Leeds city region is to go out to tender next month for a Green Deal retrofit programme worth £80m over the first three years.
Leeds city region – comprising Barnsley, Bradford, Calderdale, Craven, Harrogate, Kirklees, Leeds, North Yorkshire, Selby, Wakefield and York councils – anticipates a minimum of 12,000 houses to be retrofitted over the first three years of the Green Deal programme, which is around 2.8 percent of the total housing stock.
However, the value of the programme is likely to increase, as the city region has identified around 450,000 homes – out of a stock of 1.2m – which have been designated the “easily accessible market” and are therefore ripe for energy efficiency improvements. It estimates that retrofitting these homes could bring £5bn into the economy over the next 25 years.
The city region partners are also inviting other councils in North Yorkshire to join the scheme, as well as registered housing providers, in a bid to maximise the value of the programme to the industry.
The £80m fund is made up of £20m from the Energy Company Obligation (ECO), which is a levy on fuel bills to subsidise improvements to the homes of poor or vulnerable people and properties needing measures that cost more than they will save in energy costs, particularly solid wall insulation. The remaining £60m comes from the loans householders will take out with the Green Deal Finance Company (GDFC).
Birmingham and Newcastle city regions have already developed Green Deal programmes, with Birmingham appointing Carillion Energy Services to provide Green Deal improvements to homes in the region in a deal worth up to £1.45bn.
