Cost-cutting Green home-insulation proposals could attract millions in ERDF funding

Published on Friday 26 December 2008 18:48

SCOTLAND could receive tens of millions of pounds in European Union funding if MSPs agree to agree to a groundbreaking £100 million environmental scheme being proposed for next year's budget by the Green Party.

The EU Commission is to open its 300 billion European Regional Development Fund to co-finance national, regional or local schemes which reduce carbon emissions and promote domestic renewables. Commissioners, who are still considering their options on the fund, are looking for regions to pilot new ideas on a large scale.

This has given new support for the 100 million Green Party scheme, which has already won support from the SNP Scottish Government in one parliamentary vote, to provide free insulation for all homes in Scotland that need it.

The idea is that people will take up the offer if it is free and somebody will come to their home to ask if they need it.

The scheme, which was developed by Green councillors in Kirklees, in Yorkshire, would also allow homeowners to have solar panels or windmills to generate energy attached to their homes for a share in the capital value of the house.

Both parts of the scheme have been a success in Kirklees with more homes producing renewable energy than anywhere else in the UK and more insulation provided under their scheme in one year than the total number of London homes which have benefited from the UK government's paid for scheme. They also claim it has created new jobs by providing people with work putting in insulation.

The Greens believe that the scheme is a better way of helping warm homes than the traditional extra heating-fuel money given to pensioners over the winter period.

They claim the extra money in effect only helps heat the air above houses that cannot keep the warmth in and that paying for insulation would be cheaper, mean that less heat would be needed to be generated, and would heat up homes instead of create hot air.

And if it is adopted in the 2009-10 Scottish budget it would allow Scotland to qualify for the newly available EU cash, according to the Green MEP Caroline Lucas, who has promised to promote a Scottish scheme.

The EU money would need to be targeted to provide help for people on low incomes. However, it could potentially see Scotland recouping up to half the costs of the scheme.

The Green MSP Robin Harper said: "The cheapest way to cut fuel bills, boost jobs, and tackle climate change would be to provide free insulation to every home in Scotland.

"With the European Union now looking to invest billions in energy efficiency schemes like this, it's clearly time for the Scottish Government to back the Scottish Greens' proposal to make fuel poverty a thing of the past."

The Scottish Greens have also today launched a public campaign to build support for the party's warm homes proposals. Green MSPs are hoping that members of the public will help them build up momentum on the scheme so that both the SNP and Labour, who backed it before in a Scottish Parliament vote, do not find an excuse to drop the proposal.

The scheme has met with scepticism from the Conservatives and Lib Dems in Holyrood, although both parties backed the original idea in Kirklees, which is led by the Tories.

The campaign logo, unveiled on the back cover of the Big Issue, shows a home wrapped in Mr Harper's trademark rainbow scarf.

The Greens are urging Scots to sign up to back this project at www.warmscotland.org, the party's new website set up for this campaign.