MINUTES OF AN EXTRAORDINARY COUNCIL MEETING TO BE HELD ON TUESDAY 1st FEBRUARY 2022 AT 7.30 PM VIA ELECTRONIC MEDIA AND AT THE VILLAGE HALL.
Public participation: None
Present: Mr Mark Brian (Chairperson), Mr D Filsell, Mr D Williams, Mrs Jane Dawkins, Mrs Elizabeth Gibbs, Mr Alan James.
In Attendance: S Dale (Clerk)
1. Apologies for absence: MP
2. Declaration of interest in items of business listed below: None
3. Signing of the minutes from the meeting of 18th January 2022. Adjourned.
4. Call for interest to be part of a Home Energy audit project.
The energy used to heat our homes is one of the highest contributors to CO2 emissions in Powys. In addition it causes residents to spend more of their disposable income on this than would be necessary if their homes were more efficient, especially in the current climate of rising energy bills. Better insulated homes also lead to better health outcomes, so improving our homes leads to multiple benefits.
Powys Action on the Climate Emergency (PACE) have received funding through the Community Renewal Fund to offer 50 subsidised Home Energy Audits across 3 Powys communities by the end of June. This is part of the Localities Network project being run by PAVO.
PACE are working with the charity Lightfoot Enterprises https://lightfootenterprises.org/ to deliver the audits, Lightfoot have over 10 years of experience delivering home energy advice to homeowners.
Lightfoot would work with community volunteers to deliver this advice. The role of the volunteers would be to visit homeowners who request a home audit and complete a questionnaire, with the homeowner, covering the details of the property. Lightfoot would take all volunteers though a free half day training session teaching them how to gather the information that Lightfoot need. This completed questionnaire would then be returned to domestic energy experts at Lightfoot who would write up a report and recommendations including details of local suppliers and installers and potential funding options based on the data gathered. The volunteer would then deliver this to the homeowner, with the option of follow up advice and questions.
Although the audits are 100% subsidised PACE would recommend communities applying a nominal fee to the homeowner (suggested £10 - £30 based on ability to pay) to ensure that those who have the audits are likely to follow through on the recommendations. This money would be retained by the community group and could then be used to cover the volunteers out-of-pocket expenses or other local costs.
PACE can work with either a community council or any volunteer-based constituted group based in Powys. If the community council would like your community to be considered for this project, please could you reply to this email by 8th February confirming: Community council or organisation applying for this project a main contact (phone and email).
Confirmation that there would be a minimum of 3 volunteers available and willing to undertake the ½ day training and carry out the home visits (each home visit would be about 2 hours work). Please contact us with any questions you may have. Apologies for the tight deadline on getting a reply, this is forced on us by the conditions of the funding which requires that all funds must be spent by the end of June 2022.
We have funding for 50 subsidised audits across Powys so if we work with 3 communities this would be approx. 16 – 17 in each, but we may wish to spread this across more communities if we get more communities.
An ability to pay criteria has been suggested for the audits but council would not have access to any income information to base the fee upon – a flat fee would be more workable.
Council could need 3 volunteers if the arrangement with Llangattock Green Valleys (LGV) does not come to fruition. It seems more logical to work together. Clerk to email 5 councils and LGV to support the initiative. Clerk to advertise for audit volunteers if required by LGV. SD
5. A PAVO funded scheme to improve community resilience including transport. Crickhowell, one of 13 localities in Powys, could include ideas from Llangynidr. The pot is £260,000 over the whole of Powys, there may be a larger follow-up amount in the near future.
At this stage PAVO are looking for feasibility/business case studies for funding. There is no formal deadline but the sooner a project is submitted the better. In any case all funds must be spent by 30/6/2022.
The public transport system which services Llangynidr goes to Brecon and Abergavenny. It is an essential daily service but could be extended to provide for people working a full day in Brecon and Abergavenny. This is an issue that stands out and is a limitation on what people can do. This is also true of other communities on this side of the Usk (away from the A40). Council decided to write a business case for the service extension and include consideration of the subsidies attached to other transport providers.
The funds available are to enable a feasibility study if the project is selected by PAVO. Clerk to inform PAVO of Council's intent.SD
Note: The Chairman had a small break in the electronic meeting
provision, councillors waited for the connection to re-establish.
Date of next meeting:Tuesday, 22nd February 2022 – Full meeting
There being no further business to discuss the Chairperson closed
the meeting at 8.05pm
