Help available in North Yorkshire to create warmer homes

Thank you to all who created (knitted, appliqued, embroidered) 56 beautiful squares for our United for Warm Homes Community Quilt, our youngest square creator was aged nine!

Our creative "petition" calls for:

1. Urgent support for those unable to afford energy bills.

2. A new programme to insulate our heat-leaking homes.

3. An energy system powered by cheap, green renewables.

To spread the word as far as possible we presented the completed quilt to Yvonne Peacock, the chair of the North Yorkshire Council parliamentary constituency councillors’ group. We asked Yvonne to pass it on to Rishi Sunak, on December 19 at County Hall.

We also spoke at the meeting to raise awareness of United for Warm Homes and to discuss how our organisation, CASaV, can work more closely with North Yorkshire Council on climate change strategy. More information is available at https://unitedforwarmhomes.uk.

To help households make their homes warmer, North Yorkshire Council has recently launched two new schemes.

North Yorkshire’s HUG2: Warm homes for residents.

The Home Upgrade Grant (HUG2) is now open to help homes that are not on the mains gas network become energy efficient – and warm – for residents. The new scheme aims to improve energy efficiency for homeowners and private renters, to reduce energy bills, and keeping homes warm in the colder months.

The Government-funded scheme means households across North Yorkshire are set to benefit from the funding which is available for homes without mains gas central heating and for those living in priority neighbourhood postcodes, as well as homes where the annual household income is below £31,000 or where a member of the household receives means tested benefits.

The scheme is delivered through a partnership between North Yorkshire Council and YES Energy Solutions, building on last year’s successful HUG1 scheme which saved 329 customers more than £220,000 on their annual energy bills. To find out if your home could be eligible go to https://www.northyorks.gov.uk/housing-and-homelessness/other-housing-information/energy-efficiency-advice/home-upgrade-grant-phase-2.

Local Energy Advice Demonstrator (LEAD) scheme

LEAD is a £1.2m scheme to stimulate demand for energy efficiency measures in homes across North Yorkshire. The funding has been received from the Department of Energy Security and NET Zero and the UK Shared Prosperity Fund, and will be focusing on retrofitting homes to reduce energy consumption.

Led by North Yorkshire Council, the scheme will be focused on specific streets, villages and neighbourhoods where studies have highlighted priority areas and where interest in tackling climate change through retrofitted schemes has been shown. The project will be piloted in a number of neighbourhoods across North Yorkshire within and around Stokesley, Harrogate, Pickering, Skipton and Selby. The Climate Action Stokesley and Villages group will be actively involved in facilitating this project in our area.

Households in these pilot areas will be offered a free "home energy plan" – a survey of their homes with advice on what would be needed to make them more energy efficient such as new windows and doors, or cavity wall and loft insulation.

About 325 plans will be facilitated through the project, comprising in-house assessments, whole house plan development in collaboration with the householder, and elements of design work, leaving the resident with a clear plan of action and next steps to implement their retrofit project.

If you would like more information or to participate in this project, check our website for updates https://climateactionstokesleyandvillages.org/energy/local-energy-advice-demonstrator-lead/.