Wirral Green Party is encouraging Wirral Council to tackle growing levels of fuel poverty and the cost of living crisis by supporting a retrofit revolution.
Greens welcome the national and local financial support to help residents with energy bills. But rising energy costs are not a one off. To protect against future energy price increases, the negative health impacts from poorly insulated homes and maximise the return on expenditure, we believe all housing in our borough should be insulated to a minimum of Energy Performance Certificate (EPC) ‘C’ standard with good quality loft insulation, cavity wall insulation, double-glazing and draught exclusion.
The Government has a target to upgrade all housing to Energy performance certificate (EPC) level C or above by 2035. To achieve that target, Friends of the Earth estimate that for the Wirral 7,095 homes a year need insulation upgrades.
Greens say a focus on retrofit will cut fuel bills, create hundreds of new jobs and slash carbon emissions.
Councillor Naomi Graham says
“The cost of living crisis leaves many low income households having to choose between heating and eating. The Council already has a Low Carbon Retrofit Programme, but it needs to be accelerated. Funding is available provided the Council is in a position to apply for it.
That is why we are bringing a motion before full Council on 10th October to ask that Council
- Has an ambitious stated year on year insulation or EPC target for Wirral.
- Develops a plan by the end of the financial year to help realise the target.
- Actively identifies potential sources of funding to enable improvements to start this winter.
This will help ensure there is a locally trained workforce that can both deliver a retrofit programme and boost the local economy. Developing a pipeline of work and economies of scale means we can all benefit from cheaper retrofitting too.
“Greens want to bring about change for the better – cutting fuel bills, creating hundreds of new jobs and slashing excess carbon emissions from poorly insulated homes.”
