AN £8m scheme tackling fuel poverty has come to an end after expanding to more than double its original size.

Stockton’s GoWarm Parkfield scheme was originally planned to offer free energy efficiency measures like insulation and benefits advice to 600 homes in the area.

But 12 months on the scheme, run by community interest company Community Energy Solutions (CES) and Stockton Borough Council, has benefitted more than 1,600 properties.

This week representatives from the Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) joined local residents and members of GoWarm, Stockton Borough Council and various contractors, to mark the end of the scheme and see the results first hand.

Speaking at the event Karen Hindhaugh, Director of GoWarm said: “To look around and see what has been achieved in just a year is really quite amazing.”

The £8m GoWarm Parkfield project, the largest scheme of its kind to be carried out in the UK, was funded by North Yorkshire-based Eggborough Power Ltd via the Government-backed Community Energy Saving Programme (CESP), which targets households in areas of low income to improve energy efficiency standards and reduce fuel bills.

Under the terms of the scheme each of the 1600 eligible properties have been given a package of multiple energy efficiency measures, such as external wall or cavity wall insulation, loft insulation, boiler replacements, new heating systems and controls and draught proofing, all designed to cut their energy bills by up to £750 a year.

For more information about the GoWarm Parkfield project visit www.gowarm.org.uk, call 01642-605130, drop into the office at Blue Post Yard, Stockton or search for GoWarm Parkfield on Facebook and Twitter.