Funding to help hundreds of homes in Norwich has been welcomed but the need for long-term investment in a similar vein has also been emphasised.
Norwich City Council has announced that up to 260 of its properties that are expensive to heat and need upgrades will have solar panels, loft insulation and external wall insulation installed.
More than £5m will fund the project, with £2.4m coming from the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero’s Social Housing Decarbonisation Fund and £2.7m from the city council.
It is predicted that those who benefit from the fund could save up to £400 each year on their energy bills.
This comes after the news that nearly 50,000 homes in Norwich are inefficient and expensive to heat for the people who live in them, amid the high energy bills of the cost of living crisis.
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Livvy Hanks, from Norwich for Warm Homes, said: "It’s great to see the city council investing in healthier homes and lowering bills by improving energy efficiency."
The group recently sent campaigners Charlie Chamberlain and Sarah Eglington to a parliamentary reception as a major report led by the Institute of Health Equity at University College London was launched.
This found that 9.6m households across the UK are poorly insulated and have incomes below the minimum level at which an acceptable standard of living is affordable.
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Ms Hanks added: "With more than half of Norwich’s housing still falling below a decent energy performance standard, we need to see long-term funding from central government rather than the piecemeal schemes on offer at the moment, so that the council can work with communities and businesses to give every household access to energy efficiency upgrades."
Councillor Beth Jones, deputy leader of Norwich City Council and cabinet member for housing, said: "Our priority is to provide good quality homes for residents and the awarding of this funding recognises our ongoing work to make sure everyone in Norwich has somewhere warm, safe and affordable to live.
"And not only will this scheme improve the homes of our tenants and save them money on bills, it will also help meet the city’s ambition to be net zero by 2045."
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