MORAY HOMES MOST at risk of suffering from fuel poverty continue to be targeted by the local authority through a £1million insulation programme.
Members of the communities committee will be asked to approve plans when they meet on Tuesday that will see work being undertaken on homes that have solid walls – making them much more difficult to insulate than those with cavity walls.
The funding for the project continues to be provided by the Scottish Government through their Home Energy Efficiency Programme, now in its fifth year. A report to the committee reveals that since its introduction in 2013, 637 homes have received insulation that help keep them warmer.
Head of property for the local authority, Richard Anderson, will tell the committee: “This is an initiative aimed at tackling fuel poverty by improving energy efficiency of existing homes. The programme offers a range of free or discounted energy efficiency measures to people living in older homes who are at risk of fuel poverty.”
Mr Anderson warns that the scheme will prove more challenging this year, saying: “As well as the reducing availability of funding, the HEEPS programme has already delivered insulation to the vast majority of non-traditional, solid wall properties in Moray and there is now only a residual number that have not yet been treated.
“With fewer opportunities to deliver measures, the scale of the programme will depend on the willingness of owners of the remaining homes to participate in the scheme. During 2017/18, officers will be closely monitoring the take-up of measures to assess capacity of the programme to utilise the level of available funding.”
Among the homes that will be treated are 33 council properties and 13 ‘park homes’ in the Findhorn community.