7th March 2008

I will speak to the Green proposals within the Labour budget amendment. I will speak to the Lib Dem amendment later in the afternoon if time allows. I am going to talk about the recycling pilot and the South Yorkshire Energy Centre.

The recycling pilot will mean that there are many more bring banks at street level in Central and Darnall wards. The contract signed with a private waste provider in 2001 (by the Lib Dems, as it happens) means there is little room for manoevre in increasing recycling and not enough to fund full doorstep recycling. Nevertheless, we feel that improvements in the service, to make it more environmentally friendly, need to be funded from within the contract, not bailed out using other Council funds.

This project does indeed reflect a shift in the existing funding rather than new money. This has come about through concerted lobbying. I have been working to get more bring banks into my ward since even before I was elected. We have found places for bring banks which are acceptable and popular with local people. This has encouraged officers to set up the pilot project.

The funding for the South Yorkshire Energy Centre is part of the Affordable Warmth Programme. We approve of that scheme but are concerned that it will only provide grants for cavity wall and loft insulation – the “quick wins”. Sheffield has a huge percentage of “hard to treat” homes, Victorian terraces and non-traditional built homes which can’t be insulated in this way. We need to start looking at ways of improving them, stimulating affordable technical solutions.

The SYEC is based in the “Energy House” at Heeley City Farm. There has been considerable capital investment and they have a lot of expertise. We want to make the most of that. They can also provide general advise about energy saving for householders.

Both these proposals build on existing work, showing how it can be expanded. We are proud to have achieved them by working cooperatively.