Council plans to bid for funding to provide climate change measures in local homes

At its Cabinet meeting on Wednesday 7th July Cheshire West and Chester Council will set out plans to bid for Government funding to improve the energy efficiency of homes in the borough in an effort to tackle climate change and address fuel poverty.

In support of this, the Council plans to submit two bids to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) for grants to fund retrofit energy efficiency works to residential properties.

The first fund is the Sustainable Warmth Competition which will be a sub-regional bid with Cheshire East and Warrington Borough councils, targeting energy inefficient properties where the household is on a low-income and likely to be in fuel poverty. The second bid will be for funding from the Social Housing Decarbonisation Fund, which will focus on improving the energy efficiency of social housing in the area.

Residential property makes up around 14 per cent of the borough’s total greenhouse gas emissions, which contribute to climate change.

To help tackle the Climate Emergency, the Council has produced a Climate Emergency Response Plan, setting out what everyone can do to reduce carbon emissions in the borough and achieve carbon neutrality by 2045. As part of the plan, the Council will support homeowners, tenants and occupiers to maximise access to all available funding opportunities for retrofit measures to improve homes energy efficiency.

Councillor Matt Bryan, Cabinet Member for Housing, Planning and Climate Emergency, said; “Improving energy efficiency in homes is key to tackling the Climate Emergency. We’re keen to secure this funding so that we can upgrade some of the worst insulated properties in the borough. By introducing retrofitting measures, such as improved insulation and low carbon heating, we can improve the energy rating of a property, reduce fuel costs for the owner or tenant and reduce carbon emissions. If successful, much of this work will be focused on properties where the household is on a low-income and for those in fuel-poverty.”

Thanks to a £439,750 grant fund, secured through the first phase of the national Green Homes Grant scheme for Local Authority Delivery, the Council, alongside it’s partner Qwest Services, has already provided external wall insulation work on 35 park homes in the borough over the past year.