Examination of Witnesses (Questions 55-59)
COUNCILLOR IAN
MEARNS, DR
PHILIP WEBBER
AND MR
OLIVER MYERS
12 NOVEMBER 2007
Q55 Chair: Can we ask you just to say
who each of you is and what you do within the LGA?
Dr Webber: Philip Webber, Head
of the Environment Unit, Kirklees Council.
Councillor Mearns: Ian Mearns,
and I am Vice-Chair of the LGA's environment board and Deputy
Leader of Gateshead Council.
Mr Myers: Oliver Myers. I am Interim
Head of Sustainability at the London Borough of Camden. I also
chair a national network of energy officers called UK HECA.
Q56 Chair: We do not want all of
you to answer every question, and I will leave it to you to decide
who answers what. That seems most appropriate. Can I start off,
and obviously we are going to focus in this bit of the session
on local authorities and their particular role. What would you
say are the major policy tools available to local authorities
to encourage more energy-efficient housing within their area and
what more you think government should be doing to support you?
Councillor Mearns: Good evening
and thank you very much for the invitation to come along. We had
an environment board meeting just last Thursday when we outlined
priorities for our work for the year as an environment board.
We have obviously highlighted three areas, which are our main
work programme, though I think all of them involve the agenda
this evening. First and foremost, it is tackling climate change
as an entity, the second one is housing and the third one is waste
management, and they all have an impact on the climate change
agenda. I understood that this evening's inquiry session was going
to be focusing on the present housing stock.
Q57 Chair: Exactly. We are talking
about the existing housing stock and its relationship to climate
change, not the other topics that you mentioned. It is really
in that specific area: what mechanisms local authorities have
to influence that in their areas.
Councillor Mearns: I think local
authorities have started to talk about climate change in a very
serious way, and it is one thing talking about it and another
thing doing something tangible about it. As you are probably aware,
something like 280 authorities have now signed up to the Nottingham
Declaration on Climate Change but it is a big thing, changing
that signature of a declaration into actual action on the ground.
Having said that, I talk from my own local authority perspective,
and I would think ne'er a week goes by without our own Cabinet
discussing climate change, carbon emissions, what we are doing
as a local authority. Every week we are discussing issues with
of that kind. For instance, a Warm Zone within our borough which
has a budget of about £22 million funded by energy generation
companies and which is putting cavity wall insulation and loft
insulation into about 70% of the properties in the whole of the
borough. That is vitally important from our perspective as a local
authority in as much as it is providing a great service to local
people, tackling fuel poverty, but also making sure that there
is a fantastic reduction in the energy consumption of the properties
in our area. That is an example.
Q58 Chair: Is that your Decent Homes
programme?
Councillor Mearns: No, it is separate
to the Decent Homes work.
Q59 Chair: So it is owner-occupiers?
Councillor Mearns: As well, yes,
and private rented and the social landlord sector as well. That
is a "for instance" but, as a local authority as well,
we do need to look at a whole range of issues: what are we doing
ourselves in terms of energy procurement for the buildings that
we own and run services from: schools, social services establishments,
housing departments, et cetera.
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