Empowering Regions for Healthier Homes

The UK policy context for retrofitting homes has developed over time, most recently with the Warm Homes Plan. Alongside this, we have seen the evolution of devolution policy, with increasing enthusiasm from both Starmer and Burnham governments. How might these areas of policy intersect and to what effect?

Looking back, previous retrofit policies such as the Heat and Buildings Strategy produced by the Johnson government in 2021, included bold statements such as “Decarbonising buildings can provide a major economic stimulus, creating new highly-skilled jobs, products, markets, and supply chains in the UK, fit for a Net Zero future.” This wording would not be out of place in the Warm Homes Plan. Indeed, the fundamentals of retrofit policy haven’t changed significantly with programmes of insulation, PV installation, battery storage and heat pumps to deliver homes meeting EPC C or above. Unfortunately, it would also the barriers to delivery at scale and at pace haven’t changed much either including the stop / start nature of funding, skills shortages, and consumer protection concerns.

By contrast, devolution to Mayoral authorities has seen significant evolution over the past decade and has been given a further boost by recent legislation. The English Devolution and Community Power Act 2026 formally creates “Strategic Authorities” as a new tier in English local government. Mayoral Strategic Authorities (MSAs) have defined areas of competence, some of which are of interest regarding the retrofit agenda, including skills and employment, housing and strategic planning, economic regeneration, environment and climate, and health.

This approach to devolution was in train even before Andy Burnham entered Downing Street. In "Head North", the book he co-wrote with Liverpool’s Mayor, Steve Rotheram, he claimed that the country is run by "around 50 people in Whitehall", most of them with “London-centric views.”  He called for a new era of devolution in which MSA’s took responsibility for driving economic growth by bringing local understanding into decision making. He also presented net-zero as an economic opportunity rather than solely an environmental necessity.

“Rewiring the State” was an early statement of intent from the new Burnham government, offering a new vision for devolution in England, transferring resources and responsibilities from central government to the regions. This included the devolution of funding for 16–19-year-olds to Mayors alongside existing adult skills funding, devolved employment support and investment to upgrade to warmer homes. This statement was accompanied by the creation of "No 10 North" leading on regional growth, the secondment of senior civil servants across MSAs, a move towards coterminous public services boundaries across regions, with implications for police and health reform.

Regional devolution alone won’t automatically lead to improvements. As MSAs develop and expand their responsibilities there is a question over competency and capacity – are there enough people capable of producing regional economic strategies, spatial development strategies etc alongside diligently administering the allocation of public sector grants at a regional level? Indeed, some MSAs have already got into difficulties with the auditors (see Tees Valley). There has also been criticism that regional powers remove some decision making from Local Authorities – the opposite of devolution – for example, certain planning powers. And of course, at present, not everywhere in England is covered by an MSA, leading to a somewhat patchwork approach.

Despite these caveats, we can see how the more established MSAs have made best use of their devolved powers and funding to improve homes in their areas. There are some interesting emerging themes from across the regions demonstrating progress:

Strong political leadership. While Mayor of the Greater Manchester Combined Authority, Andy Burnham brought forward the challenge to make the region carbon neutral. He chaired the GMCA retrofit task force, which introduced a systemic approach to retrofitting across different tenures, and initiatives such as the Net Zero Housing Fund Retrofit Framework, procuring a national framework of qualified retrofit providers. The GMCA used devolved powers to add specific conditions for funding eligibility e.g. a requirement to sign up to the GM Good Landlord Charter. Under GMCA’s leadership, they brought housing providers together with the Health and Social Care Partnership to create the ‘Tripartite Agreement’ committed to creating “a healthy, safe, warm space for everyone to call home”.

A neighbourhood approach. The West Midlands Combined Authority (WMCA) used their funding to establish a Net Zero Neighbourhood programme which trialled decarbonisation strategies at the neighbourhood level. Brockmoor in Dudley was selected as the first demonstrator net zero neighbourhood supporting residents to access retrofit solutions, integrating this with active transport options and green spaces improvements. Evidence shows that such a neighbourhood approach, with genuine community engagement, can raise satisfaction levels for the whole area.

Combining funding streams. As Mayor of the West Yorkshire Combined Authority Tracey Brabin stated an ambition to deliver 1000 green jobs for young people in the region. By aligning existing funding streams and developing a partnership approach the Mayor established the Green Jobs Taskforce and the Green Skills Academy to realise this vision.

Such initiatives using devolved funding and flexibilities demonstrate a degree of evolution rather than revolution at regional level. My PhD is just starting, and I will be taking a deeper dive into what works best across MSAs, and what is replicable and scalable. As ever, issues emerge and develop. There is increasing concern about climate adaptation – overheating, water resilience and wildfires – and at the same time, some councils are undeclaring a climate emergency, supported by elements of the media disparaging the net zero agenda.

But overall, the national policy context remains positive across both retrofit and devolution. The Warm Homes Plan offers “the biggest ever public investment to upgrade British homes and cut bills “with raft of action and initiatives across solar panels, insulation, batteries, and heat pumps, district heating and heat networks, minimum energy efficiency standards for rented properties, new low-cost loans, and improved consumer protection – creating 180,000 additional jobs. We know from Energy Secretary Miatta Fahnbulleh’s speech to the Labour Party conference in September that much of the “Great Home Upgrade” will now be devolved to MSAs to deliver – alongside combined funding streams intended to provide a new neighbourhood focus to deliver retrofit cross tenure.

So, will Andy Burnham bring the same ambition and commitment to the nation as he demonstrated while Mayor of Greater Manchester? He has already recommitted the government to the nation’s 2050 net zero target, and with a new devolution paper due this autumn, there are cautious grounds for optimism for believing that we may indeed see the freedom, flexibility and funding needed to deliver healthier homes across the Mayoral regions.

By Nick Murphy, Chair P3 Housing and Post Graduate Researcher, University of Nottingham

Image credit: Nick Murphy