Liverpool City Region secures £28.5m to retrofit low-income housing

Nearly 2,500 homes will undergo upgrades to home heating systems and be fitted with insulation and double glazing because of the funds.

The money comes from the Department of Business Energy and Industrial Strategy and is designed to improve the energy efficiency of the homes while also cutting bills for those households. The funds will also go towards helping those low-income households transition to low-carbon heating.

The £28.5m is in addition to £11.3m the city region has already set aside for improving energy efficiency in another 1,100 homes.

“At a time when more and more people are at risk of fuel poverty because of rising prices and widespread supply issues, we are doing everything we can to help people across our region heat their homes as cheaply and efficiently as possible without heating the planet too,” said Mayor of Liverpool City Region Steve Rotheram.

“We’re investing nearly £40m to help put money in the pockets of 3,600 of our most vulnerable and disadvantaged households by improving the energy efficiency of their homes and cutting their fuel bills,” he continued.

“This is only a down payment on our ambitions, though. We want all of our housing to be brought up to a decent standard. If the government are serious about reaching their own net zero targets, they need to work with us to secure the investment we need to help make that happen.”

Here is the breakdown of number homes in each council area that will receive portions of the funding:

  • Halton – 134
  • Knowsley – 422
  • Liverpool – 687
  • Sefton – 307
  • St Helens – 255
  • Wirral – 549

According to the combined authority portfolio holder for housing and spatial planning, Cllr Graham Morgan, more than 60% of homes in the city region are at EPC band D and below – which means they are not energy efficient and are thus expensive to keep warm.

Morgan noted that the city region is working hard to make older homes energy efficient, but that help is needed.

“We are busting a gut on the ground, here in the city region, working with our local authorities to retrofit energy saving measure to as many houses as possible, to save people money on their bills, tackle fuel poverty and help the environment, but there is a limit to how much we can do on our own,” he said.

Liverpool City Region is also working alongside Manufacturing Technology Centre, Construction Innovation Hub, Peel Land and Property, Torus Group, housing associations and industry partners to create a modern methods of construction programme to retrofit 10,000 homes over the next ten years. The goal is to bring those homes up to the more energy efficient EPC C rating. The programme would develop technology to help with retrofitting existing homes while also helping with building new ones.

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Is this available to private sector landlords the article doesnt seem to say.

By oscar

No fault of the Combined Authority but this is a drop in the ocean.

By Mark Gilbertson

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