£3.4 million funding awarded to city council to improve energy efficiency of council homes
Winchester City Council has been awarded £3,458,753 to improve the energy ratings of its council homes following a successful bid for funding to the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero.
The grant, provisionally allocated to the council as part of the Warm Homes: Social Housing Fund, is the highest individual allocation to be received by a Hampshire local authority although some councils are part of larger consortium bids.
With support from the newly announced funding, the council aims to bring improvements to 672 homes over the next three years by making use of energy-saving technology such as air source heat pumps, solar panels and solar batteries, as well as building fabric improvements such as cavity wall and loft insulation.
The new funding will continue work delivered by the city council’s Energy Saving Homes Programme, which has been improving the energy efficiency of council homes, helping to save tenants money on their energy bills and reduce the homes’ carbon footprints.
So far, the council has already delivered upgrades to 600 properties, raising their energy ratings as part of its Energy Saving Homes programme.
Speaking about the new funding, Cabinet Member for Housing Cllr Chris Westwood said:
"Our Energy Saving Homes programme is already having a really significant impact, reducing costs for our tenants and bringing down the carbon footprint of our homes. I’m really pleased we’ve been able to successfully bid for further funding that will allow us to carry out even more energy efficiency improvements, meaning more of our tenants will benefit from cheaper bills and warmer homes as part of our efforts to become greener faster."