Council tenants in Stoke-on-Trent will benefit from warmer homes following a successful bid by the council to the government’s Social Housing Decarbonisation Fund (SHDF). The £1.39mn grant will pay for improving the energy efficiency of 106 council-owned properties across the city.
Work to be carried out will include fitting cavity and external wall insulation and double glazing over the next two years to properties primarily in Chell and Norton; properties in other parts of the city will have underfloor insulation installed.
Council’s cold homes lack insulation
Cabinet member for housing, regeneration and planning Councillor Chris Robinson said: “This latest round of improvement work could save tenants up to £400 on their energy bills per year, helping to support some of the city’s lowest income families.”
An estimated 6.1 million homes in the UK do not have cavity wall insulation, 7.7 million do not have solid wall insulation, and 8.5 million do not have adequate loft insulation according to data produced by the House of Commons Library.
In February the Institute of Health Equity and Friends of the Earth produced data showing that 34% of households in England are living in damp, cold and poorly insulated homes and not earning enough to pay for improvements.
Sir Ian Marmot, director of the Institute of Health Equity told the Guardian: “Cold homes are a public health hazard: those living in them have much higher risk of developing poor physical and mental health and this is adding burden on to an already overstretched NHS.”
Essential funding won
The improvements to Stoke council properties are one of 42 projects to win a share of £75 million in government funding; other successful applicants include Blackpool Council and Norwich City Council.
Secretary of State for Energy Security Claire Coutinho said the funding would help “hardworking families” to “keep their homes warm and their bills down”.
Tenants in Stoke-on-Trent have reported problems with damp and mould linked to poor insulation since the council launched an initiative to target these issues in November last year.
Council leader Jane Ashworth told the BBC: “It is totally unacceptable for families to be risking serious health issues by living in damp, mouldy, cold conditions in a very rich country such as ours.”
Hope for an end to fuel poverty
Speaking about the latest round of improvements to properties, Stoke Councillor Robinson said that although we are “coming out of the worst of winter now but already we need to focus our efforts on the next cold snap. We know that homes with poor energy efficiency are more prone to damp and mould, so we are pleased to have been awarded this funding which will enable us to continue to tackle these issues.”
The latest improvements in Stoke will, it is estimated, save tenants up to £400 per year on their energy bills. In addition to this the council will be investing £117mn in capital investment in new boilers, bathrooms and kitchens for its properties.
Councillor Robinson said: “We are committed to addressing the root causes of damp and mould and are doing everything we can to help lift struggling families out of fuel poverty. Everybody deserves to live in a safe and warm home.”
