Council returns £5m Green Homes Grant it did not spend

The award from government was to make homes more energy efficient

A council's decision to return a £5m government grant to make homes more energy efficient has been called a "missed opportunity".

Conservative-run Suffolk County Council spent only £3.3m of a £8.4m of the Green Homes Grant by the end of the financial year and sent back the outstanding amount.

Green Party councillor Ash Lever has criticised the authority for not utilising all the funds in the given time frame.

Tory councillor Richard Smith, the county’s lead for finance, denied it had not "tried hard enough" to promote the scheme.

"It’s incredibly disappointing for my group – and for the people of Suffolk – that not enough was done to promote the scheme and encourage people to apply," said Mr Lever, who described it as a "missed opportunity".

“The last couple of years have seen lots of households slip into fuel poverty, and these are people we could – should – have been helping.”

Mr Smith said efforts would be ‘"redoubled" to spend as much of the money as possible by March next year, according to the Local Democracy Reporting Service.

He said: “The last thing we want to do is return money to the government when it’s been given to us for such laudable purposes."

There were several criteria for homes to be eligible for the money, including a combined household income of £36,000, an approved postcode, and an energy efficiency rating of D, E, F, or G without being heated by mains gas.

A county council spokesperson added: “The Green Homes Grant is managed by central government, which sets strict and very specific eligibility criteria determining who can apply. Suffolk’s councils cannot change this.

"The council has asked the government to consider granting more flexibility to local authorities to enable them to develop long-term strategies for reducing fuel poverty and improving energy efficiency in Suffolk homes."