Peterborough City Council secures £4m of Green Deal Communities funding

We are delighted to announce that, with expert guidance and assistance from AgilityEco, Peterborough City Council has secured an offer of government cash to help drive their exciting Green Deal Communities[i] initiative forward.  PCC’s offer was one of only six announced by DECC[ii] from sixty four applications, securing 20% of the £19.5 million funding announced by Gregory Barker, Minister of State for Energy and Climate Change, at the Ecobuild Conference in London on Tuesday 4th March 2014.

Thousands of homes in Peterborough will benefit from measures to improve their energy efficiency and drive down the cost of keeping warm. The money will be used in a wider project, totalling £13 million in value. This project will see up to 2,000 of Peterborough’s most “hard to treat” properties in the Gladstone, Millfield, New England and Eastfield areas of the city targeted because of their particularly poor construction[iii].

The main focus will be on landlords, as these areas have a very high proportion of rented homes[iv], although the scheme will be available to all households in the target areas. Landlords often don’t appreciate the benefit of improving the energy efficiency of the homes they rent, but, in just four years’ time, they will have a legal obligation to ensure that their properties meet minimum efficiency standards. Tenants will also win by saving on average £100 per year on their energy bills as a result.

To demonstrate the benefits of these energy saving measures to the public, ten properties will have a range of efficiency measures installed free of charge and act as “demonstration homes”.  There will also be three mobile demonstration units that will be open to members of the public.

Gearóid Lane, CEO of AgilityEco said:

“We’re absolutely delighted to have supported Peterborough in developing their successful bid. I’m convinced that this project, which is both innovative and groundbreaking, is going to set the benchmark for Green Deal Communities activity over the coming months. It is a fantastic tribute to our partners in Peterborough that this project is going to be amongst the first trailblazers.”

John Harrison, Executive Director, Resources, Peterborough City Council said:

“We’re grateful for the hard work and expertise that AgilityEco put into supporting us in preparing our highly innovative winning bid. This is a great opportunity for us to improve the quality of housing in Peterborough. The areas we want to target have the greatest levels of fuel poverty and we know many people are struggling to meet the cost of just staying warm. I hope landlords come forward and take up the grants available. It makes perfect sense for them as they end up with higher value, more energy efficient homes and warmer, happier tenants. We look forward to continuing to work with AgilityEco in the delivery phase of our exciting project.”