Possible suggested uses include demonstration sites and council tax rebates

Energy minister Greg Barker has said he wants suggestions from the construction industry on how to use £200m of government funding to support the take up of the Green Deal.

Yesterday Barker told a gathering of industry chiefs, convened by the UK Green Building Council, that the Department for Energy and Climate Change did not yet have plans for how to spend the money and were seeking ideas.

The additional funding was announced by chief secretary to the Treasury Danny Alexander last week just 24-hours after the DECC published a comprehensive consultation on the details of how the Green Deal would work.

The Green Deal is the government’s flagship schemes to improve the energy efficiency of the housing stock by providing energy efficiency measures for no up-front costs paid for by a charge on a property’s energy bills over time.

The construction sector has seized the opportunity to float ideas for the funding. Stephen Heath, external affairs director for Knauf Insulation, said: “The minister himself suggested something like a council tax rebate. I think the council tax plan is a good one as it offers something for everyone.”

He said that anything that brought in trusted parties such as local authorities would likely have benefits for the scheme’s credibility.

Andrew Mellor, director of environment at PRP Architects, said: “My suggestion is to roll out some large demonstration projects and test it before the massive roll out. People don’t want to try unproven things so if it’s proven it’ll increase take up.”

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