Kingspan Telemetry Solutions

Kingspan Environmental is the market leader in oil measurement technologies. The Kingspan Telemetry portfolio comprises of the SonicSignalman which is an easily installed one piece unit that uses technology to sense the level of fuel or liquid in the tank and communicates this data via GPRS mobile networks and the internet to any web enabled computer terminal. SonicSignalman readings are received into your depot, office or personal or work computer, giving you visibility on what is happening in your tank.

Our SonicSignalman GSM telemetry solution offers many benefits for householders, housing associations, government departments, the private sector and utility companies.

Multiple benefits for many sectors:

• Central procurement – Facilitates better oil buying power by enabling the user or manager to see the quantity of fuel in the tank population;

• Energy management and building performance – Core energy management facility by providing oil usage rate information;

• Health and safety – Reduces the need to climb on tanks to dip for levels and avoids having to install hand rails and permanent ladders etc;

• Stock reconciliation and end-of-year accounting – Flash update on working stock which is accurate to one day;

• Fuel management – Allows management of fuel and traceability of small amounts;

• Logistics – Optimise delivery costs by delivering maximum capacity only when fuel is needed and reduce panic buying and run out in bad weather.

Pay-as-you-go-oil Solution

Kingspan Environmental recently welcomed the opportunity to work with Minister McCausland and his department to further develop the Fuelserv pay-as-you-go oil solution for vulnerable households. This unique technology will allow oil from tanks to be released to boilers on a pay-as-you-go basis, helping those most in need to budget and benefit from the savings gained by those buying in larger quantities. The pilot scheme to tackle fuel poverty will begin early 2012 in partnership with Carillion Energy Services.

Control of Pollution (Oil Storage) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2010

For those of you managing one or multiple fuel storage tanks we would like to highlight the control of Pollution (Oil Storage) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2010 which came into force on 20 March 2011. Enforced by The Northern Ireland Environment Agency, these regulations were introduced to promote better oil storage and to minimise the risks of oil being lost to the environment by installing a bunded oil tank (doubled walled tank). These regulations have applied to all new tanks in commercial and public sector properties from 20 September 2011 and will apply to existing tanks within

50 metres of a water course in these sectors by 20 March 2013. Remaining oil storage tanks will have to be bunded by 31 December 2015.

Kingspan Environmental has a Oil Storage Technical Helpline to help you with any advice you may need 0800 345 7178.

If you are interested in the telemetry or oil storage solutions that Kingspan Environmental has to offer then please contact our Business Development Department on 028 3836 4415 or email ciara.murphy@kingspanenv.com

The level of fuel poverty in Northern Ireland has been revised downwards following a Department for Social Development-commissioned study. The University of Ulster study revised the 2009 figure of 44 per cent figure to 13 per cent (75,000 households), using a new method of calculation.

Previously, the threshold was set at twice the median amount of household income that families in England spent on heating their homes in 1991 (10 per cent of household income), to maintain an acceptable temperature in their home. The study says 23°C for living rooms and 20°C for all other occupied rooms is recommended, with higher temperatures advised for the elderly and vulnerable.

It concluded that with the median amount of money spent in Northern Ireland on heating at 9 per cent of household income, applying a local twice-median (18 per cent), meant that 13 per cent were in fuel poverty in 2009. It also found that 33,499 households need to spend at least 25 per cent of their income on light and heat.

A UK-wide threshold shows that Northern Ireland has an acute problem. In 2009, the House Condition Survey found that Northern Ireland’s 44 per cent proportion contrasted sharply with 16 per cent of English households. Fifty-three per cent of those between 60-74 years of age and 76 per cent of those 75 years or older were in fuel poverty. The Registrar General’s annual report for 2010 found that there has been an average of 910 excess winter deaths (difference in the number of deaths in winter and the four month periods before and after) over the past 33 years.

According to the DSD, households in Northern Ireland spend approximately

60 per cent more disposable income on energy than the UK average, due to lower household incomes, greater heat needs and dependence on oil. Northern Ireland’s annual average fuel bill is £2,114. The Executive has allocated approximately £23 million for a one-off fuel allowance payment in February, for cancer patients and benefit claimants.

In March the then Social Development Minister Alex Attwood launched a fuel poverty strategy, Warmer Healthier Homes, which identified four key areas for action:

• targeting of resources;

• improving energy efficiency;

• achieving affordable energy; and

• building “strong partnerships”.

It included a target of achieving at least a 15 per cent average energy efficiency gain in homes assisted by the Warm Homes scheme; more energy efficient standards in the Code for Sustainable Homes; and a smart meters pilot to conclude and be evaluated by 30 September 2012. A DSD spokesman told agendaNi that the 12 month pilot commenced in November. The University of Ulster is expected to complete a project evaluation within six months of it finishing.

The draft Programme for Government commits to introducing “a range of initiatives aimed at reducing fuel poverty”. It promises full double glazing in Housing Executive properties by 2014-2015.

Northern Ireland’s Fuel Poverty Coalition, which includes Age NI and Save the Children, said that “tackling fuel poverty presents clear benefits across a number of key priority areas included in the draft Programme for Government” and that there should be a “detailed and costed action plan to eradicate fuel poverty” in the final document. A spokesman admitted that eradication is not possible in the short term but that it can be eventually achieved with a co-ordinated response.

The Fuel Poverty Coalition proposes energy brokering schemes in which the purchasing power of the Executive’s estate would be used to negotiate lower fuel and electricity prices for fuel poor households. The DSD has said it will introduce a test scheme for social housing providers by the end of March 2012.

The Energy Saving Trust administers Northern Ireland’s Sustainable Energy Programme, which is funded by an energy efficiency levy. It has a range of schemes to improve energy efficiency, and targets 80 per cent of its funding at alleviating fuel poverty.

Bryson Energy, part of the Bryson Charitable Group, Northern Ireland’s leading social enterprise, is committed to tackling fuel poverty and its long-term aim is to ‘energy proof’ homes across Northern Ireland.

Bryson Energy is the European energy agency for Northern Ireland and is part of a large network of over 380 energy agencies working across Europe committed to reducing energy usage in the home. Operating as a social enterprise, it is one of the largest and most successful energy agencies delivering innovative and high quality energy services at regional and local level.

Bryson Energy Director Nigel Brady explains: “Our social business model is driving public finances into local communities to maximise the impact on the local economy while providing real value for money. Despite the impact of the current economic situation and unstable energy prices we continue to make a real difference to people’s lives in Northern Ireland, especially for those living in fuel poverty. We offer a range of services and programmes designed to provide advice and support to householders helping them to increase the comfort levels in their home and reducing heating costs.”

The services include:

• Energy efficiency and micro-generation advice;

• A home visiting advice service;

• Installation of loft and cavity wall insulation alongside fully controlled oil and gas heating systems, solar panels and pellet stoves;

• Grant administration;

• School presentations;

• Benefit entitlement checks.

The services are delivered by over 55 staff alongside fully accredited sub-contractors, including other social enterprise contractors. This model ensures that employment is supported and created across all of Northern Ireland and money is invested in local communities, providing local jobs through meeting local needs. Many of the household services are funded through grant schemes and cash backs ensuring that households can avail of energy measures at reduced costs.

Bryson Energy’s largest project is the management of Warm Homes for the Department for Social Development and the Northern Ireland Housing Executive across 13 of the 26 local authority areas in Northern Ireland. Warm Homes is a central element in the Executive’s Fuel Poverty Strategy with the purpose of improving domestic energy efficiency thereby reducing energy consumption in disadvantaged households in the owner occupied and private rented sector.

Bryson Energy is also the largest provider of independent energy advice for Northern Ireland households and operates the National Energy Advice Service for Northern Ireland, which is funded by the Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) and overseen by the Energy Saving Trust. This service handles 40,000 calls a year to the free phone number 0800 512 012 and in addition to energy advice it promotes grants and cash backs for local householders.

Bryson Energy delivers over 20 separate programmes to meet its core objective of helping householders make their homes more energy efficient, access appropriate grants and benefits, and lowering the cost to achieve increased comfort levels in their homes. At a time of rising fuel prices and increasing fuel poverty, demand for the services of Bryson Energy has never been greater.

To find out more please log onto www.brysonenergy.org or call 028 9045 5008.

Northern Ireland’s population is set to age, with an 18.6 per cent increase in over 65s between 2011 and 2020 and a 42 per cent increase by 2025. The population of children (under 16) will increase by 4.3 per cent and every working age person will have the equivalent of three children or four pension age dependants from now until 2020.

These trends, from NISRA’s statistics, will have implications for all health policies, especially residential care planning and care for the elderly in hospitals. Provision of childcare in the face of an increasing elderly population will be an ongoing challenge.

Budget cuts have already resulted in nursing home closures and only those assessed with having the highest levels of need receiving a care package. With the working-age population, which generates the money for the health and pension systems, not growing as quickly as the elderly population, policy-makers are faced with decisions as to where to place money to anticipate future demand.

Meanwhile, the region’s health is getting worse, with more older people suffering from long-term illnesses and a rise in chronic conditions such as obesity and cancer, often resulting from smoking, alcohol and drug use and a sedentary lifestyle.

Thirty six per cent of 4,085 respondents to the 2010-2011 DHSSPS’ health survey were overweight, while 23 per cent were obese (8 per cent were children aged between two and 15.) A weight-loss specialist has warned that Northern Ireland is facing an obesity “tsunami” in the next five to ten years.

Northern Ireland is facing a shorter life expectancy and health inequalities mean that people from deprived areas will not live as long as those in more affluent areas. The Troubles had a lasting impact on the physical and mental health of the population and this has to be factored into future care planning.

The draft Programme for Government includes plans to enrol people who have a long-term condition in a dedicated chronic condition management programme and to spend £7.2 million on tackling obesity.

John Compton’s review will shape health and care services for the next generation. Health Minister Edwin Poots has said that there is a need to encourage “greater personal responsibility among members of the public for their own health and well-being.” This will require “a sustained and growing investment in public health, early diagnosis and early intervention services,” he insisted.

A 2009 EU policy brief (on how health systems can respond to ageing) recommends better co-ordination of care across health and social services and across different levels of health care, ensuring more treatments are done outside of hospitals (to reduce inappropriate hospital stays), reducing the risk of disease through health promotion and disease prevention programmes, and funding programmes that keep elderly people active and get them out and about.

A report commissioned from PwC by Independent Health and Care Providers, and supported by Age NI found that some older people face nursing home bills of up to £500 per week which they cannot afford.

Esmond Birnie, PwC’s Chief Economist, commented that while approximately 10 per cent of the DHSSPS £4.4 billion budget in 2009-2010 was spent on the social care system for older people, “demand is rising fast, [and] the provision of care, both in terms of funding and care homes, is falling behind.” He said that “this situation cannot continue and, in a period of severe financial constraint, a comprehensive reform of social care delivery and funding is now appropriate.”

This is an unprecedented time for Northern Ireland’s health and care sector. The McKinsey report warned the province’s Health Service will run out of money in four years unless fundamental reforms take place. Its recommendations (including intensive rehabilitation before assessing someone for social care, ending non-essential treatments like aesthetic ENT surgery and increasing the use of generic drugs) are to be treated as “an à-la-carte menu” by Poots. A UN report on ageing highlighted the gravity of the situation, saying: “We are in a situation without parallel in the history of humanity.”

Overall population: projected increase (thousands)	% Increase in population 2010-2020

Demographic groups (thousand people)

	2011	2012	2013	2014	2015	2016	2017	2018	2019	2020
Children	383	384	385	387	388	391	394	397	399	400
Pension age	308	310	312	314	316	318	320	322	324	327

]]> http://www.agendani.com/overview-2/feed 0 http://www.agendani.com/the-state-of-the-sector http://www.agendani.com/the-state-of-the-sector#comments Wed, 08 Jun 2011 12:56:00 +0000 Agenda NI http://www.agendani.com/the-state-of-the-sector agendaNi reviews the main trends identified by the Housing Executive’s research.

Northern Ireland’s housing stock is modernising, with unfit dwellings at an all-time low, but a fragile economy means few first-time buyers are entering the market.

These trends are identified in ‘Northern Ireland Housing Market Review & Perspectives’, published annually by the Housing Executive. Its current edition covers 2011-2014.

Rocked by the global economic crisis, Northern Ireland’s economy is weakened by an official 7.3 per cent unemployment rate (61,000 persons), but when all types of joblessness are considered, more than a third of the workforce is workless.

Spending cuts will aggravate the problem and lead to more dependence on benefits. Construction lost around 30,000 jobs in the recession, according to the Construction Employers Federation.

Demographics

The province’s population is expected to grow by 7 per cent over 2008-2018, from 1,775,000 to 1,896,000.

There were 204,500 single-person households in 2008 but 249,400 are anticipated in 2018 and 273,800 in 2023. This implies more new dwellings but with different designs i.e. smaller units and more supported housing to help older people live independently.

This growth has been driven by immigration (with many migrants travelling alone) and broken marriages and relationships, although the report also points to the increasing number of older people living alone.

Up to 2015, the Housing Executive expects that 2,500 new houses will be needed per year, but it emphasises that supply should not outstrip demand.

Stock

Private sector new builds reached 6,800 in 2009-2010. However, this contrasts with 14,000 four years ago. In the same year, housing associations started work on 1,838 new social housing units, against a ministerial target of 1,750.

Ensuring funding for new social housing is the Housing Executive’s most difficult challenge but the winter cold snap emphasised that existing stock should not be neglected. Good quality housing, in turn, can lead to better health, education and social cohesion.

The revised draft Regional Development Strategy anticipates a need for 11,150 new houses each year up to 2025; the previous estimate was 12,235.

Affordability

A peak-to-trough fall of 41 per cent in house prices left the average at £148,243 in 2010’s third quarter, back to 2005 levels. The previous meteoric rise resulted in 60 per cent of house prices at £201,000 or more in mid-2007, while 90 per cent were £151,000 or more. The highest average was £250,586 in 2007’s third quarter.

During the same period in 2010, 26 per cent of dwellings were priced under £100,000.

Housing is more affordable but negative equity, tight lending, joblessness and debt mean that demand has dwindled. House sales and purchases have reached an historic low, just under 11,000 for the 12 months up to September 2010, which compares to 27,200 for that period in 2005-2006.

Lenders now typically offer mortgages at 75 per cent loan-to-value ratios but stricter criteria and credit history checks mean that few potential applicants qualify. Returning confidence to the market is a key challenge for policy- makers and the private sector.

The proportion of owner-occupied dwellings appears to have “peaked for the foreseeable future” after falling from 66 per cent to 62 per cent over 2006- 2009.

Rental

Rapid growth in the private rented sector over 2006-2009 led to its stock reaching 125,000 houses (one in six). The proportion rose from 12 to 17 per cent. Private rented dwellings are slightly more likely to fail the Decent Homes standard but more likely to meet the Housing Health and Safety Rating.

Falling house prices have made investors more willing to invest in rental. Houses in multiple occupation (HMOs) will continue to be important for students, young professionals and migrant workers.

Social housing accounts for 16 per cent of total stock (116,000 dwellings). Of these, 15 per cent fail the Decent Homes test, mainly due to poor heating. More than half (56 per cent) of social housing households had incomes of under £10,400 per year.

Stress

Housing stress and the overall waiting list have both doubled over the last decade and peaked in March 2008. The March 2010 waiting list stood at 38,120 but sharply increased to 39,344 last September. Over the same period, applicants in housing stress rose from 19,716 to 20,513. The number of households presenting themselves as homeless rose to 18,664 in 2009-2010, up 3 per cent on 2008-2009.

As explained, the net stock model, used to calculate social housing need, indicates that 2,500 new units are needed each year over 2010-2016; this comprises 1,900 to meet population growth and a further 600 to clear up the backlog since 2001.

Condition

Housing unfitness stood at 2.4 per cent in 2009, down from 3.4 per cent three years previously. The number of unfit dwellings fell from 24,200 to 17,500. Unfit dwellings tend to be vacant (59 per cent) and built before 1919 (48 per cent), and unfitness remains higher in the countryside (a 4.1 per cent rate).

The share of stock failing the Decent Homes standard fell from 23 per cent in 2006 to 15 per cent in 2009, but a consistent 19 per cent failed the Housing Health and Safety Rating in both years. The average SAP rating for energy efficiency rose from 52 to 57 over the same period but rising energy prices pushed fuel poverty up from 34 per cent to 44 per cent of households.

Policy

The new Executive’s policy agenda is not yet finalised but decisions in London and Dublin will have a strong influence on the outcome.

George Osborne’s first Budget last June proposed changes in how local housing allowance (LHA) is calculated, designed to save £1.8 billion. Around 38,000 private tenants here currently have their housing benefit assessed on LHA and around £15 million in government support could be cut, resulting in tenants losing homes and landlords losing income.

The October Spending Review will cut Northern Ireland’s capital spending by 37-40 per cent and its resource spending by 7-8 per cent by 2015, depending on Treasury or DFP estimates.

Around €5 billion of Nama’s €80 billion assets are estimated to be located in Northern Ireland. Austerity and unemployment have left ‘ghost estates’ across the Republic.

Looking ahead, unemployment, tax increases and spending cuts will reduce household budgets in the UK. The Republic’s December 2010 Budget has reduced consumer confidence and spending and similar trends are expected north of the border.

A “very substantial” demand for social housing remains after the peak in waiting lists and housing stress. A major increase in new housing units since 2006 has been accompanied by a marked improvement in their condition, but the Housing Executive emphasises that ongoing funding is needed to continue this trend.

Improvements in energy efficiency can significantly reduce fuel poverty but not eradicate the problem as prices are expected to stay high.

Throughout his term as MLA (since 2003), the new Social Development Minister’s housing focus has mainly concentrated on his North Belfast constituency, which is the second most deprived electoral ward in Northern Ireland (after West Belfast).

Containing various interfaces and six peace walls, North Belfast is blighted by empty, vandalised buildings. Current regeneration plans for the area were introduced by Alex Attwood and will be overseen by Nelson McCausland. This includes a new website for developers to declare their interest in regeneration opportunities for vacant sites and a regeneration scheme for the ‘gateway site’ at the junction of Carrick Hill, North Street, Peter’s Hill and Millfield.

The deadlock over development of the Girdwood Barracks and Crumlin Road jail site will have to be addressed by McCausland. He and DUP colleagues Nigel Dodds and William Humphrey responded harshly to the former Minister’s decision in March 2011 to consult on the building of 200 social homes on the site, despite the Executive not yet reaching agreement on a master plan for the area, which was drafted in 2007.

They said it was “a very cynical move by the Minister who knows full well that his announcement cannot be turned into reality as it does not have the agreement of the Assembly Executive as required.”

In a February 2008 debate, McCausland said it was important to ensure the area would contain shared housing. He bristled at Alban Maginness’ description in 2006 of the sites at Torrens and Girdwood as a “windfall site” because he claimed that Protestant families had been driven out of those homes “after years of intimidation by republicans.”

McCausland said: “In other words, [Maginness] said that the driving out of Protestant families was a ‘windfall’, a word that, to me, means an unexpected benefit. In that case it was not of benefit to those Protestant families who were driven out.” In 2010 he went further, referring to that incident as “ethnic cleansing.”

The previous Programme for Government contained a commitment to provide 10,000 social and affordable houses by 2013, of which 7,500 would be social and 2,500 affordable.

In addition to social housing, the new Minister’s remit includes Housing Executive reform, social security (including winter fuel payments) and urban regeneration.

The DUP manifesto contains detailed commitments on housing and fuel poverty. Therefore, we can expect to see McCausland attempting to implement the following:

• a comprehensive homes and communities strategy for Northern Ireland, agreed with the housing sector;

• a review of the common selection scheme;

• an examination into creating a single regulator for the whole housing sector;

• legislative changes to strengthen the powers of social landlords to deal with anti-social tenants;

• a mandatory register for private landlords;

• an extension to the programme of installing carbon monoxide monitors in social homes;

• a Northern Ireland Housing Forum involving all housing providers and representatives of government departments including DSD, DFP and the DoE;

• a consultation on a new process to regularly review the needs of tenants of social homes; and

• a cross-departmental homelessness strategy.

The manifesto also pledges to take an early decision on the recommendations from the review of the Northern Ireland Housing Executive, with the DUP preference for exploring models that would separate the strategic and landlord functions, and utilise assets to make social housing more self-financing.

In terms of home ownership, the DUP Minister would assist first-time buyers through a graduate home loan scheme for those with degrees in STEM, finance and business subjects, which are “crucial” to improving the economy.

The Minister would promote shared ownership schemes and provide tenants with greater opportunity to own or part- own their home and would explore ways of increasing funding to assist the co- ownership scheme. A government- backed loan scheme for first time buyers would also be established.

The DSD would “strike a better balance” between funding new builds and maintaining existing social homes. It would work with housing associations analysing the potential to enhance their role in developing affordable housing and regenerating communities, whilst trying to achieve efficiency through consolidation and procurement. Affordable broadband in social homes would also be a priority.

On fuel poverty, the DUP says it would “drive [it] down” to a level comparable with the rest of the United Kingdom. Because almost half of Northern Ireland’s population are currently defined as being in fuel poverty, the DUP would focus on those in most severe need. Energy efficiency would be promoted in all homes and “energy brokering” would be encouraged between large public bodies and businesses willing to demonstrate corporate social responsibility.

The Warm Homes scheme would be more flexible and allow for repairs and upgrades of existing broken or inefficient oil and gas heating systems and a boiler scrappage scheme would be fully implemented, according to the manifesto.

Formerly the Culture, Arts and Leisure Minister (2007-2011), McCausland is a fundamentalist. He describes Northern Ireland as: “like the centre of Downpatrick [because] when you go to the bottom of the hill there are three streets that meet at the traffic lights: Irish Street, Scots Street and English Street. That’s what Northern Ireland is, a mixture of all three.” (see agendaNi, Issue 43, pages 8-11)

Alex Maskey MLA
Chair
Party: Sinn Féin
Constituency: South Belfast

A member of the party since the late 1960s, he was elected to the Assembly in 1998 for the West Belfast constituency but was re-elected in 2003 for South Belfast. Maskey has previously served as Deputy Chair of the Assembly and Executive Review Committee. A former Belfast City councillor, Maskey was the first member of Sinn Féin to serve as Belfast’s Mayor. He has also been a member of the Policing Board since 2007. Maskey previously worked as a docker and a part-time barman before entering into politics.

Mickey Brady MLA
Deputy Chair
Party: Sinn Féin
Constituency: Newry and Armagh

Brady was elected to the Assembly in 2007 and is a former member of the Social Development Committee, the Procedures Committee and the Health Social Services and Public Safety Committee. He has campaigned against budget cuts and fuel poverty and on housing issues such as homelessness. A party spokesman on welfare rights and the elderly, Brady has previously worked as a welfare rights officer.

Gregory Campbell MP MLA
Party: DUP
Constituency: East Londonderry

Minister for Regional Development (2001-2002) and Culture, Arts and Leisure (2008-2009), Campbell was elected to the Assembly in 1998. An MP for East Londonderry since 2001, he has also served as a Derry City councillor since 1981. He sat on the Public Accounts Committee and the previous Social Development Committee, before being appointed to the Executive table.

Sammy Douglas MLA
Party: DUP
Constituency: East Belfast

Douglas spent the last 25 years working in loyalist communities and has been involved in reconciliation as a founder member of the Belfast Interface Group. Elected to the Assembly in 2011, he also sits on the board of the East Belfast Partnership and works with the East Belfast Community Development Agency. He is also a former member of the Harland & Wolff Task Force and Laganside Corporation.

Alex Easton MLA
Party: DUP
Constituency: North Down

Elected to the Assembly in 2003, Easton has also served as a North Down councillor since 2001. He is also a former member of the Social Development Committee as well as the Health, Social Services and Public Safety Committee. He worked for fourteen years in the health sector and in the Ulster Hospital as a higher clerical officer.

Pam Lewis MLA
Party: DUP
Constituency: South Antrim

A DUP councillor for Antrim Town since 2005 and the first female Mayor of Antrim Borough Council (2010) Lewis was successfully returned for another term in May 2011. Lewis has previously worked in the DUP’s South Antrim constituency office. She has also worked as office manager for Sammy Wilson in the East Antrim office and a member of the DUP Central Executive Committee.

Fra McCann MLA
Party: Sinn Féin
Constituency: West Belfast

A former member of the last Social Development Committee and Regional Development Committee, Fra McCann has also represented Sinn Féin as housing spokesman. Elected to the Assembly in 2003, he has served as a Belfast City councillor since 1997. McCann worked as secretary of the Divis Residents Association, which fought a successful campaign to have the Divis complex demolished.

Michael Copeland MLA
Party: UUP
Constituency: East Belfast

A former MLA in the suspended Assembly (2003-2007), Copeland has also served as a Castlereagh Borough councillor since 2001 and Chairman of Castlereagh District Policing Partnership. He has a keen interest in domestic, socio- economic and housing problems and is a former lieutenant in the Ulster Defence Regiment. Copeland also worked in the construction and allied trades industry as a company and managing director.

Mark H Durkan MLA
Party: SDLP
Constituency: Foyle

Mark H Durkan was elected to the Assembly in 2011, replacing Pól Callaghan. A Derry City councillor since 2005, he previously served as Chairman of the council’s Planning Committee. He is also the party’s spokesman on health and has sat on the Western Health and Social Care Board, the Derry Visitor and Convention Bureau and is involved with several community-based groups.

Judith Cochrane MLA
Party: Alliance
Constituency: East Belfast

A Castlereagh Borough councillor since 2005, Cochrane previously ran Naomi Long and Chris Lyttle’s East Belfast office. She has also worked for the Civil Service, as a management consultant in the private sector and in retail management. Cochrane has also sat on the council’s Finance, Leisure and Technical Services Committees.

David McClarty MLA
Independent
Constituency: East Londonderry

David McClarty became an independent MLA in January 2011 and was re-elected in May. However, he was a UUP MLA from 1998-2011 and a former chief whip for the party. McClarty also sat on the Enterprise, Trade and Investment Committee and the Environment Committee. Elected to Coleraine Council in 1989, he was also appointed as Mayor of Coleraine (1993-1995).

DUP
Social Development Minister: Nelson McCausland MLA
Assembly Private Secretary: William Humphrey MLA
Assembly Spokesman: Gregory Campbell MP MLA
Westminster Spokesman: William McCrea MP

A DUP Minister would separate the Housing Executive’s strategic and landlord functions, and aim to make social housing more self-financing. A comprehensive ‘homes and communities strategy’ would underpin policy and a ‘housing forum’ would bring together all interests in the sector.

The party backs a “light touch” mandatory register of private landlords, a government-backed loan scheme for first-time buyers and a graduate home loan scheme. The latter proposal would only cover graduates in ‘economic’ subjects (e.g. science, finance and business) and is clearly designed to keep them in Northern Ireland. The common selection scheme would be reviewed and the boiler scrappage scheme fully implemented.

It would also explore the potential for a single housing regulator and a derelict land levy in urban areas. A Community Empowerment and Renewal Bill would allow residents to acquire under-used public sector land and encourage social entrepreneurship.

On social impact bonds, the party cites the Regent Park Revitalisation Project, a community housing scheme in Toronto, which was “substantially financed” by bonds sold to provincial governments, pension funds and institutional investors.

The DUP would prefer housing policy to sit alongside local government, rates and benefits in a ‘department of communities and social welfare’. It also wants to see a cross-departmental homelessness strategy. DUP MLAs held the social development brief in the first Executive (1999-2002).

Sinn Fein
Assembly Spokesman: Alex Maskey MLA
Oireachtas Spokesman: Dessie Ellis TD

Specific party objectives include mandatory registration scheme for private landlords, a deposit retention scheme to protect tenants from landlords who withhold deposits, a review of the status of housing associations and an “effective” mortgage relief scheme.

Maintenance schemes would be protected from cuts and Sinn Féin pledges to “end discrimination” against people seeking housing in areas of high demand. Disabled people should be prioritised within the points system and the party would establish targets and timetables to reduce fuel poverty.

Its proposals include enabling the Housing Executive to borrow £250 million per year from the European Investment Bank and other funders. For comparison, the housing budgets for 2011-2012 are £186.6 million (current expenditure) and £130.1 million (capital investment).

UUP
Spokesman: Michael Copeland MLA

Ulster Unionists call for spending on the Warm Homes scheme to be

maintained at £20 million and also seek the re-introduction of boiler replacements in that scheme. Older people who wish to remain in their own homes should be cared for at home.

The party emphasises that poor housing contributes to health inequalities i.e. higher levels of ill-health in some areas than others. Too many families are living in poor housing or trapped in poverty, it warns.

West Belfast candidate Bill Manwaring suggested that the Social Development Minister should look at models throughout Europe, where private developers and housing providers work together with government capital, and release land banks to housing associations.

SDLP
Spokesman: Mark H Durkan MLA

An end to segregation in housing is the SDLP’s most ambitious aim, pledging an “intensified” shared future approach.

The party also promises to insulate 100,000 homes and build more social housing where the need is highest. A mortgage rescue scheme is also prioritised and all social housing should meet the Decent Homes standard. A new

homelessness strategy would be drawn up.

A commitment to eradicate fuel poverty still stands. Reform of the Housing Executive and housing associations would continue, with more private finance and new delivery models introduced. Like the DUP, the party suggests a ‘communities, housing and local government department’, which would take on OFMDFM’s urban regeneration remit. The SDLP held the social development brief from 2007 to 2011.

Alliance
Spokeswoman: Judith Cochrane MLA

Alliance’s proposed Shared Housing Bill would require the Housing Executive to promote mixed housing. Protecting shared housing would involve a clampdown on paramilitary and sectarian markings. It claims the Housing Executive has “rarely taken action” on paramilitary flags.

The party would consider the mutualisation of the Housing Executive. “Ambitious targets” for reducing fuel poverty are needed, as part of the Green New Deal. The Department for Social Development must also look beyond the “easy wins” in energy efficiency and move on to solid wall insulation and secondary glazing. It should also aim to build zero-carbon homes.

Mandatory private landlord registration and extending the Decent Homes standards to private rented housing are also proposed. Alliance would consider introducing a ‘preventing possession fund’ for householders at risk of repossession and re-introduce the Apartment Developments’ Management Reform Bill which fell at dissolution.

Green Party
The Green New Deal, according to the Greens, must insulate 500,000 homes across Northern Ireland, a massive figure as the province has around 700,000 households. It also pledges a 20 per cent developer

contribution for social and affordable housing in all developments of 20 or more houses. Each new housing estate should have allotments and funding for housing adaptations must be ring-fenced.

PUP
The Housing Executive should have first refusal on repossessed

properties, the PUP says, and should employ its own maintenance staff. Fuel co- operatives, funded by weekly payments by residents, could keep homes warm. All pensioners in Northern Ireland should receive home visits to advise them on energy efficiency. A ‘three-strike’ rule for disruptive tenants is also suggested.

TUV
No commitments on housing are made in the TUV manifesto. Its councillors have lobbied on local housing needs.

Belfast’s original streets are disappearing and will soon be gone for good unless urgent action is taken, according to Mark Hackett. “I think we have very little time to save what is unique about Belfast’s spaces,” the architect states.

Most of the old Victorian terraces and mill buildings have been knocked down, taking with them much of the city’s character. Some of the best remaining examples can be found in the Village and the New Lodge.

Hackett is a Co-Director of the Forum for Alternative Belfast, a non-profit “think tank and do tank” aiming for “a connected and a better designed city”.

As well as being more sensitive to the past, he wants to see more strategic thinking about how today’s streets are used. This follows on from the ‘Happy to live here?’ exhibition on urban design organised by him and fellow architect Declan Hill in 2006.

“What was realised was that it wasn’t so much the housing, as the spaces in between housing, that was the biggest problem,” he comments. Car parking bays, for example, take up the space which could be used for a front garden.

No one organisation is in charge. The Roads Service, for example, maintains the street surface, its signs and lights, while the city council handles building standards and street names. A multiplicity of organisations “means it’s very difficult to pull together those forces to make good space.”

Decision-makers are also disconnected from local communities due to the Troubles and the legacy of direct rule. Hackett therefore sees a “renewed sense of local politics” as an important factor, with the people who make the decisions about an area actually coming from the area.

“What we need to talk about is care or pride in our area” whether than means the street or the city.

However, he claims that Belfast is not a single entity but three or four cities, with each one “not aware of the other”. The city centre “has become almost a utility for shopping, for business, but nobody lives there”.

The solution, in his view, does not involve re-inventing the wheel but just adapting best practice from other places and implementing that with strong leadership. The English Partnerships quality standards, for example, were copied in Dublin’s regeneration.

At street level, strict enforcement of waste regulations would also improve appearances e.g. making sure that bins do not take up space at the front of houses. The new Social Development Minister will be asked by the forum to take a walk around two recent housing schemes, to point out examples of poor design.

While the city was once “completely walkable”, it has been given over to the car. Road-building from the 1960s onwards encircled the city centre with large open spaces. Hackett characterises Belfast city centre as a ‘grey doughnut’ encircled by those spaces, which could be put to good use with some creative thinking.

Take the Divis Street bridge over the Westlink, for example. The forum’s ‘Divis Pathfinder’ project visualises the street as an arterial route that can raise the value of surrounding buildings and encourage people to walk into the city centre. Shops could be built on the bridge itself.

Publicly-owned land could be released in a controlled way, thus making it a zero- cost improvement. This project is being assisted by the Strategic Investment Board and the Roads Service.

In addition, the forum’s ‘Inter-Change’ project considers how the Roads Service can complete the flyover at York Street originally planned in the 1960s. Traffic currently spills over into the nearby streets. The forum thinks that these streets could be used by more pedestrians and cyclists, with gardens, trees, shops and housing, again increasing the land value. A four-week exhibition on the project, using work by architecture post-grads, was held at the nearby Golden Thread Gallery during May.

Rising fuel costs and increasing unemployment means that almost half of people living in the province are finding it difficult to heat their homes.

The Department for Social Development published ‘Warmer Healthier Homes – a new Fuel Poverty Strategy for Northern Ireland’ in March.

Under the plans, 1,300 homes across Northern Ireland will get their boilers replaced in a £2 million pilot scheme and the application process is expected to begin in September.

Launching the strategy, Minister Alex Attwood said the 47-page strategy will attempt to deal with the three contributors to fuel poverty: low income, high fuel prices and poor energy efficiency. He also called on energy providers, all government departments and voluntary sector partners to work together to tackle the problem.

“More than 44 per cent of people in Northern Ireland live in fuel poverty, a figure more likely to rise than fall as time goes on,” Attwood said. “People cannot afford to heat their homes adequately. People need help. This is a serious situation and one which requires a combined effort to combat.”

The Assembly has also passed new legislation, as part of the Housing (Amendment) Bill, to allow for energy brokering. Once the Bill receives royal assent, it will for the first time, allow the Housing Executive to broker energy costs for their tenants at a discounted rate.

The low-cost fuel plans follow on from the example of the Citizens Energy Corporation, established in 1979 in the United States, which has delivered millions of gallons of discount home heating oil to poor and elderly households throughout 23 different states.

Severe weather during winter highlighted the need for more affordable fuel for vulnerable households, the Minister said.

He commented: “Now, more than ever, government needs to exhaust every possibility in an effort to help people in need.”

“In this current financial climate, with our economy still in recession and cuts in welfare benefits hitting home, it is crucial we do what can be done to protect vulnerable people, families and households,” commented Attwood.

The previous fuel poverty strategy, published in 2004, set a target to completely eradicate fuel poverty by 2016 in all households and in vulnerable households by 2010. However, the latest document points out that these goals were set at a time of “relatively low fuel prices” and in the current economic climate “will not be achieved”. The department has said it “remains committed” to eradicating fuel poverty.

Attwood stated that the new pilot boiler scheme initiative should help those who do not meet the criteria for the Warm Homes Scheme.

Fuel poverty defined

A household is in poverty if, in order to maintain an acceptable level of temperature in their home, the occupants would have to spend more than 10 per cent of their income on all household fuel use.

In numbers:

302,310 households in fuel poverty (2009)

10% increase from 2006

76% of people aged 75+ are in fuel poverty

70% of people use oil to heat their homes

Source DSD