Manchester among Green Deal pilot cities

Seven cities across England will share £12m to help test the Green Deal for domestic energy installations ahead of its nationwide launch.

Birmingham, Bristol, Leeds, Manchester, Newcastle, Nottingham and Sheffield were named on Friday as recipients of the cash from the £200m Green Deal launch incentives fund.

The Green Deal is aimed at helping people pay for home improvements such as insulation through a loan repaid via a levy on energy bills.

Sir Richard Leese, leader of Manchester City Council, said: "This announcement will help hundreds of families across the region cut their energy bills at a time when rising fuel prices are affecting everyone, while it will also help local businesses in a range of sectors including construction to develop their low carbon skills, ultimately giving them a stronger market position and helping safeguard local jobs.

"A wide range of public and private sector organisations across Greater Manchester are now committed to reducing carbon emissions, and this announcement is another important step towards achieving our goals."

Ed Davey, Energy Secretary, said: "These cities have really ambitious plans to lower their emissions, reduce energy use and help people save money on their bills. I've been really impressed by their plans to start testing the Green Deal and transforming our homes and buildings.

"This funding will help them get up and running, and I look forward to seeing a number of properties across whole communities get the energy efficient improvements they need."

The proposals received include retrofitting properties across whole communities and initial indications suggest that the cities expect to deliver to around 2,500 retrofits to households and non-domestic properties.

All of the cities are also proposing to generate match funding and provide direct support themselves.