Decision details

Consideration was given to a report of the Deputy Chief Executive, People and Place which sought approval from the Cabinet to accept Grant Funding Agreements with the Greater Manchester Combined Authority and appoint contractors to deliver the Greater Manchester Green Homes Grant Local Authority Delivery Scheme.

The Greater Manchester Combined Authority approached Oldham Council to develop a Greater Manchester (GM) Green Homes Grant Local Authority Delivery Scheme bid, as Oldham was the only Council within GM that had an OJEU procured Framework Agreement for energy efficiency measures (through its Warm Homes Oldham scheme).

On 28 August 2020, the GMCA submitted a bid for £4.7m to mainly retrofit External Wall Insulation and Air Source Heat Pumps in homes of all tenures occupied by residents with a gross annual household income of less than £30,000 using local Trustmark registered contractors.
Full details of the bid were reported to the GMCA meeting held on 25 September 2020.
On 1st October 2020, Department of Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) confirmed that the GMCA’s application was successful and awarded the bid amount in full.
On 15th October 2020, the GMCA submitted a completed Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to BEIS, which agreed the terms and conditions of the funding and on 29th October 2020, the GMCA received the first instalment of the funding from BEIS.

Option/alternatives considered

Option 1

·         To accept the Grant Funding Agreements issued by the GMCA detailed in the report

·         To issue a Call-off Order for an amount to be disclosed in the commercially sensitive report to E.ON Energy Solutions Ltd under the Warm Homes Oldham Framework Agreement to deliver energy efficiency measures to private sector homes across Greater Manchester, as detailed in the GM GHG LAD Scheme bid.

·         To issue an Authority Notice of Change to Inspiral Oldham Ltd under the Housing PFI Project Agreement for an amount to be disclosed in the commercially sensitive report to install External Wall Insulation to Wimpey No Fines Council homes on the Crossley Estate.

·         To approve the use of an amount to be disclosed in the commercially sensitive report  from the Housing Revenue Account Capital Programme to meet the shortfall in grant funding as detailed within the report.

Option 2 - To reject the Grant Funding Agreements issued by the GMCA detailed in the report. The energy efficiency measures would not be delivered to private sector homes across Greater Manchester and the External Wall Insulation would not be installed to Wimpey No Fines Council homes on the Crossley Estate for an amount to be disclosed in the commercially sensitive report of grant funding would have to be returned to BEIS with the consequential reputational damage that this would cause to Oldham Council and the GMCA.

RESOLVED – That the Cabinet would consider the commercially sensitive information contained at Item 11 before making a decision.