• Newham Council will seek residents’ views on new plans to make residential buildings warmer, safer and more energy efficient
The mission to make Newham’s homes warmer, greener and safer is the focus of a new Strategy to manage the borough’s Council-owned housing stock.
Mayor Fiaz and the Cabinet today (Thursday 8 June) approved a six-week public consultation into a draft Housing Revenue Account Asset Management Strategy, which covers 2023-2025 and will focus on properties requiring immediate major repairs or improvements. Residents’ feedback, along with ongoing surveys and data gathering, will be used to develop longer-term plans covering future five- and 30-year periods.
As well as allowing the Council to identify and address priority issues with Council-owned housing across the borough, the strategy will help inform plans to meet emerging building and fire regulations and updates to the Decent Homes standard.
It also sets out how Newham will address the Carbon Zero agenda by focusing on energy-efficient upgrades to buildings to reduce heat loss, save residents money in heating costs and make it more difficult for mould to develop.
The longer-term strategies will play a crucial role in helping Newham tackle the climate emergency and achieve its goals of becoming carbon neutral by 2030 and carbon zero by 2045.
Cllr Shaban Mohammed, Cabinet Member for Housing Management and Modernisation, said:
“Our residents deserve high-quality homes that are good for them and good for the environment while also being as energy efficient as possible, especially during the current cost-of-living crisis.
“We’re committed to achieving that by driving up the standard of our ageing stock and we’re already investing £200m to make our buildings warmer and greener.
“This is a really important strategy which will ensure we spend our funds efficiently and where they are most needed. I encourage all of our residents, leaseholders and community groups to have their say when the consultation opens.”
Cllr John Whitworth, Deputy Cabinet Member for Planning and Development, Air Quality and Climate Emergency, said:
“Making our housing stock as green as possible is an absolutely essential part of our plans to address the climate emergency. This strategy will ensure we can focus our attention where it will have the greatest impact, for example by addressing inefficient insulation or heating.
“By focusing on improving energy management and the fabric of our buildings, we will able to progress towards our carbon zero target by tackling heat loss, decarbonising our stock and ultimately providing our residents with warmer, healthier homes that are cheaper to heat.”
