£50m for sustainable retrofit of homes

The pledge to 'retrofit' the homes is one of a series of long-term projects that were approved during discussion of the Oxford City Council 2021/22 budget on Wednesday.

The council promises to bring all of its tenants' homes up to a higher environmental standard, Energy Performance Certificate Band C, by 2030.

This would mean that all those homes used less fossil fuels for their energy and would be more energy efficient.

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Buildings are responsible for 80 per cent of all carbon emissions in the city, and the council has recently pledged to become 'zero carbon' by 2030.

Tom Hayes, the council’s deputy leader, said: “Oxford can’t deal with our carbon problem until we deal with our buildings emissions problem, and the city council will play a leading role.

“Despite the impacts of the pandemic on our council’s finances, we will be making huge investments in our 7,800 council homes.

Tom Hayes. Pic: Ed Nix

“We want to work with tenants to make their homes more energy efficient, reduce emissions, and save them money.

“By showing leadership, we want private landlords and homeowners to join with us in making retrofitting investments in their own homes.”

To fund the works, the council is borrowing cash from the Public Works Loan Board, and has also received a grant from the Government.

Work will include fitting new types of insulation, as well as ground- or air-source heat pumps in the homes.

Earlier this month, the council said it would need an extra £2.2m a year to realise its goal of becoming zero carbon by 2030.

Days later it was announced the council would get a grant from Government to cover many of its plans to 'decarbonise'.

The council has also recently held a carbon summit with big employers and landowners in the city, like the university, who committed to going zero carbon by 2040, including buildings.

As the council discussed its budget on Wednesday, there was no dispute about the council’s plan to retrofit its tenants homes with energy saving measures.

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However, there was dispute over other environmental priorities from Liberal Democrat and Green councillors.

The two opposition groups opposed investing in shops and offices and favoured renewable energy instead, stressing the urgency of the climate emergency.

Lib Dem Roz Smith said the city was weathering challenges posed by ‘Brexit, Covid and Climate change’.

She added: “There is no vaccine for climate change, we need to make changes now and invest in a green economy.”

Green councillor Craig Simmons said progress on the climate agenda had been ‘painfully slow’.

He added: “What I think maybe the administration doesn’t appreciate, perhaps I am being unfair, is that we have to move more quickly.”