Local authorities and the Green Deal
Guidance for local authorities in delivering the Green Deal and the Energy Company Obligation (ECO) in their communities.
Preparing for the Green Deal
Local authorities and other local partners are key in ensuring effective and intensive delivery of Green Deal and the Energy Company Obligation (ECO) in their communities. They may choose to deliver the Green Deal, either directly themselves or in partnership with commercial partners and local organisations. We are working closely with local government organisations both directly and through the Local Government Association.
LAs across whole counties, local enterprise partnerships and social enterprises are coming together to consider how they might deliver the Green Deal to benefit all their communities and businesses. These partnerships recognise the synergies and opportunities that the Green Deal offers with other local strategic priorities around:
- local economic and physical regeneration
- improved health outcomes
- reduced fuel poverty
- supporting the maintenance and generation of local jobs and skills
We have published information on preparing for the introduction of the Green Deal for local authorities.
The report Green Deal finance: public sector consideration for the Green Deal focuses on the potential accounting treatments of the Green Deal for public sector and quasi-public sector participants. The report highlights some of the key issues likely to be relevant.
HECA guides for Local Authorities
The guidance under the Home Energy Conservation Act 1995 (HECA) for English local authorities with housing responsibilities was published on 26 July 2012. It sets out requirements for those authorities to report on the measures they propose to take to significantly improve the energy efficiency of all the residential accommodation on their areas.
DECC and the Department for Communities and Local Government (DCLG) have also published Improving energy efficiency in buildings: resources for local authorities. It is a resource for local authority personnel who are involved in climate change mitigation in the built environment to support the planning and delivery of projects. It brings together and categorises tools, models, knowledge, case studies and datasets which can be used and adapted at local levels to meet local authority needs.
This collection of resources will also support local authorities as they take steps to implement plans set out in their HECA reports.
Supporting Green Deal projects
Green Deal Communities
Local Authorities are to receive a share of £88 million to help deliver the Government’s Green Deal home energy efficiency improvement programme.
The scheme will be rolled out on a street-by-street basis and will aim to help around 32,000 households install energy efficiency home improvements like solid wall insulation and hew heating systems so that they have warm, more energy efficient homes and better control of their energy bills.
- Find out more about the Green Deal Communities fund
Core Cities
Eight cities across England have been awarded received funding of over £12 million to help them kick-start the Green Deal in their regions. The cities include:
- Birmingham
- Bristol
- Leeds
- Liverpool
- Manchester
- Newcastle
- Nottingham
- Sheffield
The proposed projects include retrofitting properties across whole communities. Initial indications suggest that the cities expect to deliver around 2,500 retrofits to households and non-domestic properties. The projects provide on-going feedback on the elements of the Green Deal framework such as assessment and installation
The cities have also agreed to generate match funding and/or provide direct support themselves. This work will support future Green Deal activity in these cities, raise awareness of the Green Deal significantly through community engagement and show homes, and provide support to local supply chains including trained Green Deal advisors and registered installers.
Green Deal Pioneer Places
In addition, as part of the DECC Local Authority competition £10 million has been awarded to improve the energy efficiency of homes across local authority areas. The money will be used for Green Deal household energy efficiency assessments to see where energy savings can be made in the home, whole house retrofits to demonstrate the benefits of energy efficiency, and local events and other activities to raise awareness of the Green Deal. DECC awarded funding to 39 successful projects, covering 150 local councils across England.
A full list of successful projects is available on the DECC Local Authority Competition page.
