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Budget 2020: councils call for extra cash to make homes more eco-friendly
Councils are calling on the government for extra funding to deliver “environmentally friendly” new homes and retrofit existing properties to make them more energy efficient.
In its Budget submission, the Local Government Association (LGA) said that the National Infrastructure Strategy – due to be unveiled by the government – is a chance to provide “capital funding for the delivery of environmentally friendly homes and commercial buildings”.
The body, which represents 339 English councils, added: “As a significant majority of the homes that will be in place by 2050 have already been built, this should include retrofitting existing homes as well as new builds.”
The government is currently consulting on plans to drive up energy efficiency standards as part of a Future Homes Standard.
However, it is already under pressure to give councils more freedom to make homes greener, and protests took place yesterday.
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Currently, the built environment accounts for around 40% of the UK’s total carbon footprint – through construction, operation and maintenance of buildings.
In its 25-page submission, ahead of next month’s Budget, the LGA also called for a joint local and central government climate change taskforce to be launched.
“There is a real opportunity for local and national government to work together to deliver tangible change
on reducing carbon emissions with the aim of delivering zero net carbon by 2030,” the submission said. Currently, the government’s target is 2050.
Despite showing a desire to make homes greener and safer, the LGA warned that the extra cost of implementing new measures is likely to hamper councils’ housebuilding efforts.
The proposed Future Homes Standard, the post-Grenfell building safety programme and a new Decent Homes Standard will “all impact on the capacity of stock-owning local authorities to increase their delivery of new homes”, the group said.
The LGA has previously called for the government to pay for the removal of “dangerous non-ACM” cladding and the retrofitting of sprinklers in high-rise buildings.
The organisation also repeated its long-running call for councils to be able to retain 100% of Right to Buy receipts and “be given the flexibility to set discounts locally in order to invest in new and existing stock”. Councils have been able to replace only around a quarter of the 68,000 homes sold as Right to Buy between 2012/13 and 2017/18, the LGA said, as under the current system authorities can only a keep a third of a Right to Buy receipt.
The group also warned that the rise in the Public Works Loan Board interest rates means councils may have to scale back or abandon planned projects.
Councils have moved to return to housebuilding since the removal of the Housing Revenue Account, and analysis shows that they are planning to build 77,488 homes in the next five years. However, these efforts could be under threat if the rate rise remains, the LGA said.
It said a similar initiative to the 2017 Budget, where £1bn of lending was made available, is needed to help councils deliver “vital schemes”.
The government has a renewed target of delivering “more than” a million new homes over the next five years, but it has not specified the tenure of these homes. Proposals so far under Boris Johnson have focused on measures to help private housebuyers and renters.
On homelessness, the LGA called for the government to restore the Local Housing Allowance (LHA) rate to “at
least” the 30th percentile of market rents. On average, the LHA is capped at the 13th percentile of market rent, the group said.
“As a result, housing support does not cover the cost of renting for almost nine in 10 private sector tenants in receipt of means-tested benefits,” the submission said.
Chancellor Sajid Javid is due to deliver his Budget on 11 March.
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