Further to Minute 9 of the meeting held on 6 July 2021, the Executive Director of Economic Growth and Neighbourhood Services submitted a report seeking agreement for the Low Carbon Housing Action Plan for RBC housing and the Low Carbon Housing Action Plan for private sector housing, which were attached to the report as Appendices 1 and 2 respectively.

The report explained that the Council had a role to play in leading by example, demonstrating to other property owners in social and private sectors how emissions from housing could be reduced, especially as it owned approximately 10% of the housing stock in Reading.  Making these improvements could also stimulate local supply chains and skills.  The Council’s influence over, and the resources it had available to devote to, improvement of its own housing were significantly greater than it could devote to the private sector, and this was reflected in the relative scope of the Action Plans.  The report added that funding a programme of the scale required remained the key challenge but by combining the Council’s resources with grant funding, officers could begin to scale up existing efforts.  The report noted that Reading’s climate emergency declaration had made it clear that additional powers and resources would be needed from Government to enable the achievement of net zero by 2030, and private sector retrofit remained one of the key policy areas where this was still the case.

Resolved:     That the Low Carbon Housing Action Plan for RBC Housing and the Low Carbon Housing Action Plan for Private Sector Housing be noted and endorsed.