Decision details

North West Leicestershire District Council has been awarded £763,500 by the Midlands Energy Hub to take part in the Sustainable Warmth Competition and install energy efficiency measures to low income households in our District. This project supports our objective to tackle fuel poverty, including the health impacts associated with cold housing and rising poverty levels in response to the cost of living crisis, as well as our carbon reduction ambitions.

The Leicestershire Authorities are proposing a county-wide partnership to deliver Sustainable Warmth across Leicestershire. Leicestershire County Council will create a Public Health hosted “Leicestershire delivery team” which uses experience of previous Green Homes Grant Local Authority Delivery and Warm Homes Fund project delivery and builds upon the existing county-wide Public Health Partnership.

North West Leicestershire District Council supports the Leicestershire partnership and will continue to fully engage in the project, including:
- officer time funded by the grant to feed in our local priorities and support the Leicestershire delivery team as required, and
- entering a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the Partnership lead and district partners which agrees how the grant will be spent and governed.

NWLDC has notified the Midlands Energy Hub that we intend to transfer our Sustainable Warmth allocation to the partnership. In this way, we will not return the Sustainable Warmth Award Letter to the Midlands Energy Hub and ask that our allocation is included in the Award Letter to be issued to the partnership lead (Leicestershire County Council).

To enable the North West Leicestershire District to benefit from the government funding allocated, via the Midland Energy Hub bid, under the Sustainable Warmth Funding (also referred to as LAD3/HUG) via a partnership arrangement with other Leicester District Councils and lead by Leicestershire County Council.

Consideration was given to whether NWLDC should accept the funding allocation and manage the project directly but without a private housing team and the associated resource this was considered not a viable option.

There was discussion at officer level with the districts and county to consider the options available and a paper and a short list of options was made to the Chief Executives (see above).