Siân Gwenllian MS, Cabinet Minister for Local Government, Housing and Planning
In our First 100 Days Plan, I committed to review the existing Warm Homes Programme, and work to introduce changes so that we can go further and faster on improving home energy efficiency – raising living standards, tackling fuel poverty, and reducing carbon emissions for more households, more quickly.
I set to work immediately, rapidly reviewing the existing delivery schemes in the context of wider policy, including UK Government initiatives and responsibilities. Today, I published a report on the review, and I can now set out my immediate response to its findings.
I am using existing budget within my portfolio to inject a further £17 million of funding into housing retrofit schemes.
£5 million is allocated to the Nest scheme, taking the total funding for the demand-led scheme to £37 million this financial year. The scheme has been proven to deliver quality installations and outstanding benefits to households and is a lifeline for many low-income households living in cold, damp homes.
An additional £8 million to the Optimised Retrofit Programme brings its total budget to £106.75 million this financial year, to continue the momentum to improve our social housing stock. This is the last year of the Optimised Retrofit Programme, and insights from it will inform our future policy and interventions.
I am keen to try new delivery models and approaches – testing, learning, building on successes and being willing to fail to do better in the future. I am pleased to make a further £4 million available to fund alternative and novel delivery models, working with innovative local partners across Wales. Details of these schemes will be set out in due course.
These pilots will complement Tai Clyd Caerdydd, a pilot area-based project in the Splott, Adamsdown and Fairwater areas of the city. The previous government committed £3 million to the project, which we are delivering in partnership with Cardiff Council. It will explore the value of taking a neighbourhood level approach to cross-tenure retrofit – supporting communities to act together. Today, I can confirm the project will open for applications in September, when eligible residents will be contacted with further details.
The report also pointed out some additional work required over the coming months, to inform the next emissions reduction plan. This will start immediately by reviewing the evidence on cost-effectiveness, including where we should target Welsh Government funding and wider policies to deliver the biggest impact. We will also look for opportunities to maximise the benefit to Wales of UK Government funding streams.
This morning, I visited a family in a social home in Ammanford. Their lives have been improved dramatically by the upgrades to their home, with reduced bills and an improved living environment. I want more people to feel like them. I want cold, damp, unhealthy homes to be a thing of the past. It is what drives me to do this job every day, and it starts with these investments.