Council defends insulation pledge

A recent Edinburgh council meeting acknowledged the benefit of free home insulation and has agreed to push the motion forward by requesting a feasibility report.

The motion was proposed by Green councillor for Leith Walk, Maggie Chapman, after she was approached by Edinburgh University Student Association (EUSA) president Adam Ramsay. Ramsay had initially intended to propose that every student house should be insulated for free but it was decided that a more ambitious Edinburgh wide insulation project would be more expedient.

He said at the time: "I realised I wasn't going to persuade the council to just insulate student flats, so I decided to push for the lot. According to the energy saving trust, this exciting idea will save students an average of £200 per flat per year. It will also help us stay warm, and cut carbon emissions."

Speaking this week he said: “The Government has a number of initiatives to fund insulation – including a requirement that energy companies invest a certain proportion in energy saving measures.

“At the moment, these pots of money all sit in separate pots corresponding to different companies and different initiatives, and each one is wrapped in its own different kind of red tape. This causes particular problems for students who rent flats, as landlords who don't pay bills are even less likely to navigate this complex system.

“In Kirklees, the council collected all the money in one pot, and proactively went down each street, insulating every house that wanted it. By having one central co-ordinating point, and just doing every house, admin costs were saved, so more houses could be insulated. They are now looking into doing the same in Edinburgh.”

Kirklees Council, in the Yorkshire Pennines, has provided the template to which the Edinburgh proposals can adhere. The measures taken there have yielded positive results: the authority has provided free cavity wall insulation to over 11,000 homes in the last two years, resulting in the reduction of heating costs for the residents of these homes and a consequent reduction in climate change emissions.

This in turn has meant the creation of jobs in the insulation industry. The minutes of the council meeting also note that the Kirklees scheme was funded by both energy companies and the council. It was seen as a good way for energy companies to meet their obligations under the Carbon Emissions Reduction Target (CERT) scheme.

Further to this, the council purports that those struggling with fuel costs could be helped and that the report should include a range of financial considerations to go to the next meetings of the Finance and Resource Committee and the Health, Social Care and Housing Committee.

Due completion of Edinburgh's report would make it eligible for consideration at the budget meeting of February 2009. However, according to Conservative councillor for Southside and Newington, Cameron Rose, the next Finance Committee is next week and this item is not on the agenda.

When questioned by The Journal on his opinion of the report, Mr. Rose remained pragmatic, saying: “This is a strategy being undertaken by members of the Green Party. I wouldn't like to make a judgement based on a report which has not yet been produced. But it will need to stack up – both in terms of clear and quantifiable benefits and in financial terms for the council before the council will agree to go ahead with this.”

The question of insulation in housing is a salient one which affects students and landlords alike. Norma Williams is the Property Administrator for Dove Davies, a leading property management company in Edinburgh, prior to this she was the maintenance manager for six years. Drawing upon her experience, she told The Journal of the importance of adequate insulation:

“My own opinion is that landlords should treat their let properties as if they were the ones they lived in personally, giving thought not only to income but to the comfort and expenses of their tenants.

“From my experience working in maintenance the practicalities are not too great, if it involves roof insulation and cavity wall insulation the benefits outweigh the practicalities, using less fuel for example.

“Undoubtedly it will save money, badly fitted or single glazed windows lose a lot of heat and cause discomfort and roof insulation is definitely a great benefit, I know this from personal experience.

“I believe better insulation of our homes is very important and it can only benefit the environment. A lot of maintenance issues raised by tenants were about badly or single glazed, draughty windows and lack of proper heating, especially in Edinburgh.”

The need for insulation was echoed as one of the points raised by the EUSA-organised Student City Forum on 30 October.