News

November 2011:  A previous entry noted the announcement by DECC that the Climate Change Committee (CCC) were to help provide DECC with guidance on how local authorities could curb greenhouse gas emissions. No key information has been published as yet by the CCC on the study, however, what follows below is some background correspondence between DECC and the CCC on the basis of the study:
– Letter from Minister for Energy Greg Barker to Lord Adair Turner, Chairman of the CCC (13 June 2011) which states that DECC are “thinking of is benchmark advice on the scale of ambition that LAs may set themselves, possible approaches to deliver that ambition and how this would contribute to national carbon budgets.”
– CCC responded (24 June) saying that they “agree [d] that there is a potentially important role for LAs, particularly as regards energy efficiency improvement in buildings and promotion of sustainable transport, and also as regards renewable electricity and heat generation.”
– DECC Ministerial response (21 July)
– Following a meeting in mid – September CCC came back to DECC (28 September) setting out the four elements of the study and requested support from DECC and the LGA
– A Final letter from Greg Barker back to CCC (25 October) which amends the elements proposed by CCC stating that DECC are looking for “consideration of the local factors and circumstances that local authorities might wish to take into account when deciding on the approaches to adopt”. DECC further state that they need the work to be completed by the end of April 2012 “to ensure it can be fed into the permissive guidance for local authorites that CLG (the Department for Communities) is producing.” The guidance referred to is in relation to the revised Home and Energy Conservation Act (HECA) – originally to be repealed in the Energy Act 2011, until a volte face from Government.