6/6/2007

Welsh Liberal Democrats today accused the Government of damaging dozens of small Welsh green businesses and undermining efforts to encourage individuals to install small-scale solar, wind, biomass, geothermal and hydroelectric installation through its handling of the Low Carbon Buildings Programme (LCBP).

The party criticised the recently reopened phase 1 of the LCBP, which provides £18m for grants to private households and businesses until June 2008, for being “woefully insufficient, appallingly managed and overly bureaucratic.�

Lembit Opik, Welsh Liberal Democrat Leader and MP for Montgomeryshire, said:

"The Low Carbon Buildings Programme is supposed to help green business and encourage people to install renewable energy technologies in their homes and offices. But the
Government couldn't have messed up more if it tried.

"To start with, the programme is massively under-funded. Every day, the Government wastes more money in tax credits over payments than it puts forward each year to
help people install solar, wind, biomass, geothermal and hydroelectric units.

"Secondly, Welsh green businesses have already had to cope with the financial shock of the Low Carbon Buildings Programme being suspended for two months. Now it looks like grants for households could run out before the end of the year and the DTI have ruled out extending it any further.

"Thirdly, grants for solar panels have been cut by 83% and for hydro-electric units and micro-wind turbines by 50%. This will have serious impact on the income of
future of small Welsh companies that provide these clean technologies.

"And finally, the new application system requires people to provide proof of planning permission even though very few actually need this. In the vast majority of cases, this is an unnecessary bureaucratic and expensive loophole that will only put people off installing renewable technologies.



"These four facts together show that the Government is more eager to generate hot air about the environment than they are about generating cool solutions to climate
change."

Mark Williams, Welsh Liberal Democrat MP for Ceredigion, criticised the setting of a cap on grants of £2,500 per household and compared it with other setups across the
UK. He said:

"Welsh grants for installing renewable energy units are capped at a maximum of £2,500. But in Scotland, where the Lib Dems got the Scottish Executive to set up its
own scheme, grants are as big as £4,000. And in Northern Ireland, people can get grants of up to £15,000 through a Northern Ireland Initiative.

"When you are dealing with expensive low carbon technologies like solar PVs and micro-wind turbines that can cost around £13,000, a £2,500 grant isn't enough. Even cheaper technologies, like solar water heaters, that cost around £3,000, have a top end grant of just £400. This is clearly woefully inadequate.

"The Government is failing to back up its bold words with hard cash and this is showing on the ground in Wales. Scotland has dished out four times as many grants
than Westminster has provided in Wales."