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Isle of Wight: Council's Warm One Island strategy

Island warms to eco vision

By Richard Wright - Friday, July 11, 2008
A £500,000 CAMPAIGN is to be launched to make Island homes warmer, cut fuel bills and reduce CO2 emissions in line with the Isle of Wight Council’s Eco-Island vision.
Free energy audits will be carried out for people who apply to the council for one, regardless of whether they rent or are owner occupiers.
The council’s Warm One Island strategy is designed to cut fuel poverty and improve health by keeping people warmer but the authority emphasised it would be available to people, regardless of means.
It was preparing to go out to tender to find a contractor and hoped a scheme would be in place by autumn with the aim of improving 1,500 homes across the Island.
Head of housing Mark Howell told a meeting of an IW Council policy commission on Wednesday the council scheme was designed to dovetail with existing grants.
Loft and cavity insulation, draught-proofing and looking at more efficient heating were all areas that would be examined by the energy audits, he said.
In a climate of rising fuel bills there was evidence of fuel poverty on the Island, where people on the housing register were spending ten per cent of an average income of less than £10,000 a year on energy bills.
“Energy audits of homes and whether other grants can be utilised will be looked at before using Warm One Island money,” he said.
Cabinet member for health, housing and community wellbeing, Cllr Dawn Cousins, said: “When people are struggling to make ends meet, the first thing to go is their heating, whether that be families or older people.
“Older people put their jumpers on instead but if they are immobile that is when hypothermia sets in.”