To take part in the delivery of LAD3 as part of two successful consortium bids to retrofit homes with energy efficiency measures:

i) Oxfordshire Local Authorities Consortium: total of £1.187m, split between five district authorities. Oxford’s nominal allocation will be £0.237m.

ii) The Greater South East Energy Hub (GSEEH) regional consortium: total of £84.3m. Oxford’s nominal allocation will be £1.677m.

Therefore, in total approximately £1.9m is available to Oxford, depending on how successfully Oxford households are engaged and levels of uptake.

Oxford City Council will not receive funding directly for delivery of these schemes. The funding and delivery will be managed by Oxfordshire Local Authorities Consortium and GSEEH.

The only funding directly received by Oxford City Council will be c17k to support household engagement and generate referrals.

Reasons for the decision:

Retrofit of residential buildings is a key objective to a) mitigate against energy bill increases and fuel poverty and b) support the city’s target to achieve Net Zero by 2040.

Alternative options considered:

A decision to not participate would mean low income households in Oxford would not have the opportunity to retrofit their homes as part of these schemes, leaving them more exposed to energy bill increases.

This would hamper the Council’s Net Zero objectives, since a large proportion of the city’s emissions are from residential buildings.

 

Signed off by senior officers:

Decision taken by Mish Tullar, Head of Corporate Strategy in consultation with Nigel Kennedy, Head of Financial Services and Susan Sale, Head of Law and Governance.

Publication date: 14/04/2022

Date of decision: 06/01/2022

Accompanying Documents: