Haringey residents enjoy £1.5million better heating
Tuesday 26 February 2008
The number of Haringey residents taking advantage of grants to keep their homes warm has increased more than fivefold in just one year following a campaign by Haringey Council.
New figures show 1,683 Haringey households successfully applied for a Warm Front grant in April to December 2007, compared to 316 in the same period in 2006.
That equates to an extra £1.5million of heating and insulation improvements at the homes of some of the borough's most vulnerable residents.
The major increase follows a wholesale publicity campaign by the council, including special roadshows, posters and lamppost banners. The council also wrote to more than 30,000 potentially eligible residents last autumn to encourage them to take up the scheme.
The increase also comes after the council highlighted issues of home heating and insulation by commissioning an aerial survey of Haringey in March last year and publishing an online map showing heat loss from every property in the borough. The map can be found at www.haringey.gov.uk/homeheatloss.
The Warm Front grants, which are funded by the government and available to residents on a range of benefits, can help pay for improvements such as loft insulation, draughtproofing of doors and windows, heating installation and heating repairs.
This is aimed at tackling fuel poverty, where households are spending more than 10 per cent of their income on heating bills.
Cabinet Member for Housing, Cllr Isidoros Diakides, said:
"It is unacceptable that anyone should have to suffer ill-health or a poor quality of life because they cannot afford to heat their homes properly.
"I'm pleased that far more of our residents have picked on our publicity and have made successful applications for Warm Front grants. The beauty of this initiative is that it not only helps some of the most vulnerable people, it also makes a significant contribution to our Greenest Borough strategy and costs very little to our council tax payers.
"But we know that many more people in Haringey could be eligible for this help and we will continue to do all we can to promote the grants available."
A further benefit of the grants is that better energy efficiency will help the council in its drive to tackle climate change at a local level.
More details about Warm Front can be found at the Warm Front website (external link).
You can also find out more by calling the EAGA Partnership, which runs the scheme, on 0800 316 2805.
Return to Latest News or the News Archive
