E3G, an independent climate change think tank, published a report on 11 July 2023 setting out near-term steps it says the government could take to improve local retrofit delivery in England. The report, "Enabling locally led retrofit", was written by James Dyson and covers central government grant disbursement, planning law and local energy planning1.
The recommendations fall into three areas. On funding and project design, E3G says the government should consolidate the various English local retrofit schemes, allocate funding on a three-year basis through "challenge funds" rather than competitive allocation, and increase local autonomy over household and area eligibility1. On planning, it calls for the National Planning Policy Framework to be aligned with net zero and for additional resource to speed up the planning system1. On energy planning, it recommends appointing a central body to help local authorities produce local area energy plans, and giving the Future System Operator regional system planning responsibilities, starting in areas with significant local grid congestion1.
"The government could take a series of near-term steps to improve local retrofit delivery immediately, while smoothing the transition to more comprehensive devolution."
E3G argues that local government is central to delivery because many local functions sit with councils and the scope of retrofit projects depends on local factors. It notes that recent government grants for authority-led retrofit mean many authorities have already run retrofit projects, and that both major political parties have committed to further devolution, particularly in England, in the coming years1. It also states that the current system has created significant inequality between authorities' capacity to undertake home retrofit programmes, and warns that asking too much of local government too quickly, without attention to co-ordination, procurement and project management capacity, could create delivery risks1. The report says locally led retrofit should be supported alongside the Energy Company Obligation on suppliers and national subsidy schemes such as the Boiler Upgrade Scheme1.
Why it matters for households
The report concerns how money for home energy improvements reaches households and who decides which homes qualify. Under the arrangements E3G describes, eligibility and area targeting would sit more with councils than with central government, and funding would be set over three years rather than awarded through repeated competitions1. For a household, that affects how schemes are advertised locally, how long they run and whether a property in a given street or postcode is included. The planning recommendations touch on the consent process for measures such as external wall insulation and heat pumps, which can require permission depending on the property. The energy planning recommendations concern grid capacity, which can determine how quickly a home can be connected to low carbon heating or generation. E3G frames the changes as a way to address differences in council capacity, which it says vary significantly between authorities1.
What happens next
The report sets out recommendations rather than commitments, and no government response or timetable is given in the document. E3G describes the proposals as immediate changes that align with deeper long-term reforms, and points to devolution commitments from both major parties as context, without dating them1.
Sources1 cited
- Enabling locally led retrofit - E3G, e3g.org