Green Party Councillors are calling on Sheffield City Council to provide more support to tenants of Crystal Peaks Shopping Centre and Retail Park to help reduce their costs and contribute towards net zero.
A report to the Waste and Street Scene Committee revealed that the Service Charge for businesses at Crystal Peaks have not increased since 2009. To balance the finances, officers are advising that the Council raises the Service Charge to ensure their costs are covered. Sheffield City Council has not recovered its costs, for things like energy, water, maintenance and repairs, with a gap of £263k in the last financial year. Options were put to the Committee of recovering the costs within 1 to 8 years. Green Councillors proposed greater investment in energy efficiency and renewable energy to help reduce energy demand, energy costs and carbon emissions.
Councillor Alexi Dimond said,
“Energy costs for the Crystal Peaks Shopping Centre in 2022/23 have risen by 50%, to £116k, in the last financial year and represent a significant proportion of the service charge. The Council does need to ensure it recovers its costs but it also has a responsibility to reduce carbon emissions, energy demand and therefore energy costs.
“We need to help traders by taking action to improve the energy performance of our buildings. That means investment in renewable technology such as solar panels on the roof and investigating how the energy efficiency of the building can be improved to help reduce energy costs. This is the way that we can ensure costs are kept under control in the long term, by providing certainty on energy costs for Crystal Peaks traders.”
References
(Public Pack)Agenda Document for Waste & Street Scene Policy Committee, 15/11/2023 10:00 (sheffield.gov.uk)
