Newark and Sherwood District Council members call for newbuild homes to be built with energy efficient measures

Retrofitting homes with energy-saving measures while not including it as standard on new builds has been branded a “step backwards” by a councillor.

Newark and Sherwood District Council declared a climate emergency in 2019, and at a policy and performance improvement committee on January 29, the authority outlined measures it has taken to become carbon neutral, including energy efficiency improvements to homes.

But some councillors questioned why some new build homes are not being built with these improvements as a standard.

The council was given £710,000 in funding from the Midland Energy Hub to improve low income and low energy performance homes.

It said so far, 65 properties have been identified and a total of 59 properties have been retrofitted with energy efficiency measures.

This included solar panel installation, external wall insulation and loft insulation.

Retrofitting is the act of fitting new systems designed for high energy efficiency and low energy consumption to buildings previously built without them.

The authority is taking other measures such as delivering climate awareness training as part of its bid to become carbon neutral by 2035.

Roger Jackson said: “Retrofitting is fine, but why don’t we insist we have it on all new builds? This is one step backwards.

“We are retrofitting onto old properties yet new properties are not doing it.

“It is a very expensive way of going about it.”

Mike Pringle added: “You’re quite right. There’s an imbalance with retrofitting when there’s a push for it but not in new builds.

“I think the financial constraints often shadow what we would like to see.

“We need to keep pushing it.”

Carl Burns, transformation and service improvement manager, outlined other measures which are being taken by the authority.

He said: “Progress has been made on the solar PV installation with work at Newark Sports and Fitness Centre almost complete.

“Work on all five sites is due to be completed in the fiscal year.

“The installation of solar PV will generate in excess of 280,000kWh. The average household uses around 3,000Kwh annually.

“It will play a significant part in the council reaching our 2035 carbon-neutral target.

“In terms of education and training, you may have heard of the Green Rewards app. It is an online platform which incentivises users to undertake positive behaviour.

“We currently have 567 residents signed up. We have the second highest ‘actions logged’ per user in Nottinghamshire.

“So far there have been 47 officers through climate awareness training and 12 members. The feedback is very positive so far.

“We are committed to monitoring and measuring our climate emissions which keeps us accountable to residents and allows us to identify areas of high carbon emissions.”