MEDIA RELEASE
Issued by:
Councillor Gill Gardiner, Cabinet Member for Environment
Date of Issue: March 2nd 2010
Contact numbers:
07983 624610
Lib Dem office: 0151 691 8544

LIBERAL DEMOCRATS: FREE INSULATION FOR ALL

Last night (1st March), Wirral Council passed its Annual Budget which included key energy saving and environmental measures brought forward by the Liberal Democrats. One of these measures is the provision of free loft and cavity wall insulation to every household across the borough .

Speaking to introduce one of the country's first local authority carbon budgets, Liberal Democrat Cabinet Member for the Environment, Cllr Gill Gardiner, presented the carbon budget to Council and said,

“Building on the success of the Warmer Wirral Initiative to provide free cavity wall and loft insulation in our more deprived communities, we are extending this scheme to every private household across the borough, as well as providing free advice and signposting to other carbon reduction schemes as part of the door to door promotion.

“This scheme will contribute substantially to lifting households out of fuel poverty, creating warmer, healthier homes and reducing the boroughs carbon emissions, as well as providing employment opportunities and apprenticeships.”

From the moment insulation is installed, an average home could save each year:
· £265 on energy bills (1,410Kg of carbon dioxide) if they have the full insulation package
· £115 (610Kg of CO₂) with cavity wall insulation
· £150 (800Kg of CO₂) with full loft insulation
· £45 (230Kg of CO₂) by topping up existing loft insulation to recommended levels.
Cllr Gardiner continued, “Money spent on the insulation scheme is money that will be paid back into the pockets of Wirral residents through reduced energy bills as well as improved health and housing standards.

“We're also helping community groups to reduce their energy bills by providing grants to help them to access energy saving measures for their buildings”.

Full text of Councillor Gill Gardiner's speech follows:
CARBON BUDGET
Thank you Mr Mayor, I am absolutely delighted to have the opportunity to recommend this first carbon budget to the Council. This is a first not only for Wirral, or Merseyside but a first for the whole of the North West. But I certainly don't want to take personal credit for this; the idea came from Simon Holbrook.

The Council has made good progress over the past three years to significantly reduce its carbon footprint and improve its energy efficiency. As part of the CRed commitment we have now set ourselves the ambitious target of 60% reduction in carbon emissions by 2025 as well as a commitment to work with residents, communities, public and private sectors to help them achieve their own reductions.

Through setting a carbon budget for each council department to reduce carbon emissions year on year, we are demonstrating our commitment to reaching this target.

Local authorities have a clear financial incentive to reduce carbon emissions. From 1 April, the Government is introducing a national Carbon Reduction Commitment trading scheme for Councils. We will have to purchase allowances for our energy-related emissions, and will be reimbursed according to how much our emissions have been reduced.

Mr Mayor, we need to stay ahead of the game. There is no doubt in my mind that carbon budgeting will greatly assist us in doing just that and help us to save money not just by reducing our energy bills but also through the Carbon trading scheme.

We also need to ensure that we do all that we can to help our residents and communities to achieve their own reductions.

That is why I am particularly pleased to see in this budget tonight measures to help residents and community groups as well as the Council.

A few months ago I attended a LGA climate change seminar where Lib Dem members of Kirklees Council were describing how Kirklees had introduced free insulation for all their residents. The message was very clear, that the money is out there and available from energy companies; we would be missing a big opportunity for Wirral if we didn't take advantage of this now.

Mr Mayor I'm very grateful to Council Officers for working up this proposal for me, and delighted that cabinet colleagues have supported it in our budget proposal.

The scheme builds on the success of the Warmer Wirral Initiative to provide free cavity wall and loft insulation in our more deprived communities and extends it to every private household across the borough, also providing free advice on other energy saving schemes as part of the door to door promotion.

This scheme will contribute substantially to lifting households out of fuel poverty, creating warmer, healthier homes and reducing the boroughs carbon emissions, as well as providing employment opportunities and apprenticeships.

By taking advantage of the free insulation programme, an average home could save up to £265 on energy bills if they have the full insulation package, or £45 each year by just topping up their loft insulation to recommended levels. Money spent on the insulation scheme is money that will be paid back into the pockets of Wirral residents through reduced energy bills as well as improved health and housing standards.

We're also helping community groups to reduce their energy bills by providing grants to enable them to access energy efficiency technologies for their buildings.

Finally, to help the Council to continue to reduce its own carbon emissions and to support the carbon budget, it was important that money should be made available for further energy efficiency schemes in the Council's own buildings. For a one off outlay of £188,000 these measures will yield an annual saving of £130,000 as well as contributing to the further reduction of the Council's carbon footprint.

Mr Mayor, my group do not pay lip service to climate change and carbon reduction; this carbon budget is not tokenism, like David Cameron's husky photos; indeed it is interesting to note despite David Cameron's previous claim that he has ‘sought to push the environment up to the top of the political agenda', climate change and the environment is not featured on their recently published list of '10 reasons to vote Conservative' - or not as the case may be!

Of course, there are some who remain unconvinced by the climate change argument and I note that reducing Britain's carbon footprint was at the bottom of Tory PPCs' recently published priorities.

But surely even they should be persuaded by the obvious economic argument for carbon budgeting and the clear financial savings to be made through the procurement of low carbon contracts, goods and services.

Mr Mayor, with our environmental budget proposals we have shown that we do mean business and that we do expect Council Departments to deliver year on year. Even if not a priority for the Conservatives, we will seek to ensure that it remains a top priority for this Council.