Agenda and minutes

Members substituted as follows:

Councillor L Swindlehurst for Councillor Boone

Councillor Yates for Councillor Brady

Councillor Hoptroff for Councillor Kempster

Councillor Johnson was appointed as Chair and Councillor Jebb as Vice-Chair of the Working Group.

·         Disclosable Pecuniary Interests

·         Other Interests

No interests were declared.

Representatives from Broad Oak provided a presentation which covered the following topics:

·       Local Authority Delivery Scheme

·       Home Upgrade Grant

·       Energy Company Obligation

·       Social Housing Decarbonisation Fund

·       Qualifying Criteria

·       Property Criteria

·       Installation Measures

·       Great British Insulation Scheme

·       An overview of the Broad Oak Group

·       Challenges and Guaranteed Success

Members found the presentation to be very informative and had the opportunity to ask questions in relation to the various schemes/grants currently available.

Discussion took place around hybrid boilers, lead generation, targeted marketing and engagement with parishes and the local community to increase awareness of the funding schemes on offer.

Broadoak commented that one of the generic issues they faced was finding suitable properties that fitted the funding offer. This was particularly relevant in light of the HUG2 funding for off-gas properties set to be delivered by SCC Warmer Homes.

Successful Local Authority Delivery Schemes and a district heating system installation in the Stoke-on-Trent area was also explained to the Group. Properties in the rural areas had also benefited from being retrofitted with various energy saving measures and alternative heating systems.

While the Staffordshire Model had worked well in many instances, and compared to some other local authorities, uptake had not always been as good as might have been hoped.

Members commented that more work could be done with Your Housing Group and the Social Housing Decarbonisation Fund.

The representatives from Broad Oak were thanked for attending the meeting.

DECIDED:

1)    For the slides, presenters notes and contact information for Broad Oak to be circulated to all members of the Group;

2)    Broad Oak representatives to be invited to attend a future meeting of the Parish Assembly.

It was agreed that the terms of reference for the Group would be compiled and circulated to members of the Group in advance of its next meeting.

Members were encouraged to make suggestions for areas of work the Group may wish to undertake with a primary focus on the Council’s emissions and towards the Council’s Climate Change Action Plan. Going forward, the Climate Change Annual Report would be considered by this Working Group and recommendations made to Full Council. The Group would as part of this this look at specific issues in more depth. There may also be opportunity to work in conjunction with HPBC around items that impacted both authorities.

Members suggested an item around climate measures within Planning policies for new build properties and for Professor Zoe Robinson - Keele University, to be invited to attend a meeting. The role of businesses was also mentioned.

Where possible, future meetings would be held in the Dove Room and at similar time in the evening. If possible, meetings would be arranged to avoid parish meetings taking place.

DECIDED:

1)    Action headings page of the Climate Action Plan to be emailed to members;

2)    Next meeting to be arranged to take place mid-October;

3)    For the Council’s Climate Change Officer to attend the next meeting an and provide an overview of the Council’s current position in terms of climate change.