GGF Welcomes £12m Green Deal Boost
2nd October 2012

Seven cities across England will receive a share of £12m today to help them kick-start the Green Deal in their regions.
The cities – Birmingham, Bristol, Leeds, Manchester, Newcastle, Nottingham and Sheffield – have put forward ambitious proposals to lower their carbon emissions and this new funding will support their plans to test key elements of the Green Deal.

Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) Secretary Edward Davey MP said:
“These cities have really ambitious plans to lower their emissions, reduce energy use and help people save money on their bills. I’ve been really impressed by their plans to start testing the Green Deal and transforming our homes and buildings.

“This funding will help them get up and running, and I look forward to seeing a number of properties across whole communities get the energy efficient improvements they need.”
Earlier in the year, the Government announced that cities would be given greater freedoms, powers and tools to help them go for growth.

This new funding was welcomed by the GGF but the Federation would like to see more funding injected to ensure Green Deal will work for businesses of all sizes.

The funding will allow local authorities to test elements of the Green Deal framework like assessment and installation, and provide early feedback. The proposals received include retrofitting properties across whole communities and initial indications suggest that the cities expect to deliver to around 2,500 retrofits to households and non-domestic properties.

Nigel Rees, GGF Group Chief Executive commented, “It is good to see the Government release some of the £200m it promised to earlier in the year to promote the uptake of Green Deal. We still remain cautious over the implementation process but encourage Members in these cities and UK wide, to become Green Deal Certified via FENSA and at least be ready to undertake Green Deal work.”

All of the cities are also proposing to generate match funding and/or provide direct support themselves.
This funding will support future Green Deal activity in these cities, raise awareness of the Green Deal through community engagement and show homes, and provide support to local supply chains including trained Green Deal advisors and registered installers through Green Deal Certified Bodies such as FENSA – one of the GGF’s subsidiary companies.

To find out more on the GGF’s position and concerns on Green deal and ECO please visit the GGF website www.ggf.org.uk/green-deal-faqs