LONDON: The Government's decision to close the Low Carbon Building Programme (LCBP) has given rise to concerns that other renewable programmes could be axed altogether as government tries to bring the budget deficit under control.
The announcement leaves a year's hiatus between the closure of the LCBP and the introduction of its replacement, the Renewable Heat Incentive (RHI).
The fear now is that other programmes could fall victim to government cuts.
Neil Schofield, head of sustainable development at Worcester, Bosch Group, commented: "I have every sympathy with the Government's position over LCBP, despite the fact that the programme has been an enormous success.
"It would appear that it has fallen victim to the need to make cuts in the budget deficit.
"However, the decision now leaves us with an enormous hiatus between the closure of LCBP and the start of the RHI programme in April 2011. My fear is that the renewables momentum which has been growing with the introduction of the Feed-in-Tariff, pay-as-you-save and RHI will now be lost."
