Agenda and minutes

None.

None.

If you have a Disclosable Pecuniary Interest* in an item of business:

§  if it is not yet on the council’s register, you must declare both the existence and details of it at the start of the meeting or when it becomes apparent;

§  you may choose to declare a Disclosable Pecuniary Interest that is already in the register in the interests of openness and transparency. 

In both the above cases, you must leave the room without participating in discussion of the item.

If you have a personal interest in an item of business and you intend to speak or vote on the item you must declare both the existence and details of it at the start of the meeting or when it becomes apparent but you may participate in the discussion and vote on the item.

*(a)     Employment, etc - Any employment, office, trade, profession or vocation carried on for profit or gain.

(b) Sponsorship - Any payment or other financial benefit in respect of your expenses in carrying out duties as a member, or of your election; including from a trade union.

(c) Contracts - Any current contract for goods, services or works, between you or your partner (or a body in which one of you has a beneficial interest) and the council.

(d) Land - Any beneficial interest in land which is within the council’s area.

(e) Licences- Any licence to occupy land in the council’s area for a month or longer.

(f) Corporate tenancies - Any tenancy between the council and a body in which you or your partner have a beneficial interest.

 (g) Securities - Any beneficial interest in securities of a body which has a place of business or land in the council’s area, if the total nominal value of the securities exceeds £25,000 or one hundredth of the total issued share capital of that body or of any one class of its issued share capital. 

This applies to all members present at the meeting.

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RESOLVED:

That the minutes of the Environment and Regeneration Scrutiny Committee meeting held on 14 July 2014 be confirmed as an accurate record of proceedings and the Chair be authorised to sign them.

None.

Lucy Padfield, Energy Services Manager, presented an introductory briefing paper on Community Energy which included the following points:

·        Community Energy had emerged relatively recently as a catch-all for a broad range of energy projects and schemes which benefited and involved the community. A community could be an individual school, housing estate or ward, or group of people with a similar interest.

·        In the Department of Energy and Climate Change’s (DECC) Community Energy Strategy, community energy was defined as “community projects or initiatives focused on the four strands of reducing energy use, managing energy better, generating energy or purchasing energy. This included communities of place and communities of interest. These projects or initiatives shared an emphasis on community ownership, leadership or control where the community benefited. It referred to all activities encompassed by the above definition and also considered shared ownership or joint ventures where benefits were shared by the community. This included activities based on formal community ownership models such as co-operatives, social enterprises, community charities, development trusts and community interest companies, as well as projects without these formal structures.”

·        Community energy projects often focused on social outcomes such as community cohesion, reducing fuel poverty and re-investment of profits, as well as an interest in sustainability. Schemes to date tended to depend on volunteers and relied heavily on gaining broad support within a local community for their activities. Many groups were set up as co-operatives, community interest companies and charities or trusts. Community energy was largely focused on renewable electricity generation, especially solar photovoltaics (PVs) and onshore wind.

·        Community energy schemes normally sought to use their profits to fund programmes to address local social needs through energy efficiency funds or similar. They also often sought to support local jobs and training in the green economy.

·        The council had previously carried out specific Community Engagement programmes and learning from these had flagged up a number of possible relevant groups including the Better Archway Forum and the Islington Environment Forum. The council’s Energy Service Team was not aware of any approaches from any community groups in Islington for support for community energy schemes to date.

·        In Islington, the national Solar Schools initiative was being tested following an approach for help by an Islington primary school interested in participating in a crowd-funded scheme to install solar PV panels on the school roof.

·        Roles local authorities could play included providing funding and/or assets e.g. roofs for installations.

·        A number of potential delivery options were outlined as follows:

Council options –

1)     Council investment – all council-owned roofs

If the council installed PV panels on all council owned housing and corporate buildings it would cost in the region of £38m for a 12 year return on investment. The council would save through bill savings and would receive income from the government’s Feed-in Tariff (FIT). It could be argued that council-led schemes were not community energy schemes. If all the homes in the council’s stock were able to be directly supplied by the panels then each  ...  view the full minutes text for item 13.

John Kolm-Murray, Seasonal Health and Affordable Warmth Co-ordinator, presented an introductory briefing paper on Community Energy which included the following points:

·        In the past, fuel poverty was defined as the situation whereby a household was required to spend 10% or more of their total household income to maintain an adequate level of warmth. This was known as the 10% definition.

·        In 2004, the Mayor of London defined fuel poverty as the need to spend more than 10% of total household income after housing costs (rent or mortgage and council tax) and this was the definition used by the council.

·        The government had redefined fuel poverty as the situation whereby a household had below 60% of the median income, after housing costs, combined with a fuel bill higher than the median. This would be the definition used in the 2014 Fuel Poverty Strategy. The bill threshold was set at the median which meant a strong bias against smaller homes. This definition was the Low Income High Costs definition.

·        According to the 10% definition, fuel poverty in Islington stood at 8.9% in 2012.

·        According to the Low Income High Costs definition, fuel poverty in Islington stood at 7.4% in 2012.

·        Without extensive data on incomes it was difficult to estimate levels of fuel poverty according to the 10% After Housing Costs definition. An analysis by the GLA completed in 2012, which took housing costs into account, suggested that six Islington wards were in the worst quintile for fuel poverty in London, with Finsbury Park in the worst 4%.

·        Between 2010 and the first quarter of 2014/15, energy efficiency improvements were made in over 19,600 Islington homes. This included 3,380 boiler replacements or installations and around 10,500 loft, cavity wall and solid wall insulations. The main barrier to installing solid wall insulations was cost with the average cost per property being £8,000. Also, if there were damp issues in a property solid wall insulation could make them worse, internal insulations reduced the size of a property and installing them caused disruption to the residents. It had been undertaken on the Holly Park Estate last year and was funded by Energy Company Obligation (ECO) funding. It could save up to £200 on fuel bill savings for each household. It had also been undertaken in Neptune House.

·        In 2012, the Bunhill Energy Centre started providing cheaper, greener heat to over 700 homes in the south of the borough.

·        In 2013/14, the council secured over 1,000 payments of £135 to vulnerable residents through the country’s first Warm Home Discount referral programme.

·        Seasonal Health Intervention Network (SHINE) had assisted almost 6,900 vulnerable residents since December 2010.

·        Environmental Health Officers had taken action on a significant number of excess cold hazards.

·        In 2014/15, the council expected to make energy efficiency improvements to over 2,200 homes. These would include free boiler replacements for low income and vulnerable private tenants and owner-occupiers, external solid wall insulation for more than 300 high rise flats and over 560 boiler upgrades, 800 Energy  ...  view the full minutes text for item 14.

RESOLVED:

1)    That the work programme be noted.

2)    That visits be scheduled as soon as possible to give members sufficient notice and be arranged outside of working hours where possible.