“Warmer Widcombe” –
What have we Learned,
One Year On?
Warmer Widcombe – What have we Learned, One Year On?
About This Review
In 2012 Energy Efficient Widcombe (EEW) received a Grant of £61,000 from the Department
of Energy and Climate Change as part of the Local Energy Assessment Fund. It was
required to use the grant within two months.
EEW developed a project team, and named the project “Warmer Widcombe – Home Energy
Saving Packs”. This involved assessments of Widcombe houses, a survey of residents’
attitudes – and packs of information on energy saving measures for the five commonest
types of house in Widcombe. EEW took over a pop-up shop in Widcombe for a week and
created an exhibition. The event was well publicised and over 200 visited and there were
400 website hits.
Now, a year on, it is useful to reflect on the project and see what can be learned. This is the
purpose of writing this review.
Section one describes the background and the “inputs” to the project.
Section two describes the immediate results or “outputs”
Section three is more critical and asks what was learned from the project
Section four lists the messages – both for all and also specific messages
Tim Williamson, Energy Efficient Widcombe
Ross Grinyer, Student, Bath Spa University
May 2013
Thanks
A number of Widcombe residents volunteered their time and energy for the Warmer
Widcombe project – and this has been wonderful. Special thanks also go to Widcombe
Association, particularly the Chair and the Treasurer. The project also benefitted from
strong support from the Council Community Sustainability Officer and staff at the Centre for
Sustainable Energy.
2
Warmer Widcombe – What have we Learned, One Year On?
Contents
About This Review ................................................................................................................ 2
Section One:
................................................................................................................ 4
Section Two ................................................................................................................... 6
A Review of “Warmer Widcombe” ......................................................................................... 6
How Has The Project Been Assessed? ................................................................................. 6
How Well Did EEW Meet Its Key Deliverables? .................................................................... 6
Section Three................................................................................................................ 9
What Was Learned From “Warmer Widcombe”?................................................................... 9
What Was Learned From The Surveys? ............................................................................... 9
What Was Learned ............................................................................................................. 11
From The Exhibition? .......................................................................................................... 11
What Parts Of The Project Were Most Successful? ............................................................ 12
What Were The Problems? ................................................................................................. 13
Section Four ................................................................................................................ 15
What Are The Key Messages From “Warmer Widcombe”? ................................................. 15
Specific Messages .............................................................................................................. 16
Appendices ......................................................................................................................... 17
3
Warmer Widcombe – What have we Learned, One Year On?
Section One: Background
Energy Efficient Widcombe (EEW) was
set up in 2010 with the aim of helping
residents of Widcombe save energy,
reduce their carbon footprint and to help
reduce excess winter death rates as they
were well above the national average.
EEW is a small group of volunteers who
live locally in Widcombe.
In December 2011, The Department of
Energy and Climate Change (DECC)
announced the introduction of the £10
million Local Energy Assessment Fund
(LEAF). This was to provide grants for
local groups to prepare their communities
for the Green Deal. The implication of
LEAF was that local assessments would
helpfully inform the benefits of Energy
Saving Measures (ESMs) under the
proposed Green Deal. DECC explained:
“The fund will support work by
communities to understand the energy
baseline and carbon footprint of their area
as a whole and the potential to reduce
that through local energy efficiency and
renewable energy projects.
EEW Proposal
EEW would make the suggested
assessments by carrying out relevant
surveys in Widcombe. However, it wanted
to make this information relevant to the
residents. The proposal was to use the
surveys to provide feedback and easily
accessible information on energy saving
measures (ESMs) customised for their
type of house. This could be useful
preparation for the Green Deal.
EEW application in Jan 2012
To develop their proposal, EEW listed
these deliverables:
1. A survey of Widcombe housing
stock
2. A survey of residents’ current
energy use
3. A survey of residents’ attitudes to
energy efficiency.
4. “Home Energy Savings Packs”
giving residents information about
energy saving measures (ESMs) in
their type of home.
5. “Home Energy Masterplans” giving
detailed information about ESMs
in15 specific houses as a follow on
from the Packs (4).
6. Engagement Dissemination and
Promotion of Home Energy
Savings Packs
7. A Report to the Council
Full details of the deliverables can be
seen in Appendix 1.
Funding
Based on the deliverables listed above,
EEW applied for LEAF funds of £45,000
and was successful – on condition that the
funds were spent by 31 March, less than
two months after receiving the grant.
There was a misunderstanding in three
items in the initial application concerning
projects involving the Centre for
Sustainable Energy, envisaged work with
BANES Council and the need for EEW
project management. Following phone
discussions with the LEAF managers
(Energy Saving Trust), EEW re-applied
4
Warmer Widcombe – What have we Learned, One Year On?
after the closing date for further funding
(Appendix 2). EEW subsequently received
a further £16,000 taking the total funding
to £61,000.
However during this time, it became
apparent that some assumptions made at
the time of the re-application were
incorrect. Further discussion with the
LEAF managers took place with the
outcome that the EEW completed a
Project Amendment Form detailing a
reconfigured programme of how the
£61,000 would be spent. (Appendix 3).
This was accepted by the LEAF
managers.
The £61,000 still had to be spent by the
end of March and the project start had
been delayed by the renegotiated
programme.
Project Management
The Project Manager developed the
following Team:
Role
EEW Director
EEW Director
Co-ordinator and Marketing
Admin Support
Volunteer
Project team support
Project Management Support
Organisation
EEW
EEW
EEW
EEW
EEW
ESCM Consulting
Energy Taskforce
lot of stress on the team and sometimes
quality had to be sacrificed for speed.
This project followed the stages often
found, according to research, in
inexperienced project groups. The
research shows that before achieving
good performance a group goes through
the stages of “forming”, “storming”, and
“norming”. So it is not surprising that there
were disagreements within the Team
which sometimes impeded progress of
work. There were a number of issues
moving from the generality of the
application to the detail of implementation.
The main problems concerned not initially
agreeing a tighter purpose (exactly what
we intended doing) and vision (how things
would be different) - and a lack of clarity of
roles responsibilities between the EEW
volunteer Directors and employed
members of the team (the project
manager and the project administrator).
The project hugely benefitted from clear
budgetary management by the Project
Manager working closely with the
Treasurer of Widcombe Association.
The name for the EEW project was
chosen to be “Warmer Widcombe –
Home Energy Savings Packs”. The
“Warmer Widcombe” heading was to
appeal to Widcombe Residents – and the
strap-line “Home Energy Savings Packs”
was to be the major offer to residents
expressed in the manner of “it does what it
says on the tin”. A logo was prepared to
reflect this.
The project plan
The Project Manager generated a Gantt
chart (Appendix 4). However because the
timescale was so tight, delays inevitably
occurred increasing the pressure to
complete the project on time. This put a
5
Warmer Widcombe – What have we Learned, One Year On?
Section Two: A Review of “Warmer
Widcombe”
How Has The Project Been
Assessed?
This project was assessed in two main
ways. Firstly, the project manager
submitted the formal report to LEAF
managed by the Energy Saving Trust.
This took the from of entering answers to
their specific questions. The report
covered the following sections:
1. Drawing the main conclusions from
your project
2. Understanding the success of your
‘deliverables’
3. The quality of support for your whole
project
4. Carbon savings
5. Next steps and how these can be
better supported
6. Working with us to pull together more
insights and learning from your work.
Secondly, all employees and volunteers
were asked to complete anonymously a
feedback form. These individual forms
were collated into a single feedback
report.
How Well Did EEW Meet Its
Key Deliverables?
1. Neighbourhood Housing Survey
(Appendix 4)
This was very successful. A full
housing survey was conducted of
all the houses in the Widcombe
area. The report contained
information such as age and type
of house and number of bedrooms.
2. Resident Energy Survey
(Appendix 5)
This survey sheet was sent out by
post to 1,000 residents (random),
by Parity Projects. It was
completed and returned by 181
residents in total.
Parity Projects wrote to each of the
respondents giving a brief report
on ESMs according to the
information given.
There was confusion over how the
survey was to be run. EEW
thought Parity Projects would
collate all of the respondents’
information and use that to make
recommendations for the Home
Energy Advice Packs. Instead they
simply made generic
recommendations purely based on
the age of the house.
3. Attitude survey (Appendix 6)
This survey, conducted by Blue
Marble, randomly selected houses
from the ward of Widcombe to
undertake the survey. 212
residents were interviewed by
trained staff. Analyses of the data
were made by type of house, by
6
Warmer Widcombe – What have we Learned, One Year On?
type of resident etc. (but not by
street or areas of Widcombe
ward.). An excellent detailed and
illustrated report was provided.
4. Home Energy Savings Packs
Parity Projects recommended that
houses in Widcombe were put into
just five categories based solely on
the age of the property: Georgian,
Victorian, 20s/30s, 50s, 60s/70s,
and 80s +. They provided advice
on energy saving measures for
each of those five types. The
EEW project team developed this
advice and designed Energy
Savings Packs by incorporating
pictures of the range of houses in
each category and by customising
the advice based on the
information from the Attitude
Survey.
The booklets presented ESMs in
three categories:
i)
“No-brainers” for easy to do
and relatively cheap
measures
ii)
“Committed Savers” were
more expensive measures
but would pay for
themselves in savings over
5 to 10 years.
iii)
“Red Herrings” were
measures not normally
appropriate for that type of
house.
They gave excellent advice for of
the 5 different types of house and
were a very useful output.
The completed Home Energy
Savings packs were successfully
made available for Widcombe
residents both as printed booklets
and via the EEW website
(www.energyefficientwidcombe.co.
uk).
5. Home Energy Master Plans
These were 15 in-depth studies on
individual houses, requiring a 1- 2
hour visit from a surveyor.
Modeling software was used to
provide a customized report
detailing ESMs.
They would normally cost £200 to
£300 but were offered free of
charge to Widcombe residents as
part of the project. The houses
were selected to cover each of the
five categories being used for the
Energy Savings Packs.
There was some difficulty finding
residents in each category and
completing the Master Plans within
the time available. But this was
achieved and they were used in
printed format for visitors to the
exhibition (see below) and
electronically for those visiting the
website.
6. Engagement Dissemination and
Promotion
EEW held 2 evening talks, one
from an architect, and the other
from a specialist in ESMs. Despite
expensive e mailing, only 45
attended.
EEW took over a pop-up shop in
Widcombe Parade for the last
week of March. An exhibition was
created with newly designed
display boards providing
information about ESMs together
with summaries of the Home
Energy Savings Packs. A laptop
attached to a large monitor screen
enabled visitors to access the
EEW website and find out more.
Home Energy Savings Packs were
available as booklets for visitors to
take away. Copies of Master
Plans were available for visitors to
inspect. The exhibition was
staffed throughout the week by the
7
Warmer Widcombe – What have we Learned, One Year On?
team members and also
volunteers.
To promote the exhibition, leaflets
were delivered to all houses in
Widcombe. There was a formal
opening by the Chair of Widcombe
Association which was covered
(from a press release) in the Bath
Chronicle. A sandwich board
person strolled up and down the
high street offering leaflets.
Visitors were also offered free T
shirts and balloons all printed with
the Warmer Widcombe logo.
The exhibition had 229 visitors and
there were 432 website hits. On
average, exhibition visitors stayed
for around 10 minutes and visitors
to the website viewed around 4
pages per visit. These seem to
indicate that a good proportion of
our visitors were seriously
researching their options for saving
energy.
7. Report to BANES Council
This was difficult to achieve
because of the extremely busy
timetable of the “Warmer
Widcombe” team – and indeed
council staff. However council
representatives did visit the
exhibition and discussion took
place.
Poster for the exhibition
This deliverable needs to be
completed.
8
Warmer Widcombe – What have we Learned, One Year On?
Section Three: What Was Learned From
“Warmer Widcombe”?
What Was Learned From The
Surveys?

10 or higher for energy
efficiency. This generally positive
view on the energy efficiency of
homes is reflected in
approximately half of residents
giving a positive rating for the lack
of draughts, ease of keeping warm
and modern and efficient heating
system in their home. It should be
noted that residents in post 1930s
houses are more likely to give a
higher score for energy efficiency.

There is a core group of around
15% of residents who give their
homes a very low rating for
energy efficiency (giving a
maximum score of 3 out of 10).
This group tends to be younger
(under 35) and living in Victorian
properties. Again this figure is in
line with more negative
descriptions of homes: 18% finding
them hard to maintain, 25% say
their home is hard to keep warm
and 19% describing it as ‘very
draughty’

Tenants are feeling the effects of
energy-inefficient homes:
tenants are more likely to
experience all the problems with
houses that the survey raised:
draughtiness, hard to keep warm,
insufficient insulation, difficult to
maintain and the effects of an
aging and inefficient heating
system. Not surprisingly, they give
Neighbourhood Housing Survey
This report (appendix 4) gave a good
detail on the housing stock in Widcombe
that is certainly of interest to EEW and
most probably others.
Resident Energy Survey
The data was not used to inform the
Home Energy Savings Packs. The main
output was the information letters to
residents but there is no information as to
how useful they found this.
The data could have further analyses
made e.g. by groups of post codes or by
age of house. However it is not yet clear
what use, if any, can be made of them at
this stage.
This survey could have been more useful
with a more specific water tight contract at
the start of the project.
Attitude survey
This survey is perhaps the most
interesting and most valuable part of the
Warmer Widcombe project. The main
learning points are presented here to
inform the discussion later in the report:

Half of Widcombe residents give
their homes a score of 7 out of
9
Warmer Widcombe – What have we Learned, One Year On?
a lower rating for overall energy
efficiency than their home owning
counterparts; a fifth giving a
maximum rating of 3 out of 10
(compared to 12% of homeowners)
and 45% giving 7+ out of ten
(compared to 53% of
homeowners).



The vast majority of home
owners (92%) have done at least
one action to improve the
insulation of their home. Three
quarters have insulated the loft,
over half have fitted double/triple
glazing, over half installed a
modern boiler and again, over half
have lagged pipes. Half of all
homeowners believe that most of
the heat loss is from the roof: it is
possible that residents feel they
have made a more significant step
to insulate their homes once they
have put in loft insulation than is
necessarily the case. In contrast,
just 4 in 10 tenants have taken at
least one or more action to insulate
their homes.
The ability to take a simple and
free step (i.e. putting on a
jumper) is the single biggest
reason why home owners do not
do more to insulate their homes
more effectively: and second to
this, residents are simply happy
the way things are (none more so
than the over 65s). This is a much
greater barrier than possible
intrusion or disruption of home
improvements, or indeed the lack
of time to get on with it.
Perceptions of the likelihood to
get permission, and the length
and complexity of the planning
process are also major barriers
for between a fifth and a quarter
of Widcombe home owners: for
many (around two fifths) however,
they are unaware of the process
and have no impressions of the
planning process.

The cost of better insulation is
the other important barrier cited
by just under half of Widcombe
homeowners. A quarter does not
think they will reap the benefit of
their investment and yet this is an
important motivation to invest in
better insulation. In all, 68% say
they would be more likely to
insulate if they knew they could
recover the costs within 5 years
West Widcombe/ Lower Oldfield Park
The concept of Widcombe as a “village”
suggests a community to the east of Wells
Road. However Widcombe ward extends
as far to the west of Wells Road as
Brougham Hayes and beyond we have
called this area “West Widcombe”
An analysis was made of the housing
stock by post code. By aggregating the
West Widcombe codes, it was found that
64% of the Victorian homes in the ward
lay in West Widcombe. The attitude
survey clearly demonstrated the problems
experienced by many of the residents of
Victorian houses: energy inefficient, hard
to keep warm, and very draughty, typically
occupied by 18 to 34 year olds and
tenants. These conclusions are of
concern – but are not surprising for those
who know the area which is known to
include many houses of multiple
occupancy, typically by students and also
younger tenants.
10
Warmer Widcombe – What have we Learned, One Year On?
Masterplans
A Masterplan provided advice specific to
that house, summarised in bespoke
recommended packages as “no-brainers”,
“some consideration”, “green halo” and
“green halo + PV”. The ESMs were also
ranked by payback period.
However these plans have been received
quite negatively by some. An EEW
Director therefore conducted structured
interviews with 10 residents who had had
Masterplans carried out. Here are some
criticisms that were reported:

Masterplans contained too much
information and they didn’t have
the time to read through the
lengthy document.

Confusing with technical
vocabulary not being explained.

Contradicting information e.g. on
double glazing.

No baseline measurements were
taken so it was hard to for the
householder to assess the amount
of saving the improvements would
actually make.

Some glaring mistakes in the
report which did little to convince
them that the actions
recommended were in fact the
correct ones to make.

Information too generic (looked like
copied and pasted)

Complicated measures are
mentioned but not explained
As a result of these factors only one
householder had acted on their HEMP
recommendations.
What Was Learned
From The Exhibition?
Home Energy Savings Packs
The majority of the visitors to the
exhibition took away a Home Energy
Savings Pack leaflet. The impression was
that the leaflets were very nicely produced
and well received. They provided quick
and easy advice for householders in the
five different types of house.
Large numbers of the leaflets remain
unused in storage. There is great
potential to use them again in future
events – and in other places.
The Website
This has had 432 hits during the project
and this continues to rise. To view their
particular type of house it required
residents to enter their email address.
This has allowed a database to be built up
with email addresses of residents who
clearly have at least some interest in
taking energy saving measures. This will
make it far easier to contact them in the
future.
The website continues to play an
important part of EEW’s work into 2013.
Promotional material
Much promotional material remains. Some
of this may not be so useful, specifically
the T shirts and balloons. In retrospect,
too many were ordered.
The high quality exhibition boards are
currently held by the Council Community
Sustainability Officer and are available to
use by community group. The laptop and
large TV monitor remain available for use
by EEW and Widcombe Association, but
in fact they have only been used twice in
the subsequent 12months.
11
Warmer Widcombe – What have we Learned, One Year On?
What Parts Of The Project
Were Most Successful?
Overall benefits
EEW has definitely highlighted the issue
of home energy saving within the local
community – even for those who had not
directly made contact with the exhibition.
EEW sees this as having a cumulative
benefit proving useful in years to come
with future projects.
EEW exhibition boards on display
EEW achieved nearly all its deliverables in
an effective way within a particularly short
time scale.
EEW itself as an organisation has been
high-lighted and is now relatively wellknown in Widcombe.
A legacy of energy saving for
Widcombe residents to use
The website is still available for residents
to view and is still receiving hits, which
gives residents great advice and regular
news items. It is currently being extended
and developed. A new mailing list of 96
members (in addition to the old mailing
list) allows EEW to keep residents up to
date with future projects.
The material from the exhibition which can
be used in future engagements with the
public.
Sandwich board promotion
12
Warmer Widcombe – What have we Learned, One Year On?

Widcombe residents enjoying the display
and promotional material
What Were The Problems?
Time Constraints
The biggest constraint on the project was
time. Specifically it caused these
problems:

Strained team work. The
application had to be in place
before the project team had met so
reduced agreement on objectives
within the team.

Difficult to keep to the project plan,
things over-running and blocking
progress

Quality suffered

Sometimes companies had to be
paid more to get the work done
quickly.

Management on the hoof
“In projects there are three
conflicting priorities- time, vs.
quality, vs. cost; you can normally
only have one at the expense of
the other two. In this project we
had fixed and very tight
timeframes, our costs were slightly
inflated due to the tight time
frames (e.g. one of the printers
opened on the weekend to meet
our deadlines), and our quality of
delivery was good to excellent,
given the timeframes we had to
meet. My opinion is that this
project was dominated by the tight
timeframes involved and that we
did a good job given this
constraint. “
Value for money
What EEW achieved for £61,000 of tax
payers money needs discussion.
Whereas the monitoring of the use of that
money was efficient, it was relatively
superficial. EEW was required to provide
a written final report that seemed to be a
“tick box” style of feedback. It is unclear
what use was made of that report. One of
the EEW directors attended a LEAF
review conference in London, but it mainly
consisted of formal speeches.
The project manager took two different
approaches to discussing whether the
project was worth £61K.
One the one hand, the fundamental
premises underpinning the project were
flawed. Georgian, Victorian, 1930s, 1960s
and 1980s houses are not unique to
Widcombe. There is a sea of public
information about how to save energy in
each of these house types – including
excellent work done by BANES Council.
Empty cavity wall, un-insulated lofts and
apathetic residents who are only semi
interested in energy are standard across
the UK. We didn’t need to reinvent the
wheel specifically for Widcombe. It would
have cost about £10,000 to use this ‘off
the shelf’, mail a copy to each house and
One team member reported:
13
Warmer Widcombe – What have we Learned, One Year On?
make an exhibition using standard
material.
On the other hand, given that the funds
money could only be spent upon
“assessments”, that is what EEW spent it
on. There is now an extremely detailed
understanding of the housing stock and
residents’ opinions in Widcombe that
forms the foundation of years of future
engagements with the community. This is
the beginning of a 10 year project for
EEW. In one month EEW engaged with
229 visitors to the exhibition and had 432
visits to the website. Within the scope of
the Local Energy Assessment Fund EEW
could be seen to have done a good job.
14
Warmer Widcombe – What have we Learned, One Year On?
Section Four: What Are The Key
Messages From “Warmer Widcombe”?
Messages For All
The results from the Attitude Survey,
explained by Blue Mable, can provide
answers to key questions for future energy
saving work in Widcombe.
What will encourage Widcombe
homeowners to take energy saving
measures?
Research indicates that inertia will be the
biggest challenge for EEW. High
proportions of residents are happy with
the energy efficiency of their houses, and
happy to take simple actions like wrapping
up warm in a cold snap (53% very likely to
take this approach) in contrast to the small
minority (6%) who are very likely to make
plans to insulate in a cold snap. The
research indicates that rather than
knowing they could insulate their homes
more effectively if it were not for a series
of barriers, home owners are not
particularly aware of their need, and
hence do not see the barriers!
First and foremost, communications need
to illustrate to homeowners that they could
(or should) be doing more to insulate their
homes. To do this, EEW will need to
convey that many homes are underinsulated and that there is a tangible
benefit for otherwise happy homeowners
to take steps to improve the efficiency of
their homes.
The messages that are currently most
motivating relate to:



Adding value to the home (72%
agree strongly or slightly)
Recovering costs within a short (5
yr) timeframe (68% agree strongly or
slightly)
Desire to reducing carbon footprint
(77% agree strongly or slightly)
The communications messages will need
to substantiate any of these claims if they
are to be motivating and prompt positive
action.
What are the messages for
policymakers at a national and local
level?
By revealing the high levels of satisfaction
with the status quo, this research indicates
that the majority of homeowners do not
perceive the importance of insulating their
homes: 67% are happy with the way their
home is; 71% are very or fairly unlikely to
make plans to insulate.
Additionally, the research indicates that
the energy efficiency of homes in the
rental sector is less good than in the
private sector which has implications for
influencing landlords to act.
We know that Widcombe has particular
issues with excess deaths of the elderly in
the winter months and yet the older (+65)
residents in the sample are more likely on
average to rate their homes as energy
efficient and less likely to say they use
additional heating to combat cold weather.
It is difficult to draw firm conclusions from
the data but this would indicate that the
elderly are suffering in silence – unwilling
15
Warmer Widcombe – What have we Learned, One Year On?
to accept that they could make their
homes warmer, and unwilling to incur the
expense of additional heating.
Specific Messages
What can DECC do differently?
What are the messages for landlords?
The survey did not include the views of
landlords, but it does reveal the attitudes
of tenants who make up 36% on the
sample – and this group are experiencing
the negative effects of under-insulated
houses to a greater degree than
homeowners.
Whilst the majority of residents are willing
to take simple actions to combat cold
weather, such as putting on an extra
jumper and making-do, it is likely that
landlords are not under particular pressure
from their tenants to improve the
insulation and energy efficiency of their
properties.
In terms of communications messaging,
EEW can appeal to landlords as
homeowners who have the potential to
add to the value of their home by
improving its insulation (again, as long as
this can be substantiated). Additionally,
EEW has the data to demonstrate to
landlords that tenants are more likely to
describe their homes as draughty and
insufficiently insulated; and therefore to
appeal to their duty of care to tenants. It
may however be more effective for EEW
to equip tenants with positive arguments
for improving insulation that they can take
up with their landlords directly.
1. Time. DECC can consider giving
community groups much more
time to prepare their proposals and
to carry them out. If they want the
Green Deal to be taken seriously,
then these projects need more
planning than has been
experienced by EEW.
2. The Green Deal. The delays to
the implementation of the Green
Deal are seriously reducing the
enthusiasm of Widcombe residents
to participate. It is not yet clear
why the Green Deal appears to
have had such a protracted and
difficult gestation. Although the
Green Deal was finally launched
on 28 January 2013, it was not
fully functional even at that stage
with no Green Deal Providers in
place. Might an assumption be
made that there are political or
business barriers from the energy
suppliers?
3. Working through local
communities. There was an
understanding that the Green Deal
would be best established through
local community action. This
certainly seems a reasonable
approach. However the
experience of EEW was that the
local actions i.e. assessments, had
already been proscribed by central
government. DECC will be more
aware than most of the research
into how communities might
change attitudes and be motivated
to introduce ESMs (e.g.
https://www.gov.uk/government/upl
oads/system/uploads/attachment_
data/file/73107/Key_findings_wave
_4.pdf
http://www.publications.parliament.
uk/pa/cm201011/cmselect/cmenva
ud/505/505vw18.htm and:
http://causeaction.co.uk/wp16
Warmer Widcombe – What have we Learned, One Year On?
content/uploads/2012/07/EnergyEfficiency-Behaviour-ChangePlanning-Checklist.pdf).
Community groups might increase
their effectiveness if they are
allowed to be more creative.
4. Attitudes. DECC could fund
further research into householder
attitudes and behaviour and
incorporate lessons into
programmes like the Green Deal.
What can the council do differently?
1. Attitudes. BANES Council can
use the information summarised
above in the “General” section.
2. Planning consent. One concern
that came up regularly among
residents attending the exhibition
was the difficulty in obtaining
planning permission for ESMs.
This is backed by the data from the
attitude survey. If this process
wasn’t so long winded and
expensive, a lot more people
would make improvements.
What should EEW do differently?
1. Community groups typically
involve volunteers. However
managing volunteers can
sometimes be problematic. For
future projects, the roles and
responsibilities within the Project
Team itself need to have been
defined at the proposal stage –
with crystal clarity.
2. Future EEW activity should be
informed by the attitude survey
and concentrate on what might
be of most interest to residents.
3. West Widcombe needs particular
attention. It is the neighbourhood
with the most energy inefficient
houses with residents suffering
from cold.
Appendices
Appendices are available on line in www.energyefficientwidcombe.co.uk
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
original application form
or Deliverables in the first application
e mail to LEAF requesting further funding
Project amendment form
Project management Gantt chart
Neighbourhood Housing Survey
Resident Energy Survey
Attitude Survey
17