Project to tackle fuel poverty for Rokeby and Long Lawford properties 

If approved, the project will see energy efficiency improvements to 112 “Wimpy No-Fines” properties through external wall insulation. The works will be free of charge for the tenants, funded through a £1.09 million grant from the government’s Social Housing Decarbonisation Fund and match funding through the council’s Climate Change and home improvement reserves.

The works aim to maximise comfort and reduce energy use while maximising the home’s suitability for low carbon heating in future. The Wimpy No-Fines properties have been selected due to their low energy performance due to solid wall construction, along with their location in some of the more deprived neighbourhoods in the borough. Fuel poverty in Long Lawford is currently 19 per cent, and in Rokeby it is 20 per cent. This compares to a borough-wide average of 14.4 per cent and a national average of 13.2 per cent.

If successful, the project will be delivered through a partnership with E.On via a framework agreement. 

Cllr Emma Crane, Rugby Borough Council portfolio holder for Communities and Homes and Climate Change Champion, said: “Completing this project will give some of our lower income residents healthier outcomes and warmer homes that will be cheaper to heat.

“The project also contributes towards the council’s climate change objectives as set out in the Corporate Strategy 2021-24, and particularly, the ambition to reduce the carbon footprint of the council’s housing stock by 2027.

The improvements will help households reduce their heating demand, mitigating some of the effects of the current global energy crisis.”

If the grant application is approved at the council’s meeting of the Cabinet on 9 January, the council expects to hear if its bid has been successful by the end of March 2023. Works will have to be complete by the end of March 2025.