City of Lincoln Council’s Executive will discuss an updated Affordable Warmth Strategy for Lincoln this month, which aims to reduce the number of residents living in fuel poverty.
At Executive on 21 March, 2022, members are recommended to approve the updated strategy, which will also look to increase the number of homes in Lincoln with domestic energy efficiency ratings of C.
The council has updated the previous strategy which set out a plan for reducing the negative impact of fuel poverty on the city and was in place until 2016.
Since 2016, the council has continued to engage with the Home Energy in Lincolnshire Partnership (HELP) which has more recently merged with North Lincolnshire and North East Lincolnshire Councils to form the Greater Lincolnshire Energy efficiency Network (GLEEN).
Since 2019 the Lincs 4 Warmer Homes (L4WH) scheme support, through GLEEN has engaged with 119 households in Lincoln, 32 in relation to ECO3 funding and 20 for the Warm Homes Fund from government.
City of Lincoln Council’s application for £2.7 million for the Sustainable Warmth Fund was also successful in December 2021, which will enable retrofit works to be undertaken on a further 300 homes as part of the Green Homes Grant Local Authority Delivery (LAD) funded scheme
This scheme will be ready to launch immediately following the completion of LAD 1 in April 2022, which received £479,600 to retrofit around 40 energy inefficient homes in Lincoln where households have been identified to be living in fuel poverty. This latest scheme will be completed by 31 March 2023.
A new and updated Affordable Warmth Strategy for Lincoln is necessary following the recent changes in national, regional and local policies to address fuel poverty.
The strategy reflects the objective of the council’s Housing Strategy 2021 – 2026 to improve housing standards for all and contributes to the council’s ongoing work to achieve a net zero carbon target by 2030.
Key objectives of the Lincoln Affordable Warmth Strategy 2021 – 2026 include:
- To reduce the number of Lincoln residents that are in fuel poverty, targeting those with the highest fuel poverty gap.
- To improve our processes for identifying residents who are in fuel poverty or at risk of ill health due to a cold home.
- To increase the number of homes in Lincoln with domestic energy efficiency ratings of C, one of the key ways in which the City can tackle the Climate Emergency. A key challenge highlighted by the strategy is the recent increase in the level of fuel poverty in Lincoln.
Cllr Bob Bushell, Portfolio Holder for Addressing the Challenge of Climate Change at City of Lincoln Council said: “The Affordable Warmth strategy brings together the success of our partnership approach to ensure that all sectors are working together to tackle fuel poverty effectively.
“The priorities and actions in this strategy contribute towards the council’s commitments to reach a net zero carbon target by 2030, and also our Quality Housing objective to improve housing standards for all in Lincoln.
“I look forward to discussing this further at Executive on 21 March.”
Those wishing to learn more about the new scheme to be launched in the city can visit Green and sustainable living – City of Lincoln Council