Industry green gurus have called on Labour to unveil plans for its replacement Green Deal as quickly as possible to prevent a possible hiatus in take up that could be sparked as consumers adopt a wait and see approach until after the next election.
Labour said it would “overhaul the Green Deal and replace it with a new Energy Save scheme” in its One Nation Economy document published during this week’s conference in Brighton.
The UK Green Building Council’s John Alker said that industry providers should not interpret the announcement that the concept would be scrapped, rather more a rebranding and tweaking of the finance system to try to reduce interest rates.
“They supported the legislation that attaches a loan to a property – so they are not going to go back on that and the message to the industry is very much there will be some continuity,” said Alker. “However, it doesn’t work at the same time saying to consumers the Green Deal is toxic.”
Alker said it could have the effect of consumers deciding to wait a couple of years to see if there was likely to be a change to the interest rates. “Labour politicians need to be clear how they would improve it and what the limitations might be.”
Meanwhile, Allan Ronald, sustainability director at Higgins Construction, which has recently completed its first major ECO scheme upgrading 160 properties at Stockwell Park for Network Housing, said he thought Labour was engaging in a bit of sabre rattling.
Alker added: “Our biggest problem in the take up of the Green Deal is still the interest rates,” he said. “We’ve had a constant stream of serious industry players get in touch over the last 24 hours asking what on earth is going on. It’s not that they don’t think the Green Deal and ECO can be improved going forwards, but they’ve spent the last three years building a business model for delivery, and any confusion about major shifts in policy – even from an opposition party – can cause confusion, lack of confidence and inertia.”
