Calls for council to ‘de-carbonise’ social housing

Calls have been made for Shropshire Council to set out plans to make all social housing in the county carbon neutral.

A motion asking the authority to draw up an ambitious retrofitting strategy will be tabled at a meeting of the full council this week by Green group leader Julian Dean.

If it wins support, the motion would commit the council to addressing the “urgent need to de-carbonise heating and power in homes” by carrying out the necessary work to its own properties and working with other social housing providers to help them do the same.

Shropshire has 19,000 social housing homes, of which 4,100 are owned by the council.

Councillor Dean said the scheme would help the council towards its goal of net zero carbon emissions by 2030, and boost green job growth in the area.

He said: “The UK has no hope of getting to net zero by 2050 unless we find a way to eliminate dependence on fossil fuels in our homes.

“That means stopping the use of gas and reducing the use of electricity which will be under huge demand as we electrify everything else – like cars.

“In turn this means a huge insulation programme and switching heating systems from gas to electrically powered heat pumps or heat networks.”

Shropshire Climate Action Partnership estimates 20,000 homes per year need to be made zero carbon ready, whilst Friends of the Earth suggest 9,000 homes need insulation upgrades and 5,500 need fossil-fuel free heating systems annually.

Councillor Dean said there was “general agreement” that councils should set the ball rolling with social housing – to help grow a local workforce with the necessary skills to allow the private sector to follow.

The Local Government Association estimates there could be 1,700 jobs in Shropshire by 2030 in low carbon heating and energy efficiency work.

Councillor Dean said: “The industry to do this doesn’t yet exist.

“Government should be planning for this, but meanwhile councils can get things going with a plan for social housing.

“This is a challenge, but the benefit is that it will both leave us with better quality homes, and will produce meaningful local jobs.”

The motion acknowledges work the council has already done to improve the energy efficiency of its housing stock as a “credible achievement”, but says “more remains to be done”.

It asks the authority’s cabinet to publish a retrofit strategy for the county by early 2022, and design and cost a programme of work to de-carbonise the council’s own housing stock by 2030.

The motion says: “We recommend that all options be considered in the implementation of this programme including partnerships with neighbouring authorities, social housing providers and innovative social and private sector enterprises.”

It also calls on the Government to provide funding to implement the scheme.

The motion will be debated by councillors at a meeting on Thursday, at Theatre Severn.