The UK Green Building Council has reacted to the publication of the first quarterly Green Deal statistics by publishing a letter from construction industry leaders urging all political parties to come together to ensure the Green Deal doesn't fail.

According to the statistics, 241 Green Deal Plans had been requested by 16 June, with just four Plans signed.

In an open letter orchestrated by the UK Green Building Council, a cross section of chief executives from housing, energy, finance and construction companies urged the three main parties to collaborate to address "major concerns" with current retrofit policy.

Paul King, Chief Executive of UK-GBC, said: "It is obviously disappointing that more Green Deal assessments have not been turned into finance plans, and it shows just how crucial additional incentives are to drive take up. But we simply cannot let this fail – retrofitting the UK's housing stock is too important for reducing energy bills, improving health, creating jobs in the construction sector and avoiding costs of new generating capacity – and no one has a credible alternative.

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"Business leaders are saying loud and clear that we need to forge a new consensus between politicians of all parties, the private sector and the public around retrofit, to depoliticise something that simply has to be done. It will require some tough choices, but it is absolutely in the public and nation’s best interest to address this as a matter of urgency. The Green Deal provides an important foundation to build on."

The letter - addressed to Energy Secretary Ed Davey, Climate Minister Greg Barker and Shadow Climate Minister Luciana Berger - outlines a number of barriers to the uptake of energy efficiency measures through the Green Deal such as the lack of long-term structural incentives, the current interest rate for Green Deal finance and the complexity of the scheme.

(CD/JP)