Issue - meetings

To consider a report of the Executive Councillors (Communities) and (Finance)

The report provides an update on progress of the SHINE project (Stockport Homes Investing in Natural Energy) to provide Solar Photo Voltaic panels on Council owned properties and also highlights information around the announced reductions in the Feed-In Tariff (FiT). The report also proposes additional funding of £4m be agreed to maximise the solar PV investment in the housing stock prior to the end of March 2012.

The Executive is recommended to:

·         note the successful work completed to date in the installation of PV panels across the Housing Stock;

·         authorise the use of additional prudential borrowing up to £4m,subject to any allocation of available HRA reserves, to finance the project and approve the further installation of the Solar PV panels to Council houses as set out in the report; and,

·         delegate authority to the Corporate Director, Corporate and Support Services, in consultation with the Executive Councillors for Communities and Finance, to determine the actual level of borrowing to be undertaken following an assessment of HRA balances.   

Officer contact: Paul Lawrence, 0161 474 4515, paul.lawrence@stockport.gov.uk

(Please Note: This decision has not been included in the Forward Plan in accordance with the General Exception Rule 15 of the Access to Information Procedure Rules and has been exempted from call-in for the following reason:-

In order that the Council and partners can take advantage of the more favourable feed-in tariffs for electricity generation it is necessary to secure agreement to these proposals before the end of the current calendar year so that contractual arrangements can be finalised to ensure that the additional installations can be completed and registered before the end of March 2012. Any delay to this through inclusion in the Forward Plan and through Call-in could reduce the affordability of the proposals.)

The Executive Councillors (Communities) and (Finance) submitted a report (copies of which had been circulated) inviting the Executive Meeting to consider a proposal to install Solar PV Panels to Council houses via prudential borrowing financed from the feed in tariffs available from the Government. The proposed installations would be additional to those previously agreed by the Executive on 13 June 2011.

RESOLVED – That

(i)            the successful work to date on the installation of PV Panels across the Council’s Housing Stock be noted;

(ii)          authorisation be given for the use of prudential borrowing up to £4m, subject to any allocation of available Housing Revenue Account reserves, to finance the project and the further installation of the Solar PV Panels to Council houses as set out in the report be approved, and

(iii)         authority be delegated to the Corporate Director for Corporate and Support Services, in consultation with the Executive Councillors (Communities) and (Finance) to determine the actual level of borrowing to be undertaken following an assessment of Housing Revenue Account balances.