Delays to project installing solar panels on commercial buildings in Crawley's Manor Royal

For more than six months, the team behind ReEnergise Manor Royal has been waiting to receive £985k from the Towns Fund to kick-start the project, which has been six years in the making.

But a nationwide change in the rules detailing who can and cannot receive the funding left the council having to re-assess the situation and decide whether the project still qualifies.

Steve Sawyer, executive director of the Manor Royal Business Improvement District (BID), described the situation as ‘frustrating’, adding that the team was still not sure when it would receive an answer from the council.

He explained how the BID had been working with both the borough and county councils on the project to purchase, install and operate solar panels on the roofs of commercial buildings with the aim of reducing the carbon footprint of not only Manor Royal but the whole town.

While Manor Royal has been ‘quite a long way ahead of the game’ so far, Mr Sawyer said other towns had started to spot the potential of the project and were investing in their own schemes.

He added: “I know the council are working behind the scenes to resolve this, although I’m not quite sure why it has taken so long and why it is we are still no closer to an answer.

“I’m sure the council is doing everything it can, but if we don’t get an answer soon other areas who were a long way behind us will overtake us and, worse, the entire project could be put at risk.

“We have cooperated with the council every step of the way, providing a lot of information that we hope will assist in moving things forward before it starts to damage the project and the work we have done over the past few years.

“The council are an important partner to the Manor Royal BID, and will continue to be.

“We just hope they can sort this out soon.

“As soon as that decision is finally made, we are ready to get going.”

A borough council spokesman insisted the project was not at risk and pointed out that the Towns Fund money could be spent up until March 2026.

They added: “The draft agreement is almost finalised; the one outstanding item is to ensure that the scheme is compliant with the new UK Subsidy Control rules about providing public funding subsidies to private businesses.

“These rules were introduced in January this year and the council (like many other public authorities) has had to navigate and apply the new and complex checks and considerations which are required.”

The issue was raised by Chris Oxlade (Lab, Bewbush & Ifield West) during a county council meeting, where he mentioned that the project was already up for a national award.

Deborah Urquhart, cabinet member for environment & climate change, said she didn’t understand the legal reasons behind the delay and told him: “We’re trying to sort that out with Crawley so that we can actually get going sooner rather than later.”