Former council leader's call to insulate homes to tackle rising energy bills

When she was council leader in the mid-2000s, Kirklees Council ran an award-winning programme called the Warm Zone Scheme which saw every household in the area provided with free loft and cavity wall insulation.

The Liberal Democrat peer, who is still a councillor in Cleckheaton, said similar work nationally would have huge benefits – particularly in Yorkshire where homes are among some of the worst-insulated in the country.

She said the work in Kirklees followed a report which found more people were dying in the area in winter due to having cold homes.

“Out of that came the Warm Zone Scheme which provided free loft insulation and where possible cavity wall insulation to every property in Kirklees, regardless of whether it was rented or home-owned or a leasehold,” she said.

“One of the outcomes was it reduced carbon emissions hugely, it reduced people’s energy bills.

"People were able to afford to heat their homes and it provided jobs for local people. It took three to four years to do the whole of Kirklees.

“The way we funded it in Kirklees was partly the council paid, but the biggest source of funding was from the energy companies who were making, at the time, quite high profits and the Government had asked them to fund energy saving schemes.

“We could do that again and we could do it across the country.

"It has such huge benefits in reducing carbon and also reducing people’s heating bills.

“In Yorkshire, we have some of the worst-insulated homes in the country and some of the worst weather.

"That combination is not good, so why not have a big scheme to insulate homes across the country?”

A Government spokesperson said it is “accelerating our progress in upgrading the energy efficiency of England’s homes, investing over £6.6bn to decarbonise homes and buildings”.