With energy bills set to rise 50% in April, Green Party councillors are calling on Norfolk County Council to lead a county-wide programme of insulating houses to bring down energy bills and relieve fuel poverty, while also benefitting the environment.
Green councillors say the move could help to virtually end households’ fuel bills, cut the 23% of Norfolk’s carbon emissions that comes from energy use in housing [1], and create 6,000 local jobs.[2]
Norfolk County Council’s budget for the next year will be debated at a council meeting on Monday 21 February. Green councillors have put forward a budget amendment to establish a “retrofit taskforce” to spearhead the effort to improve the energy-efficiency of Norfolk’s leaky houses.
The retrofit taskforce could coordinate between district councils and the renewable energy and construction industries to pool funding to kick-start the retrofitting of housing in Norfolk. This would follow the so-called Lewes Model which is delivering £1bn to retrofit 44,000 socially-rented homes in Lewes and Brighton and Hove. [3]
The retrofit taskforce would also establish training programmes for workers to learn the skills needed to insulate houses effectively and install renewable energy systems such as heat pumps. There is currently a critical shortage of skilled workers in the retrofit sector which contributed to the collapse of the Green Homes Grant last year. By training local workers, Green councillors say the retrofit taskforce could help boost the recovery from covid and create 6,000 jobs in the local supply chain.
The move is being proposed by Green Party councillor Jamie Osborn, who last year prompted Norwich City Council to agree to adopt a strategy for insulating houses. [4]
Councillor Osborn said: “Thousands of people across Norfolk are facing the looming spike in energy prices with anxiety. The Green Party is calling for a permanent solution to volatile energy prices through insulating homes and providing clean, cheap, local renewable energy.
“There needs to be urgent action to insulate Norfolk’s leaky housing stock, but none of our local authorities or politicians are making this a priority. That inaction is leaving people facing soaring energy bills, cold and damp homes, and a worsening climate crisis.
“But we can turn this situation around. The Green Party’s proposal would see emergency insulation for those most in need and would kick-start the effort to make every house in Norfolk warm and cosy with low bills for residents.”
The Green Party is also urging Norfolk County Council to recruit a renewable energy investment officer in its new budget. This role would see the county council working with community energy groups to ramp up the deployment of renewable energy locally, helping to provide secure and affordable energy to local households.
Speaking about the renewable energy officer, Green Party councillor Paul Neale said, “Renewable energy is the way forward, yet Norfolk is lagging behind on community energy schemes that could put money back into local people’s pockets and provide them with clean electricity and heating.
“Norfolk needs to take a lead and facilitate much more local investment in solar and wind power and renewable heating systems so that we are fit to face the future.”
Further information from:
Councillor Ben Price 07947 777949 ben.price@cllr@norfolk.gov.uk
Councillor Jamie Osborn 07975 881585 jamie.osborn@cllr@norfolk.gov.uk
Notes:
2: https://www.greenhousethinktank.org/climate-jobs/
3: https://greenworld.org.uk/article/lewes-model-explained
4: https://www.edp24.co.uk/news/opinion-why-warmer-homes-are-good-for-all-7825372
Norwich Green Party has ten councillors on Norwich City Council, where it forms the main opposition party, and three on Norfolk County Council, representing the wards of Mancroft, Nelson and Thorpe Hamlet in Norwich.
