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 1 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 2 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.