North East HECA Forum

10:00 am July 16th 2003

@ The Industry Centre, Sunderland

Introduction/Welcome

Steve Kent welcomed delegates to the meeting.

  1. Quorum/Apologies

Meeting Quorate

Present:Steve KentGateshead MBC(Chair)

Colin WhiteNewcastle City Council

Abi PowellSouth Tyneside MBC

Alan HunterSunderland City Council

Beverly CampbellStockton on Tees BC

Mark FreemanCoast & Country Housing

Natalie TomlinsonDerwentside DC

Ian BloomfieldWear Valley

Cliff DuffEasington DC

John CookDurham CC

Andy StephensonChester le Street

Ken MiddlemassKNW

Monique PurdyTIC

Lorraine DunsireScottish Power

Bridget EdwardsNEEAC

Colin MacDonaldNEEAC

Laura ThomsonNEEAC(Secretariat)

Dan LudgateTADEA

David LaceyTADEA

Amanda MartinTADEA

20 attended. 10 LAs attended out of 23.

Apologies: Kath McNishBerwick upon Tweed

Bill WestlandDarlington BC

Peter MorganHartlepool BC

Kirsty BrownEAGA

Denise RogersBritish Gas

Barrie BrassThe Carbon Trust

Stephen CalvertEST

Peter O’Neilnpower

Neil BarnesSedgefield

  1. Matters Arising

SK has not yet written to the EST, rejecting their offer for funding for 2003-2004

  1. Agreement of minutes

The minutes were agreed as a true record of the meeting.

  1. Nominations and election of Vice Chair

Ian Bloomfield of Wear Valley DC was elected as Vice Chair for 2003-2004.

  1. Future Funding

An offer of £5000 funding has been received from npower. This funding is not dependent on work plans or submission of minutes and would be available as one lump sum at the beginning of the year. This funding would be available for the next three years. npower wishes the NE HECA forum to remain impartial but would like to be acknowledged for the sponsorship.

An offer of support has also been received from EAGA.

The forum decided to accept the funding from npower to support the group as it is now, as well as looking for additional funding (perhaps from EAGA) in order to progress the forum i.e. training packages.

  1. Visit to hydro plant and wind farm

If anyone wishes to take up the offer of a visit to a hydro plant and wind farm with Scottish Power, they should forward their names to SK. Groups of about four will be able to visit at each time.

  1. Role of Secretariat

The role of Secretariat will be moving over from Northumbria LASP to Northumbria EEAC as of the next meeting. The responsibilities will be shared between Bridget Edwards and Catherine Pope who can be contacted on or telephone 0191 2332544.

It was suggested that a treasurer be appointed from one of the local authorities.

  1. UK HECA Chairs meeting report

SK gave a summary of the minutes from the UK HECA Chairs meeting including a report on the HECA conference.

There was a request for contributions for the HECA forum network newsletter. SK pointed out that there has not yet been a contribution from the North East.

  1. HECA Officer of the Year

The winner was not present to receive the award.

  1. AOB

As a result of a presentation from Tyrone Holmes of DEFRA at the HECA conference, SK has been making enquiries into the next round of HECA progress reporting, about what, if any, additional information will be required. SK will report back to the forum when a reply is received.

SK suggested that the NE HECA forum forms a steering group of about 5 local authorities. DL proposed that the two LASPs find representatives from the sub regional groups that already meet. This would mean the whole North East region was evenly represented.

Options were also discussed as to how to encourage attendance from the Northumberland authorities

The next meeting will be the 1st September so as not to clash with the NEA conference which is to be held on the 8th, 9th & 10th September.

Presentations

There was a brief presentation from Hugh Morgan Williams from Walltransform Ltd, about their new product. Wallreform 6is a new energy saving plaster/render that can be used to insulate solid walls from the inside or outside. He can be contacted on

John Cook, Energy Development Officer from Durham County Council, gave a presentation about the Cassop and Catchgate School Wind Turbines. You can contact John on

Dan Ludgate from TADEA Local Authority Support Programme informed the group about the fuel poverty mapping exercise which has been commissioned for the Tees and Durham area. For more information e mail

Date of Next Meeting

Monday 1st September

The Industry Centre

Sunderland

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