Low Carbon Grants Suspended

The Government has shown its 'support' for low carbon initiatives by suspending the grants system for it. Since an extra £6m was announced for the Low Carbon Building Programme, Trade and Industry Secretary Alistair Darling announced that the best way to release the funds was to not release them at all. Full announcement at the EST as a PDF.

Here is a direct email response I received:

In the Budget 07, the Chancellor announced that a further £6 million will be made available to the household stream of the Low Carbon Buildings Programme through to June 2008, taking the total available for householders to more than £18 million.

We are discussing in detail the restructuring of the scheme with industry to ensure we can make the best use of the additional funds, and to address the operational difficulties that have been encountered over recent months.

Taking into account the work required to re-shape the scheme, we have taken the necessary step to suspend the scheme for the monthly allocation in April, with a view to restarting the household stream of the programme in May 2007.

Check the website for further announcements as they are made: http://www.lowcarbonbuildings.org.uk/home/.

Sally Millward Microgeneration Department of Trade and Industry