Councils have warned of the ‘devastating' impact after the Government failed to commit further investment in a fund viewed as key to net zero plans.
More than three out of four (76%) of local authorities that responded to a survey by the Association for Public Service Excellence (APSE) said the decision not to accept any fresh applications to the Public Sector Decarbonisation Scheme (PSDS) would have a negative impact.
Most of the other councils said it would not affect them as it was too hard to apply, they could not get match funding, or they needed external consultants in order to apply.
The PSDS was originally conceived as part of the Government's COVID response and was intended to allow the public sector to deliver heat decarbonisation, renewable energy and energy efficiency measures.
Since its launch in 2020, the flagship scheme has awarded more than £2bn to thousands of projects across England.
Andrew Spencer, energy and carbon services director at Equans UK & Ireland, which has supported the public sector to secure and deliver £95m worth of work from the PSDS, has described the scheme as a ‘catalyst for tangible change'.
Responding to the APSE survey, one unitary council in the North East said the cancellation of the scheme was ‘devastating' while a West Midlands unitary said: ‘Withdrawal of funding for decarbonisation not only affects the actual decarbonisation efforts, but it also casts doubt on the importance and urgency of doing it in the first place from a national perspective, further halting progress.'
The MJ understands that, in a letter, APSE pleaded for net zero secretary Ed Miliband to review his position, warning: ‘Without the announcement of a new funding scheme, years of progress could be abruptly halted, with local authorities having no choice but to abandon many of their decarbonisation plans.'
