Doncaster Council knocked back by Government in bid for green money for homes

Mayor Ros Jones said the bid to the Government’s £1bn Decarbonisation Grant Scheme was knocked back last month.

The scheme was announced by Government earlier this year and asked for bids from councils and other public sector organisations for a range of projects to decrease their carbon footprint.

Ministers said the main aims of the scheme are to ‘deliver stimulus’ to the energy efficiency and low carbon heat sectors, supporting jobs and to deliver ‘significant carbon savings’ in the public sector.

It is understood Doncaster Council centralised its bid on improving the insulation of homes, some of the more ‘difficult properties’ to make carbon neutral, which include houses which have not got cavity wall insulation.

Mayor Jones said the council has been told its bid has not been successful.

“One big thing is fitting homes with the proper insulation which reduces the carbon footprint and drives down bills,” she said.

“We came forward to bid for Government money to ensure that our housing stock becomes closer to carbon neutral – this is dependent on external funding and we were told we were not successful.

“Government needs to step to become carbon neutral because we’re not playing with anything other than our children’s and our grandchildren’s future.”

The news comes as Doncaster Council has announced a firm commitment for the borough to become carbon neutral by 2040.

A report has shown that emissions in Doncaster will have to reduced by around 13 per cent a year for 20 years along with a charter for the council, businesses and individuals with actions to help deliver the ambitious target.

But report authors said many of the plans will need substantial investment from central government.

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