City of Wakefield Metropolitan District Council Home Energy Conservation Act Further Report 2012-2013

Initial Report to Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change

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Contents

Page: 1 HECA summary 3

2 Introduction to HECA 3

3 Wakefield’s geography and deprivation 4

4 Wakefield’s housing stock 4

5 Wakefield’s build types 5

6 Wakefield’s socio-economic background 5

7 Fuel poverty and excess winter deaths in the Wakefield district 6

8 Wakefield Affordable Warmth Strategy 2007-2010 7

9 Greener Homes, Healthier Homes: An Action Plan for Affordable 9 Warmth 2011-2016

10 Wakefield Affordable Warmth Action Plan 2013-2014 10

11 Supporting evidence: domestic gas and electricity consumption data 11

12 HECA achievements to date for the Wakefield district 12

13 HECA planned activity for the Wakefield district 2013-2014 14

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1. HECA summary

On the 26 July 2012 the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change issued new guidance to English Energy Conservation Authorities (ECAs) setting out their obligations pursuant to the Home Energy Conservation Act (HECA) 19951. The City of Wakefield Metropolitan District Council (WMDC) is an ECA. This document represents WMDC’s submitted initial Home Energy Conservation Act (HECA) report to the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change for March 2013.

2. Introduction

The guidance sets out requirements for ECAs to report on the energy conservation measures it considers practicable, cost-effective and likely to result in significant improvement in the energy efficiency of residential accommodation in their areas. The significant improvements can result from measures which take advantage of financial assistance from central Government initiatives such as Green Deal, Energy Company Obligation (ECO) and the Renewable Heat Incentive and which have been developed using area based/street by street roll out involving local communities and partnerships.

Specifically, the guidance:  Requires that ECAs publish a publically available report on their plans to achieve improved energy efficiency by 31 March 2013 and to report on progress in implementing their proposed measures every two years starting 31 March 2015 and up to an including 31 March 2027; and  Asks ECAs to consider setting out a timeframe for delivery and the role key local partners, such as social housing providers and community organisations, can play in supporting their plans.

The Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) strongly believes that:  The Green Deal, which allows the cost of new energy efficiency measures to be attached to a building’s electricity meter, will be significant in helping ECAs to achieve their aims;  ECAs are best placed to assess the green needs and ambitions of their areas, which they know better than anyone else; and  A well-developed report in response to HECA, highlighting key opportunities, will help attract potential funding partners to work with the ECA and other local community groups and stakeholders to the benefit of local residents and businesses

With the new responsibilities on ECAs to quantify the scale and detail of making significant improvements of residential accommodation in their area, it will be necessary to revisit the condition of your housing stock, and to understand the potential for measures which are recognised by Government as contributable. Things have moved on since 1996, and a whole range of new measures have become eligible for financial assistance from Government incentives, and attractive to tenants and home owners.

1 https://www.gov.uk/government/news/new-guidance-for-local-authorities-to-improve-energy-efficiency-of-homes 3

3. Wakefield’s geography and deprivation

Wakefield district covers some 338 square kilometres and is home to 325,600 people in a diverse range of city, urban and rural communities and an amalgam of what were previously 14 different local authorities. The north and west includes Horbury, Ossett, Wrenthorpe, Stanley and Altofts, while Normanton, Castleford, Pontefract, Knottingley, Featherstone and a host of smaller settlements make up the five towns. In the south east, there are the towns of Hemsworth, South Kirkby and South Elmsall as well as other communities. Some 70 per cent of the rural communities of the district are designated as green belt. Dotted about the rolling countryside are villages like Middlestown, Crigglestone, Crofton, Woolley and Ackworth. WMDC and its partner organisations in the Wakefield Together Partnership are making great strides in bringing new life to the old mining communities of the south east. Major achievements have already been made in reclaiming former colliery sites for both leisure and industrial use. In 2010, Wakefield district was ranked as the 67th most deprived local authority in England (out of a total of 326). Within the Wakefield district there are wide variations in the levels of deprivation with:  12.5% of the population living in neighbourhoods that are in the 10% most-deprived in England. The most deprived wards are Hemsworth, Wakefield East and Knottingley; and  3% of the population living in neighbourhoods that are in the 10% least-deprived in England. The least deprived wards are Wakefield Rural, Stanley & Outwood East and Ossett.

4. Wakefield’s housing stock

The Wakefield district has a total of 145,911 domestic properties, of which 35,935 are social rented properties (of these, 30,974 are owned by Wakefield and District Housing) and 109,976 are in private ownership. Wakefield district has a higher proportion of social housing at 23.8%, than the national (17.8%) and regional (18.6%) averages. Of the private housing stock, 10.2% is rented privately, 83.5% is owner occupied and the tenure of 6.3% is unknown.2

With regards to the condition of private housing stock in the Wakefield district, 19% is non-decent compared to 30% for England. The percentage of non-decent private rented housing stock is lower in Wakefield (37%) compared to the rest of England (41%) (www.poverty.org.uk). For properties to meet the energy efficiency requirements of the Decent Homes Standard they must offer efficient, controllable heating and effective insulation. 8.8% of properties are estimated to fail these requirements in the Wakefield district. The highest rates of failure are associated with properties which are private rented (14.2%), flats (26.3%) and those constructed pre 1919 (17.4%).3 The majority of properties (71%) are in the lower-value council tax bands A and B; a significantly higher proportion than the regional and England averages. Home ownership is just below the England average despite being one of the most affordable areas to live within the Yorkshire and Humber Region.

Data lodged with Landmark through the Energy Performance Certificate (EPC) system indicates that 45,199 properties have received an EPC. Of these, the driver for being rated with an EPC was 37.1% of

2 http://neighbourhood.statistics.gov.uk/dissemination/ 3 http://www.wakefield.gov.uk/NR/rdonlyres/EA2BD411-7C2C-4382-99C1-00B594B8BE30/0/Affordable_Warmth_Action_Plan.pdf 4

the properties were for marketed sales, 1.7% were for non-marketed sales, and 6.8% were for new properties. In terms of tenure, 71.2% of properties receiving an EPC rating were for houses, 16.4% for flats, and 10.2% for bungalows. These statistics include EPCs recorded by Wakefield and District Housing for its own properties.

5. Wakefield’s housing build types

The Office for National Statistics reported in 2011 that the housing stock in the Wakefield district was dominated by houses and bungalows accounting for 87.8% of the total number of properties. The remaining 12% were made up of flats; and 0.2% were caravans or temporary structures. The full breakdown is given in the table 1:

Property Type Count Percentage Whole House or Bungalow; Detached 30,316 20.7 Whole House or Bungalow; Semi-Detached 64,079 43.7 Whole House or Bungalow; Terraced (Including End-Terrace) 34,315 23.4 Flat, Maisonette or Apartment; Purpose-Built Block of Flats or Tenement 14,849 10.1 Flat, Maisonette or Apartment; Part of a Converted or Shared House (Including Bed- 1,691 1.2 Sits) Flat, Maisonette or Apartment; In Commercial Building 998 0.7 Caravan or Other Mobile or Temporary Structure 290 0.2 Table 1 – Property Types (ONS)

6. Wakefield’s socio economic background

At the start of 19th century Wakefield district was a wealthy market town and inland port trading in wool and corn. The Aire and Calder and Calder and Hebble Navigations and the Barnsley Canal were instrumental in the development of Wakefield district as an important market for corn in the north. Large warehouses were built on the river banks to store corn from Norfolk, Cambridgeshire and Lincolnshire to supply the fast growing population in the West Riding of Yorkshire. The market developed in the Wakefield city streets around the Bull Ring and the cattle market between George Street and Ings Road grew to be one of the biggest in the country. The railways arrived in Wakefield district in 1840 when Kirkgate Station was built on the Manchester to Leeds line.

When cloth dealing declined, wool spinning mills using steam power were built by the river in Wakefield city centre. There was a glass works in Calder Vale Road, several breweries, engineering works with strong links to the mining industry, soap works and brickyards in Eastmoor giving the town a diverse economy. Boats were built at yards on the Calder. On the outskirts of the town, coal had been dug since the 15th century and during the 19th century more mines were sunk so that there were 46 small mines in Wakefield and the surrounding area by 1869. The National Coal Board eventually became Wakefield's largest employer with Manor Colliery on Cross Lane and Park Hill colliery at Eastmoor surviving until 1982.

The glass and textile industries closed in the 1970s and 1980s and coal demand decreased which led to rapid local coal mine closures. Six pits within a two mile (3 km) radius of the city centre were closed between 1979 and 1983.

Currently manufacturing plays an important role in the Wakefield district in terms of job creation with approximately 16,500 people employed in this sector. This sector accounts for 12.4 % of all jobs in the Wakefield district and is the third largest employment sector in the Yorkshire and Humber Region. In

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addition, as many as 16,500 people work within the financial, banking and insurance sector. As the administrative centre for the whole metropolitan borough the public sector continues to be a key employer in the Wakefield district with more than 35,000 (27 % of the working population) making their living within the fields of public administration, education and health. The single largest employer across all sectors in the city is WMDC which employs in the region of 14,000 staff.

7. Fuel poverty and excess winter deaths in the Wakefield district

In 2003 the rate of fuel poverty (basic income definition) for households in the Wakefield district was 7.6% (10,100 households). This is the same as the same rate for the Yorkshire and Humber Region. This is higher than the rate for England in 2003 at 6.9%4. The average rate of fuel poverty (full income definition) in the Wakefield district in 2003 was 6.5% (8,700 households) which is again higher than the 2003 national rate of 5.9%.

The modelled rate of (basic income) fuel poverty in the Wakefield district for 2006 was 18.2% (24,240 households). The equivalent full income rate was 15.7% (20,790). Evidence suggests that there are ‘pockets’ of concentrated fuel poverty households in some areas of the Wakefield district. Between 11.5% and 14.8% of households are fuel poor in certain Output Areas within the wards of South Elmsall, Hemsworth, Castleford Glasshoughton, Castleford Ferry Fryston, Knottingley, Wakefield Central, Wakefield East, Wakefield North and Featherstone.

Notwithstanding these concentrations, fuel poor households are dispersed widely across the district. For example, 23% of Wakefield district’s fuel poor households live in the bottom three (least fuel poor) deciles of Output Areas. Conversely, 13.5% of fuel poor households live in the first (most fuel poor) decile. The areas with higher fuel poverty household levels are generally found in urban areas of Wakefield, while the areas with lower fuel poverty levels tend to be more rural in nature. The most fuel poor decile of Output Areas is characterised by a high proportion of social housing, low proportion of owner occupiers, low proportion of detached houses, higher than average level of flats and terraced houses, higher than average level of people with limiting long term illness and higher than average level of people in ‘not good health’. The incidence of ‘hard to treat’ problems (defined as properties built with solid walls and/or off the gas network) varies considerably across the district. Some Output Areas have high levels of both ‘off-gas’ and solid walled properties, while others have high levels of both ‘on-gas’ and cavity walled properties. ‘Hard to treat’ problems are considerably more pronounced in rural areas of Wakefield. However, there is no clear relationship between the distribution of fuel poverty and ‘hard to treat’ problems. This suggests that many fuel poor households live in properties that are relatively ‘easy to treat’, i.e. they could benefit from the installation of standard energy efficiency measures, such as cavity wall insulation and gas central heating.

The Wakefield district has a relatively high level of excess winter deaths. There were 210 excess winter deaths in 2008/09 which is an increase on the previous year (160) and the highest since 2004/05. Whilst it is not possible to attribute these directly to cold weather only, it is widely recognised that fuel poverty is a likely factor when temperatures plummet which they have in the recent winters in England. This equates to an excess winter mortality index of 20.8% which is above the West Yorkshire-wide figure of 17%.

Since 2004 significant fuel price rises have seen a worsening of fuel poverty5. In 2010 it was estimated that 26,331 (18.5%) people were living in fuel poverty in Wakefield (DECC 2010) Yorkshire and Humber is ranked as the 4th worst region in England with over 415,324 people considered to be in fuel poverty (18.6%).

4 http://www.wakefield.gov.uk/NR/rdonlyres/26AEBDDC-609A-44D4-8CC4-4CB3B8141539/0/Fuel_Poverty_Wakefield.pdf 5 http://www.wakefield.gov.uk/Environment/EnergyAdvice/AffordableWarmth/FuelPovertyandHealth.htm

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8. Wakefield Affordable Warmth Strategy 2007-2010

The Wakefield Affordable Warmth Strategy 2007-2010 was launched in March 2007 and for the first time set out a co-ordinated approach to address the problems of cold, damp homes in the Wakefield district.

The Strategy was developed by WMDC in partnership with National Energy Action. The actions were shaped through consultation and workshops with a range of partners, including Wakefield and District Housing, Wakefield and District Primary Care Trust, the Energy Efficiency Advice Centre, Age Concern Wakefield and District, the Pension Service, West Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Service, the Community Empowerment Network for Wakefield District (VOX) and Voluntary Action Wakefield.

The Strategy’s Action Plan broke activity down in to five core themes. The following themes addressed the key areas of activity required to tackle fuel poverty:

 Raise awareness of affordable warmth amongst key agencies

 Improve public awareness of affordable warmth issues and assistance

 Achieve affordable warmth through improved partnerships

 Improve health through affordable warmth

 Making Wakefield’s homes warmer

The core Strategy’s aim was to cut fuel poverty by 35% or by 8,484 households compared to the 2007 baseline, by 2010. This would lower the percentage of Wakefield district households in fuel poverty to 11.8%, in line with the reduction required to meet the Government UK Fuel Poverty Strategy target of eradicating all fuel poverty by 2016.

The 2007 fuel poverty baseline figure for number of households living in fuel poverty was 24,240 which is 18.2% of the housing stock. This baseline figure is revised and slightly lower than the figures quoted in the Wakefield Affordable Warmth Strategy 2007-2010 document. In March 2011, the three year Strategy reached a conclusion after making great strides in tackling fuel poverty across the district. However, with electricity prices rising by 125% (since 2004)6 across England, the result is even more households are struggling to achieve affordable warmth. Against this worsening of fuel poverty, the 2007 Strategy made great strides with key activity, but there is still much work to be done.

A Summary Report of the Strategy7 was been produced that captures the key achievements, reports back on progress against targets and sets out future direction of the affordable warmth and domestic carbon reduction activity.

6 8th Annual Report 2009 (FPAG 2010) 7 http://www.wakefield.gov.uk/NR/rdonlyres/9B6AE003-1459-4DE6-AEEA- 55E1D952401E/0/Affordable_Warmth_Strategy_Summary.pdf 7

The Strategy’s core aim was to reduce fuel poverty; however, this was against a backdrop of unprecedented national fuel price rises. Consequently, the district has seen an increase in households living in fuel poverty as have many other districts in the north of England.

Research8 conducted in 2009/10 suggests households living in fuel poverty in the district had risen to 26.2% (private sector only), from 18.2% in 2007.

However, it is estimated that the Affordable Warmth Strategy directly removed over 3,700 households from living in fuel poverty and helped over 14,000 households benefit from improved insulation and heating measures. The Strategy also brought together frontline partners to develop and implement a range of schemes and initiatives.

Although benefit recipients are much more likely to be in fuel poverty, the bulk of fuel poverty (76% in 2009) occurs in households that are not claiming Council Tax Benefit, suggesting that there is scope for many households that fall into this category to access unclaimed benefits.

Fuel poor private households are more likely to be in an older property, and less likely to have wall insulation. The percentage of fuel poor households with a Standard Assessment Procedure (SAP) rating of 60 or more (1-100 scale where 1 very inefficient and 100 being very efficient), meaning more likely fuel bills will be affordable, is 28.6%. This suggests that income is a major factor resulting in fuel poverty, as rising fuel prices mean that many households living in relatively energy efficient homes will still experience fuel poverty if their income is low.

Research9 undertaken by the Centre for Sustainable Energy in 2007 showed that high levels of fuel poverty (map 1) were dispersed across the Wakefield district and the 2009 research illustrates that this is still the case. This is district-wide dispersal of fuel poverty is also demonstrated by the DECC Fuel Poverty Statistics 2010 (map 2)

Very High High Average Low Very Low

Map 1 - CSE map of Fuel Poverty in Wakefield 2007

8 http://www.wakefield.gov.uk/Environment/EnergyAdvice/AffordableWarmth/AffordableWarmthStrategy.htm 9 http://www.wakefield.gov.uk/NR/rdonlyres/EA2BD411-7C2C-4382-99C1-00B594B8BE30/0/Affordable_Warmth_Action_Plan.pdf 8

Map 2 – DECC Fuel Poverty Statistics 2010 mapped for this report

9. Greener Homes, Healthier Homes: An Action Plan for Affordable Warmth 2011-2016

The Wakefield Affordable Warmth Partnership (WAWP) has had on-going responsibility to monitor and review progress of the Wakefield Affordable Warmth Strategy 2007-2010. In December 2009 WAWP began the process of reviewing the current Strategy with the aim of creating a new action plan to start April 2011.

A key aim for the new Action Plan was for it to be more inclusive than the 2007-2010 Strategy. WMDC therefore arranged workshops with key stakeholder responsible for the success of the Affordable Warmth Strategy 2007-2010 to develop the Greener Homes, Healthier Homes: An Action Plan for Affordable Warmth 2011/16 - a robust and innovative strategy to take domestic carbon reduction and fuel poverty work forward towards 2016.

Unlike the previous Wakefield Affordable Warmth Strategy this Action Plan is effectively an annual delivery plan. The commentary that sits to the front of this Action Plan does not change every year; however it is reviewed and updated each year by the WAWP, enabling it to adapt according to changing policy and circumstance. WAWP monitors delivery on a bi-monthly basis as well as producing an Annual Progress Report.

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The Delivery Plan structure10 is based around the three core work themes:

 Strategic and Partnerships - working together to tackle and promote domestic carbon saving and affordable warmth

 Vulnerable Household Support - helping people to achieve affordable warmth and remove them from fuel poverty

 Domestic Carbon Reduction - reducing CO2 emissions from housing

10. Wakefield Affordable Warmth Action Plan 2011-2016

To monitor the progress and plan the delivery of the Greener Homes, Healthier Homes: An Action Plan for Affordable Warmth 2011 to 2016, four key indicators have been identified, these are:

 Domestic carbon emissions  Households in fuel poverty  Home energy efficiency standards  Home energy efficiency measures

By monitoring impacts and outputs it will help to demonstrate the direction of travel, the benefits to Wakefield district residents and inform the process of on-going review. The responsibility for monitoring against these indicators is with WMDC.

The 4 key indicators will be assessed against the targets outlined in Table 2 below:

10 http://www.wakefield.gov.uk/NR/rdonlyres/EA2BD411-7C2C-4382-99C1- 00B594B8BE30/0/Affordable_Warmth_Action_Plan.pdf 10

Indicator Context 2016 Target 2013 Progress to date Domestic Reduction of carbon 15% reduction in carbon 4% reduction in 2010 carbon emissions from fossil fuels emissions (based on 2008 (2.2t) down from 9% emissions in Wakefield district baseline of 2.3t per capita) reduction in 2009 homes in-line with the (2.1t) (DEFRA Sept Government Low Carbon 12) Transition Plan target of Worsening emissions 29% by 2020 and the likely due to winter Wakefield Climate 2010/11 inclement Change Action Plan. weather Households Reduction in the Reduction of fuel poor May 2013 research in fuel percentage of fuel poor households to below 2007 scheduled to produce poverty homes in the Wakefield level of 18.2% updated fuel poverty district to contribute figure towards the Government UK Fuel Poverty Strategy target to eradicate fuel poverty by 2016. Home Improvement in the Average private sector SAP May 2013 research energy average energy efficiency rating of 65 (SAP 58 in scheduled to produce efficiency standard (SAP) of private 2008) updated SAP figure standards sector households in the Wakefield district to a level where the occupant is less likely to be at risk of fuel poverty. Home Increase the installation of Annual installation of 2000 638 measures energy home energy efficiency cavity wall and loft insulation installed during efficiency measures in Wakefield measures through home 2011/12 measures district households in-line energy initiatives with the Government 2117 measures Strategy for Household installed during Energy Management for 2012/13 all homes (where practicable) to be loft and cavity wall insulated by 2015.

Table 2 – Greener Homes, Healthier People: Affordable Warmth Action Plan 2011-2016 Indicators, Targets, and Progress (correct as March 2013)

11. Supporting Evidence: Domestic Gas and Electricity consumption data

In 2013 the Government’s Department for Energy and Climate Change (DECC) released data detailing the consumption of domestic electricity for 2010 and domestic gas for 2009. The gas consumption data was accompanied by research which calculated the divergence between the actual consumption and that predicted by DECC; this information may help to identify areas which are in need of assistance with reducing fuel consumption. The data was provided at Lower Level Super Output Area, each of which contains between 500 and 1,500 properties.

The Energy Saving Trust has mapped the data for both gas (map 3) and electricity consumption (map 4) for this report; the maps are shown below:

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Map 3 – Domestic gas consumption 2009

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Map 4 – Domestic electricity consumption 2009

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Statistics published by the UK Government11 show that the use of domestic energy in the Wakefield district has reduced by 14.2 % between 2005 and 2010; this is the average of a 16.2% reduction in the consumption of gas and an 8.8% reduction in the consumption of electricity. The use of coal was reported as having increased by 15%, however the relative scale of use of the various fossil fuels means that the 5GWh increased use of coal needs to be set in the context of a 400GWh reduction in the use of gas and a 51GWh reduction of electricity consumption. The government has not issued any more recent information on the consumption of gas or electricity.

12. HECA Achievements to Date for the Wakefield district 2008 - 2013

WMDC has succeeded in a number of areas to significantly improve the energy efficiency of residential accommodation through direct intervention and indirect educational and behavioural change activity in Wakefield district, most notably:

 The Wakefield Affordable Warmth Partnership has been running for 13 years and is a multiagency group which meets every two months to oversee delivery of the Wakefield Affordable Warmth Action Plan (AWAP). It is also a key forum to discuss and develop key fuel poverty and energy efficiency activity.

 Between 2007-10 WMDC delivered its first strategy designed to improve affordable warmth. The ‘Wakefield Affordable Warmth Strategy 2007-10’ . It represented a step-change in Wakefield as it brought together, in a formal framework, a range of agencies that were committed to improving home energy efficiency and tackling fuel poverty. The Strategy brought together frontline partners to develop and implement a range of schemes and initiatives. It is estimate that this Strategy directly removed over 3,700 households from living in fuel poverty and helped over 14,000 households benefit from improved insulation and heating measures.

 In 2011, WMDC along with its partners launched the second strategy to improve affordable warmth in Wakefield – ‘Greener Homes, Healthier Homes: An Action Plan for Affordable Warmth 2011/2016’. Like the Strategy before it, this Action Plan bought together key stakeholders in a coordinated delivery plan to improve home energy efficiency and tackle fuel poverty. This Action Plan is reviewed and updated every 12-months so that is can better adapt to changing policy and opportunities. This Action is on-going at present.

 Recently WMDC, in partnership with Wakefield and District Housing, have been awarded just over £1million from the DECC Fuel Poverty Fund to run an external wall insulation programme to treat 188 properties between December 2012 and the end of May 2013. This funding was won as part of a competitive process against other councils across the country.

 The Low Carbon Communities Scheme was a four year (2009-13) scheme that provided free home energy efficiency improvements and targeted private households with a special package of free loft and cavity wall insulation, as well as other useful services including benefits checks, fire safety visits, credit union information and energy efficiency advice. Led by WMDC, the scheme was delivered in partnership with a range of local partners that included the WMDC Sustaining Home Ownership Team, West Yorkshire Fire & Rescue Service, White Rose Credit Union, Yorkshire Energy Services and Viscount Environmental. During the four years, WLCC assisted over 4,500 households with over 5,500 free loft and cavity wall insulation measures.

The successor to the Wakefield Low Carbon Communities will be announced in 2013.

11 https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/department-of-energy-climate-change/series/total-final-energy-consumption-at-sub-national-level 14

 Since 2007 WMDC has operated Wakefield Energy Savers (WES) which is a ‘traditional’ energy efficiency grant scheme where householders can apply to access free or discounted insulation and heating measures. This scheme provided the ability to strategically target heating measures at specific areas of the Wakefield district in order to complement other activity such as Regeneration Areas and gas infrastructure schemes. Up to 2013, WES has assisted over 2100 households with over 2600 energy efficiency measures. WES is on-going at present and will continue until 2015.

 In 2012 WMDC secured funding through the Community Energy Support Programme (CESP) and the Carbon Emissions Reduction Target (CERT) from Npower to be able to deliver a coal/electric- to-gas heating improvement project in the Lupset and Featherstone areas of the Wakefield district. The project, which tied-in in with gas infrastructure work performed by Community Energy Solutions, helped 17 private housed install new efficiency gas central heating systems.

 Due to the legacy of the coal mining industry, there are still many homes in the district using coal as their main heating fuel, which is both expensive and inefficient. Recognising this problem, WMDC has delivered a coal-to-gas heating improvement programme targeted at Hemsworth, South Elmsall and South Kirkby in the south east of the Wakefield district. First delivered in 2009- 10 the programme has to date assisted over 100 vulnerable private sector households with free gas connections and new gas central heating systems.

 Hotspots is a long standing fuel poverty referral scheme developed by WMDC in 2006. Hotspots is a simple yet effective referral system that allows frontline workers from the West Yorkshire Fire Service, WMDC Family Services and health workers to refer vulnerable householders for energy, benefits and fire safety advice. Its aim is to make people warmer and safer in their homes, and reduce the risk of fuel poverty. Hotspots has proved to be a huge success with over 7,000 referrals in Wakefield alone. The Scheme has been rolled out to other West Yorkshire, South Yorkshire and North Yorkshire local authorities, as well as to other local authorities around the country. Hotspots has been recognised as ‘best practice’ and has won regional and national NEA Sustainable World Awards. NEA has also developed a toolkit to help other local authorities develop such a scheme.

 WMDC has successfully secured over £200,000 in funding through the Department of Health, Warm Homes Healthy People Fund for two years running in 2011-12 and 2012-13. The funding has been used to deliver the Cold Homes Action Project (CHAP), which is where voluntary and community sector outreach workers refer vulnerable private sector households for a package of ‘cold homes’ assistance. This assistance includes, free home insulation, benefit checks, handyperson help and emergency heaters. CHAP has generated over 1,000 referrals for over 1,500 services.

 Wakefield Energysmart club is a partnership between WMDC and Community Energy Direct (CED), which is piloting a new scheme designed to help households save money on their energy bills through collective energy switching. This has been made possible by a successful consortium bid to the DECC Cheaper Energy Together fund of over £200,000. Households across the Wakefield district join together to create a new co-operative movement, called an Energy Smart Club. The aim of the programme is to make it easier for people to switch and it is anticipated that many households could save up to £150 per annum. The clubs will also act as a hub to help members save energy through advice on local energy efficiency grants and products12.

 In 2007 WMDC commissioned a detailed study to looking to fuel poverty and home energy efficiency standards across the Wakefield district. The Fuel Poverty in Wakefield report, produced

12 http://www.wakefield.gov.uk/Environment/EnergyAdvice/GrantsAndSchemes/energysmartclub.htm 15

by the Centre for Sustainable Energy (CSE) provided baselines for the Wakefield Affordable Warmth Strategy 2007-10 to assist with monitoring. It also provided valuable insight and information which was used to develop energy efficiency policy, guiding energy efficiency schemes for the next five years.

 In January 2013 WMDC in partnership with Wakefield and District Housing commissioned a detailed study to produce an updated picture of fuel poverty and home energy efficiency standards across the district. It will be used to develop a long-term energy efficiency action plan. This piece of research, performed by the Energy Saving Trust, is scheduled for completion July 2013.

 Local Area Agreement (LAA) 2006-2009 - The LAA fuel poverty target was successfully reached with over 6,000 households installing energy efficiency measures over three years. The LAA helped to ramp-up energy efficiency grant uptake amongst vulnerable households through face-to- face advice, community awareness and proactive marketing.

 WMDC Energy Champions Initiative was developed in partnership with National Energy Action (NEA); WMDC launched the Energy Champion Project in 2008. Councillor Ron Halliday became the WMDC’s first Energy Champion in 2008 and in June 2010 Councillor Clive Hudson took up the role. Councillor Dick Taylor took up the role in November 2011 and is WMDC’s ‘Member with Responsibility for Climate Change’. This project has helped to raise the political and public profile of domestic carbon saving/fuel poverty across the district through promotions, Councillor training and presentations to WMDC’s Corporate Performance Scrutiny Committee.

 Community Development and Health & Wellbeing Workers have been trained as PCT Energy Champions. These Champions are able to deliver community based energy advice and Hotspots referrals for vulnerable households. The training has been rolled out to include Community Energy Champions and embed this service into the local community.

 Working with the Centre for Research, Education and Training in Energy (CREATE) WMDC’s Sustainability Team has delivered an energy awareness and education programme in Wakefield district schools in 2012/13. This work will continue and is being enhanced with the inclusion of Healthy Transport and Public Health issues.

 In 2012 WMDC in partnership with Groundwork Wakefield setup the Local Services Board Sustainability Group. This new group, which reports to the Local Services Board, is coordinated by WMDC’s Sustainability Team and has members from key public and private sector organisations that have a key role to play in driving forward local carbon reduction and sustainability action. The central aim of the group is to reduce the district’s carbon emissions and to help achieve this, the group will develop a programme to capture and promote current activity and guide future sustainability work in the Wakefield district.

 HealthPACT ('Health Partnership Action on Climate and Temperature') is a partnership initiative between the PCT, WMDC and The Mid-Yorkshire Hospitals NHS Trust. HealthPACT provides an alert to people suffering from COPD of any local changes in temperature (including excessive cold) or air quality that may make breathing worse. Included is advice to householders on how to stay warm and heat their homes to be healthy.

 WMDC has delivered a number of successful gas connection schemes in Wakefield through a partnership with Community Energy Solutions. WMDC’s Sustainability Team identified a number of target areas for gas infrastructure extension work in 2009 and subsequently New Sharlston and Fryston, were successfully connected later that year. These two projects, delivered in partnership with Community Energy Solutions and Northern Gas Networks, set best practice for gas

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connection work as all 223 households received a completely free connection. To compliment this work the Sustainability Team also provided 33 heating grants to the most vulnerable households in these two areas, enabling them to take full advantage of the their new energy efficient gas supply.

In 2010 the WMDC’s Sustainability Team delivered a further gas connection scheme in Flanshaw, Wakefield, where 28 private households were assisted with a free gas connection and 11 vulnerable households were provided with free gas central heating.

 Working with Groundwork Wakefield, WMDC’s Sustainability Team successfully secured over £33,000 through the Energy Saving Trust’s, Local Energy Assessment Fund (LEAF) in 2012. The funding was used to develop and deliver a home energy advice project in the Holmsley, South Kirkby area of the Wakefield district. The project provided door-to-door energy advice, referrals for free home insulation and energy awareness promotional activity. An innovative element of the project is that it trained 21 local unemployed people to City & Guilds standard in energy efficiency/renewable energy skills. Through the project over 200 households received home energy assessments resulting in estimated potential savings of 530 tonnes CO2 and £87,000 on fuel bills per annum.

 WMDC’s Sustainability Team has delivered an on-going programme of awareness events to members of the public and community groups for almost ten years. These events have helped to raise awareness of fuel poverty and home energy efficiency. A total of 27 events/presentations/training sessions were delivered in 2012/13 alone. These events include the use of a mobile energy advice unit which the Sustainability Team use to tour the district and hold awareness face-to-face events in at busy locations such as markets, shopping centres and libraries. These locations were selected for their heavy 'footfall', therefore maximising the opportunity to meet the public. To compliment these events, a range of promotions including radio interviews, press articles and mail drops have also been used to raise awareness. High quality energy advice information is essential and bespoke leaflets on energy grants and schemes have been produced. This literature has been distributed to public buildings, libraries and various community outlets, as well as being made available in electronic format on WMDC's internet site.

 Whilst figures for the uptake of the Renewable Heating Premium Payment (RHPP) are not available at individual local authority level, Wakefield has supported the uptake of RHPP vouchers by its residents through its awareness raising activity. The Yorkshire and Humber Region has taken 219 RHPP vouchers as follows:  Air source heat pump- 81  Biomass boiler - 28  Ground or water source heat pump - 45  Solar thermal - 106

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13. HECA planned activity for the Wakefield district 2013 -2014

WMDC has a portfolio of planned projects for the coming year, which includes the following activities and which would significantly improve the energy efficiency of residential accommodation in the Wakefield district. It may not be possible for the WMDC to deliver all of its aspirations; however the list below indicates the breadth of those aspirations:

ACTION TIMING

i) LOCAL ENERGY EFFICIENCY AMBITIONS AND PRIORITIES

WMDC is committed to improving energy efficiency in housing stock and improving living conditions across the district. This is demonstrated through the wealth of schemes and initiatives that WMDC has delivered in recent years and has plans to do so going forward.

Wakefield district’s current performance on CO2 emissions and fuel poverty is 6.8 tonnes CO2 per capita and 18.5% fuel poor households [DECC Fuel Poverty Statistics 2010 http://www.decc.gov.uk/en/content/cms/statistics/fuelpov_stats/regional/reg ional.aspx]

Recognising the need to have a comprehensive and coordinated approach to reducing domestic carbon emissions and tackling fuel poverty, WMDC Wakefield Affordable Warmth has led and coordinated the Wakefield Affordable Warmth Partnership for Partnership is on-going over 13 years. This is a multi-agency group meets every two months and oversees the delivery of the ‘Greener Homes, Healthier Homes: An Action Affordable Warmth Action Plan Plan for Affordable Warmth 2011/2016’, which the Wakefield district’s will run until 2016 affordable warmth strategy.

Further information and supporting documentation can be found at the following web sites:

Climate Change in Wakefield – 2008

Greener Homes, Healthier Homes: An Action Plan for Affordable Warmth: 2011 – 2016

Our Wakefield – State of the District Report - April 2012

Fuel Poverty in Wakefield - 2007

Wakefield Joint Strategic Needs Assessment: Fuel Poverty 2008 Baseline

Greenhouse Gas Reporting - Wakefield Council

Spatial Policy - This includes the Council's Unitary Development Plan, Local Development Framework, Supplementary Planning Guidance and monitoring information.

Climate Change: Wakefield Initiatives – a presentation to the Town Country Planning Association December 2012

Climate Change Report: Liveability Overview and Scrutiny Committee’s

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Climate Change Task Group 2010

Climate Change in Wakefield (WDH) Wakefield Council pledges to tackle carbon emissions 2013 – 2016 ii) MEASURES WE ARE TAKING TO RESULT IN SIGNIFICANT ENERGY EFFICIENCY IMPROVEMENTS OF OUR RESIDENTIAL ACCOMMODATION

Green Deal and Green Deal the Energy WMDC are committed to developing a trusted Green Company Deal option for its resident. WMDC is working with Obligation local authority partners in the Leeds City Region to Continued development in 2013 (ECO) develop a Green Deal Scheme, which will enable local householders to take full advantage and install Launch in 2014 energy efficiency and microgeneration measures. This sub-regional Green Deal scheme is about to start procurement with an anticipated start date of April 2014. WMDC have set a target of 1250 properties to assist through Green Deal in the first 3 years.

ECO

WMDC are currently liaising with a range of ECO providers in order to develop initial proposals for a ‘whole house’ ECO scheme. This scheme will provide insulation and heating measures to households free of charge, targeted using an ‘area based approach’. It is proposed that this scheme forms the basis for the re-tender of WMDC’s Low Carbon Communities Scheme.

This ECO scheme is being developed at present with the aim of procuring a provider in spring 2013, Launch in summer 2013 allowing for a summer 2013 launch.

WMDC are also currently working with ECO providers to develop a branded awareness campaign. WMDC aims to produce an impartial guidance leaflet for its residents so that they can Guidance produced and make informed choices when considering ECO distributed May/June 2013 offers made by providers. This guidance document will be available and distributed May/June 2013.

WMDC are working with Wakefield and District

Housing to develop a ‘hard-to-treat’ external wall insulation scheme that will utilise ECO funding. This

scheme will target whole housing estates providing cross-tenure external wall insulation and other Launch summer 2013 energy efficiency measures. The aim is that this will also provide a competitive and attractive external wall insulation package for other private households not on the target estate. This scheme is currently in development and it is anticipated will be ready to launch in summer 2013.

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Continued home Already outlined above in ‘Achievements to Date’, energy WMDC will continue to deliver the following home energy efficiency schemes: efficiency schemes Wakefield Energy Savers Scheme On-going until 2015 This will continue to provide free/discounted insulation and heating measures in private households.

DECC Fuel Poverty Fund This scheme in partnership with Wakefield and On-going until June 2013 District Housing will aim to install external wall insulation to around 180 properties.

Energy Awareness Campaign On-going WMDC will continue to deliver its on-going promotions, education and training work that targeted householders, community groups and schools.

Energysmart Club Collective switching completed WMDC will continue to operate the collective fuel by July 2013 switching initiative in Wakefield. Follow-on work with participants will be explored to determine if additional energy efficiency help can be provided. Research complete July 2013 Wakefield Fuel Poverty Study This piece of research will be completed July 2013. Action plan complete autumn WMDC will then work with Wakefield and District Housing to develop a long-term energy efficiency 2013 action plan.

Feed in Tariffs WMDC are keen to explore the development of a (FIT) scheme / feed-in tariff scheme to assist private households to

Renewable Heat install renewable energy technology. This will be an ‘affinity’ promotional partnership with a renewable Incentive (RHI) energy installer where jointly branded promotional activity is delivered to enable private households to Develop proposals in 2013 access a trusted, high quality installation service resulting. Setup in 2014

There is scope for this scheme to also include renewable heat technologies ready for when the RHI goes live in 2014.

Renewable Heat WMDC will continue to support the uptake of RHPP Premium by Wakefield district residents through its on-going awareness raising activity. This activity will also On-going Payment (RHPP) include the promoting the RHI when it is launched in 2014.

Zero Carbon Planning Policy Homes WMDC through its planning policy and procedure is proactively encouraging developers to build low/zero carbon homes. WMDC specifies that housing developments on its Developer Framework land 20

must be to Code for Sustainable Homes level 4. This work will continue and be enhanced with a pilot of C-Plan software system, which will enable WMDC C-Plan pilot running throughout to scrutinize more thoroughly the carbon emission 2013/14 credentials of new housing developments in the Wakefield district.

Park Dale

The Park Dale project, near Castleford delivered in by Wakefield and District Housing created the largest zero carbon social housing development in the UK. It was also the country's largest Code for Sustainable Homes level 6 developments. The £12 million pound scheme was supported by £5.77 investment from the Homes and Communities Agency and delivered deliver 91 family homes. This means that the homes will produce no net carbon emissions during their life and the tenants will enjoy significant savings on their energy bills.

This development will promote zero carbon homes and provide a practical case study for any On-going development of future zero carbon homes in the Wakefield district. Energy UNO Performance WMDC have purchased the complete EPC Certificates enhanced data from Landmark and will be using this (EPCs) in its UNO housing stock energy efficiency database to inform future energy efficiency strategy. On-going EPC Service

WMDC aim to develop a discounted EPC service

available to private householders and private landlords. The aim is that this will be launched in autumn 2013. autumn 2013 iii) MEASURES WE PROPOSE TO COST EFFECTIVELY DELIVER ENERGY EFFICIENCY IMPROVEMENTS IN RESIDENTIAL ACCOMMODATION BY USING AREA BASED/STREET BY STREET ROLL OUT.

Wakefield Low Carbon Communities

As outlined above in section ii, WMDC intends to re-tender its Low Carbon Communities Scheme, which will be a promoted via an ‘area base approach’. This Scheme will be designed in such a way to maximise available ECO funding in order to provide a ‘whole house’ package of energy efficiency measures.

The Low Carbon Communities Scheme can effectively e targeted on an’ area based approach’ by using the soon to be complete Wakefield Fuel Poverty Study information, as well as the WMDC UNO stock energy 21

efficiency database information.

This scheme will be retendered ready for launch summer 2013. Launch summer 2013

Joint-Wakefield and District Housing External Wall Insulation Scheme

As outlined in section ii, WMDC are working with Wakefield and District Housing to develop a ‘hard-to-treat’ external wall insulation scheme that will utilise ECO funding. This scheme will be deliver improvements via an ‘area based approach’ as it will target whole housing estates providing cross-tenure external wall insulation and other energy efficiency measures. This scheme is currently in development and it is anticipated will be ready to launch in summer 2013. Launch summer 2013

Energysmart Club

As outlined in section ii, WMDC are delivering the Energysmart Club collective fuel switching initiative in Wakefield. As part of this scheme is the setting-up of local Energysmart Clubs and the recruitment of Champions, which is promotion via a local ‘area based approach’. WMDC will investigate follow-on work with these Clubs and Champions to explore the potential to deliver additional energy efficiency help to local communities. Explore summer/autumn 2013

iv) TIME FRAME FOR DELIVERY AND NATIONAL AND LOCAL PARTNERS

Timeframes

Timeframes for delivery are outlined with each of the schemes/initiatives outlined in sections ii and iii above.

Partners

WMDC has a long history of working closely and effectively with a range of local partners to deliver effective home energy efficiency and fuel poverty schemes.

a) Local Partners

 Wakefield Together Partnership - the Local Strategic Partnership of key organisations who deliver key local services13 and deliver against five pledges:

1. Create job opportunities, raise skill levels and help local people into employment 2. Meet the housing needs of the district 3. Reduce health inequalities between different parts of the District 4. Continue to make the District safer by reducing the level of crime and anti-social behaviour in the District 5. Create a better quality environment

13 http://www.wakefieldtogether.org.uk/WakefieldTogetherPledges/default.htm 22

 Local Services Board – local partnership of key service providers  Wakefield Affordable Warmth Partnership – outlined in section ii  Other Council departments and services – including Public Health, Family Services, Healthy Transport, Street Scene and Communications  Wakefield and District Housing – largest social housing landlord in the Wakefield district with c31,000 properties  Other Registered Social Landlords (RSLs) – these include Together Housing Group, Yorkshire Housing Association and Accent Housing Group  Health related partners – includes National Health Service, Clinical Commissioning Group, South and West Yorkshire Foundation Health Trust  West Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Service  Wakefield Wellbeing Consortium – a forum for over 50 local voluntary and community sector organisations  Groundwork Wakefield  White Rose Credit Union  Department of Work and Pensions  Local Members – including the Member with Responsibility for Climate Change  Leeds City Region – includes 11 neighbouring local authorities  Local Government Office, Yorkshire and the Humber  Local energy efficiency installers  Carbon Action Network

b) National Partners

 DECC  National Energy Action  Utility Companies / ECO providers  Research providers and consultants

Senior Officer Sign-off I confirm that I have seen and agreed this report of the progress made by this authority to implement its energy efficiency report as required under the Home Energy Conservation Act 1995.

Signature

Name SARAH PEARSON Authority City of Wakefield MDC Date 17 April 2013

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