UKGBC responds to reports regarding the future of the Green Homes Grant programme
The UK Green Building Council (UKGBC) has today responded to reports regarding the funding arrangement for the Green Homes Grant.
John Alker, Director of Policy and Places at UKGBC said:
“We are extremely disappointed to read reports today that any unspent funding of the first tranche of the Green Homes Grant programme will not be rolled over to the extended scheme in 2021-22.
“The Government were very clear that the £320m announced in last November’s Spending Review was additional to the originally allocated £2bn. The problems with the scheme have not been about consumer appetite, but with the scheme’s administration, with householders having to wait months in some cases and installers having to wait similar amounts of time to get paid for works done. Stop-start policy of this kind is extremely counter-productive for businesses looking to invest in delivering a green recovery, and it is disappointing to see that lessons that should have been learned from the fate of previous schemes appear to have been missed.
“Tackling the retrofit challenge will be essential if we are to meet our zero carbon targets, and central government policy in this area has been long overdue. If the government is to get progress in this area back on track, then it must look to adopt a national retrofit strategy and overhaul the Green Homes Grant so that it can ensure a long-term future for the retrofit industry and deliver for consumers.”
The arrangements for unspent funds under the Green Homes Grants scheme have been reported in the Guardian here.
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