Responding to new London Development Agency proposals to offer free
energy saving measures to every London home, Darren Johnson said he was
pleased that his consistent questioning and raising of the issue has
paid off. The announcement follows a major investigation by the London
Assembly’s Environment Committee, chaired by Darren Johnson,
which flagged up the success of a free insulation scheme in
Huddersfield which is already delivering lower bills, reduced CO2
emissions and new jobs.
The new London scheme represents a major u-turn by the LDA who were
previously planning to abandon home insulation work altogether. The
scheme will offer:
* "Ten easy measures" free to all London
households (3m total). These measures include: hot water tank
insulation, draught proofing, radiator panels, low energy lightbulbs,
standby switches etc. The anticipated take up is 1.3m homes and this
should generate CO2 savings of 1.4m tonnes per annum.
* Installation of more major measures in 800,000 homes (including
loft and cavity wall insulation, heating controls upgrade etc) yielding
a further 720,000 tonnes of CO2 per annum. It is unclear at this stage
whether this will also be free. The average cash saving to householders
taking part in the scheme is estimated at £230 per annum.
* The scheme will be delivered via a street by street, door knocking approach as in Huddersfield.
* Initial analysis and comparison with schemes outside London
suggests that 2,200 additional jobs will be created as a result of the
scheme and a major training programme is likely to be needed to ensure
the availability of skilled labour from year 1.
Darren Johnson said:
"Ever since the home energy saving scheme introduced by Ken
Livingstone was set for cancellation by the new administration, I have
been pushing Mayor Boris Johnson to turn his vague promises to help
Londoners insulate their homes into a comprehensive and substantial
programme. The new LDA proposals do just that."
"I am pleased that my proposal for a free London-wide scheme to
cut fuel bills and save energy has been taken up. It is disappointing
that progress was so delayed by wranglings between the LDA and the
Mayor over who will pay. However, we now have the foundations of an
excellent scheme and I will be pushing to ensure that both cavity wall
insulation and loft insulation are also offered free of charge in order
to maximise the benefits."