Affordable access to heating, and insulation - Keeping Coventry Warm
Just Transition
The impact of climate change and how we respond to it risks exacerbating existing inequalities in the city, as well as creating new ones. It is crucial we adopt an approach to deliver a ‘just transition’, whereby we move towards a low carbon economy and take climate action in a proportionate and considered way and use it as an opportunity to address existing inequalities rather than create new ones. Low-income households and disadvantaged groups are likely to contribute the least towards climate change, but often face the highest relative costs for essential services, suffering from food and fuel poverty and often subject to the poorest environmental conditions in terms of living standards and poor air quality, due to high traffic levels and lack of green space. Many local people are working in jobs which relate to the use of fossil fuels including the automotive and manufacturing industries and as we transition towards a low carbon economy many of these jobs will be at risk. The move to a low carbon economy will bring a significant number of skilled job opportunities to the city, such as the move to electric cars, renewable technologies and retrofit and Greenpower Park, which is a huge opportunity for local people. It’s key that the right training and skills opportunities are made available to support local workers adapting to new sectors. The Fairer Green Pathway Group with funding from the University of Warwick commissioned a Just Transition Report with a clear set of recommendations for changes in policy and actions to address the inequalities and to create a more equitable green future.
Residential Retrofit
Coventry’s Climate Change Strategy sets out how the Council needs to tackle the causes and consequences of climate change in a fair and equitable way. Retrofitting domestic properties is essential in achieving this, by reducing fuel poverty, energy bills and carbon emissions, and improving climate resilience, especially for the most vulnerable residents in our community. Urgency of retrofitting also aligns with the Net Zero Route map which was produced for Coventry, which identifies emissions from homes as the biggest contributor to the city’s carbon footprint, totalling 30% of all emissions.
Over the past 18 months, the Council has been accelerating action on domestic retrofit to help make homes more energy efficient, successfully attracting almost £30m external grant funding to support residents across all housing tenures in the city. However, the challenge within this sector is huge, the funding secured to date will improve the energy efficiency of up to 2,500 homes, but with 143,000 properties across the city and around 108,000 of those below Energy Performance Certificate C, activity needs to be significantly scaled up to help reduce our carbon footprint and to support the alleviation of fuel poverty across the city.
Coventry Council have been working with partners to ensure we provide Coventry residents with the skills required to benefit from retrofit employment opportunities. One example is a partnership with Citizen Housing, Coventry College and the employers Westdale and Dyson Energy Services, which has resulted in more than 30 residents moving into employment within the Retrofit sector to date.
Retrofitting of domestic properties will lead to:
- A reduction in Coventry’s domestic carbon emissions.
- A reduction in health-related morbidity and mortality associated with living in cold homes.
- A reduced demand placed on health and care services.
- Improved energy efficiency, reduced energy bills and increased thermal comfort
Social Housing Decarbonisation Fund Case Study
Following the success of the Social Housing Decarbonisation Fund (SHDF) Wave 1, which delivered whole house retrofit measures to 95 homes in the City, the partnership between Coventry City Council and Citizen Housing secured further SHDF Wave 2 funding to support another 2000 properties across Coventry.
The Social Housing Decarbonisation Fund (SHDF) is a government-funded scheme aiming to improve the energy efficiency of social housing in England. It was designed to bring social houses up to an energy performance certificate (EPC) Band C, whilst delivering warmer homes with reduced carbon emissions and fuel bills, helping to tackle fuel poverty.
Wave 2 of SHDF started in April 23 and is on target to complete works to the 2000 properties before the scheme end date in September 25. The work, which is co-funded by Citizen Housing, follows a fabric first approach, installing external wall insulation, energy efficient doors and windows, increased loft insulation and improving ventilation to reduce the potential for mould growth.
One resident who received support through the scheme was Arthur Beale. External wall insulation, ventilation fans and loft insulation were all installed at his home and said he can feel the benefit of the works already.
Arthur said: “I am very happy with the work – my house is much warmer now it’s been done. Before I had the work done the walls in my house felt cold but now they are warm to touch and you can really feel it when the heating is on. I don’t have to put the heating on as much as I did before the works, which is a bonus and the work on the outside of the home makes it look much better too. I would definitely recommend these works to other people living in the city.”
Fuel poverty is a significant problem in Coventry, affecting 22.2% of households and almost 60% of homes in some areas of the city. This, combined with the cost-of-living crisis and a large number of energy inefficient homes in Coventry has meant there is a vital need to support these households.
Keeping Coventry Warm is Coventry City Council’s principal affordable warmth scheme. Delivered by local energy charity, Act on Energy, and funded by the Council’s public health department, the Better Care Fund and the Disabled Facilities Grant, the scheme provides a wide range of energy efficiency and fuel poverty advice, information, and guidance to residents, alongside physical measure grants for vulnerable and low-income households.
The scheme is targeted to support residents most at risk of fuel poverty, particularly those on low incomes and living with long term health conditions and vulnerabilities affected by living in a cold home. Keeping Coventry Warm funds grants, specifically to support those in fuel poverty, providing heating upgrades such as first-time central heating and boiler repairs/replacements and wall/roof insulation to ensure residents can live in warm, comfortable, and healthy homes.
The service also provides an impartial, single point of contact for all Coventry City Council’s fuel poverty and retrofit schemes, in addition to other non-Council administered support. Residents and front-line staff can refer households for support by contacting Act on Energy. The charity will then identify the most suitable support and help people to apply where needed.
Due to the cost-of-living crisis and the dramatic increase in fuel costs, Keeping Coventry Warm supported 2,465 residents in 22/23 compared to 1,010 the year before. Furthermore, the complexity and vulnerabilities associated with these cases also increased dramatically showing the vital importance of the service in the current financial climate.