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BEST East is a part EU funded programme to develop the supply chain helping reduce cost, time, waste and carbon. Clients or main contractors might want to develop the supply chain to maximise gains on a new project, develop the supply chain to win more bids or consolidate learning from an exemplar low carbon project. Whatever the reason, through the programme, organisations better understand how to increase collaboration, efficiency and innovation and create new products and services.
Each organisation is first helped to prepare its own robust improvement plan through an intensive two-day workshop which is free to SMEs with capital projects, clients or main contractors funding the 60% of costs not covered by the EU grant. Start for as little as £800 per organisation with a cash back grant reducing the cost by up to 40%.
For more information email john.hall@besteast.org.uk or visit the BEST East website.
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East of England Development Agency (EEDA) will be providing grants for Sustainable Community and Built Environment (SCC) businesses in the East of England up to the end of 2011, when the programme will be disbanded. The Beyond 2010 programme www.beyond2010.co.uk enables businesses to harness their full potential by reimbursing up to 70% of the training cost of eligible courses. This funding is only available during 2011.
East of England businesses that are eligible can be based in the counties of Beds, Cambs, Essex, Herts, Norfolk and Suffolk.
The Sustainable Communities and Built Environment (SCC) Sector, which includes surveying, is being delivered by Enterprise Partnerships (East of England) Ltd. To discuss your needs and find out if your business and the training you seek are eligible contact Anne Williamson by email in the first instance anne.e.williamson@btinternet.com
Business support delivered by Essex County Council and funded by the East of England Development Agency and the European Social Fund.
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Peter Fane MRICS updates RICS members about the green economy
The Green Economy Council, intended to help government and industry agree on the steps needed for the transition to a low carbon economy, met for the fist time last week (16th Feb). The key issue on Wednesday's agenda was the Green Economy Roadmap, which is being developed by BIS, DECC and Defra and is due to be published 'in the spring' (probably May). This will set out the Government’s long term strategy on climate change and the environment.
Business Secretary Vince Cable, who chaired the meeting, said “The transition to a green economy brings both opportunities and challenges that we need to tackle now to achieve sustainable growth and meet climate change targets. We need to minimise the burdens on business and industry during this transition, while we create the necessary conditions for green growth and investment in the green economy.”
Energy and Climate Change Secretary Chris Huhne said "We can be a world-leading low carbon economy, but we need to get ahead of the likes of China who are closing down on us fast (sic). The Coalition is putting in place the framework for significant low carbon investment, including reforming the electricity market, setting up the Green Investment Bank, and legislating for the Green Deal.”
When he launched the Green Deal in December, Chris Huhne said "Under the Green Deal, bill payers will be able to get energy efficiency improvements without having to front up the cash. Instead, businesses will provide the capital, getting their money back via the energy bill. At the heart of the offer is a simple rule: estimated savings on bills will always equal or exceed the cost of the work."
Membership of the GEC includes Nigel Keen, Director of Property Services, John Lewis Partnership, who is a quantity surveyor by background and was previously Construction Director at Tescos.
As was made clear by Robert Corbyn MRICS and others at the SPONGE / RICS seminar on climate change last June, the transition to a green economy "is clearly delivering business opportunities to those involved in the property sector". Robert, who is Director of Low Carbon Energy Assessors Ltd, will be one of the RICS speakers at the Ecobuild conference in early March.
RICS held a workshop with government officials about the Green Deal last September, which included members of the property profession indicating where it could make a difference. The Green Deal has since been set out in the Energy Bill, introduced in December, which is intended "to provide for a step change in the provision of energy efficiency measures to homes and businesses, and make improvements to our framework to enable and secure, low carbon energy supplies and fair competition in the energy markets". The Energy Bill has now completed committee stage in the Lords and is due for Report Stage on 2nd March.
The Green Deal could be particularly relevant to RSLs, who are more likely to take it up in volume. As the EST's recent "Toolkit for Local Authorities and Housing Associations" pointed out, solar PV is particularly well suited to a large scale roll out by local authorities and housing associations as they have access to a large housing stock, are likely to be able to benefit from the tariff for its full 25 year life (unlike most homeowners who will move during this time), are generally trusted by tenants and have access to low cost finance.
References
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Peter Fane MRICS explains how these cuts will affect rural surveyors in the East of England
The effect of October’s spending cuts are now starting to be felt on local authority budgets, and expected to lead to 170,000 job losses. The Local Growth White Paper announced a Local Government Resource Review in January, which has focused on the possibilities of allowing local authorities to retain locally raised business rates, rewarding authorities whose business rate yield increases by allowing retention of the increase (the Business Increase Bonus), and tax increment financing, which allows local government to borrow to fund development against the anticipated future revenue streams.
The abolition of RDAs will lead to significant cost savings. Annual funding for RDAs was of the order of £1.1 billion. The Local Growth White Paper makes clear that in contrast, Local enterprise partnerships (LEPs) will be expected to fund their own day-to-day running costs, and although they may submit bids to the Regional Growth Fund, they will not receive preferential treatment against bids from other partnerships. As the Select Committee has found, Local Enterprise Partnerships will need financial resources to make a positive difference, and Government needs to be willing to support LEPs at inception: “LEPs' role in promoting growth and rebalancing the economy is too important, and the potential dividends from their success too great, to permit them to fail for lack of small amounts of transition funding”.
Defra faces budget cuts of 29%, or £174 million over the next four years, and will focus spending on areas of high economic value, including £2 billion to be spent on flood and coastal defences over the period. The Department will cut nearly two thirds of the Arms Length Bodies (sometimes called QUANGOs) it funds. The decision to abolish the Commission for Rural Communities, for instance, was expected to save £18 million over the period.
However, following a critical report in the House of Lords, CRC Chairman Stuart Burgess and a small team have been asked to stay on for a further year at least to March 2012, so some of the savings will be delayed. Over the last four years CRC has been the main source of independent and objective advice to Defra, particularly on ‘rural proofing’, or ensuring that the implications of government policies for rural areas are taken into account.
There will be a projected saving in the Rural Development Programme for England of £66 million – the equivalent of about one third of spending in 2010-11, though the scheme remains open to all farmers. Defra will increase the proportion of the programme spent through “schemes which have the most beneficial impact on the environment”, particularly in protecting wildlife and reducing water pollution. This means that spending on the Higher Level Scheme (HLS) will actually be increased because funds currently used for environmentally sensitive areas (ESAs) and the Countryside Stewardship Scheme (CSS) will be transferred as those schemes come to an end. Natural England stresses that HLS remains open for business and farmers are encouraged to continue applying.
One of the effects of these economies is that no new permissive access to land will be paid for under agri-environment schemes. Since there is no EU funding available for annual payments for permissive access, these payments have to-date been fully funded by the UK taxpayer. Farmers may need to notify local user groups if they intend to close permissive access when current agreements come to an end, though they may of course continue to allow public access without any money from a new Environmental Stewardship Scheme.
There are currently more than 2,000 permissive access paths and bridleways available for public use through existing agri-environment agreements, and almost 3,000 agri-environment agreements contain permissive access options. Read more information about existing permissive access. There are currently 578 such routes in East Midlands and over 600 in East of England.
Rural surveyors may want to be aware of the increased funding for higher level stewardship schemes on farms and estates, and of the implications of loss of funding for existing permissive access schemes.
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