Memorandum submitted by Footprint Trust
Ltd (EEFP 01)
Fuel poverty and its link to Climate Change
issues are recognised by the Footprint Trust and our partners
on the Isle of Wight.
The Isle of Wight is a mainly rural county and
many areas feature in the indices of poverty. The Island has a
resident population of 140,800 of which 22% are over retirement
age (England national average is 16%); overall 31.6% of households
are made up of people who are retired (compared with 23.8% in
England and Wales). Pensioners who live alone are 18.4% (compared
with 14.4% in England and Wales).
The 2002 Private Sector House Condition Survey
put the Island figure at 7.4% of households (approx 4,500) although
a report by the Centre for Sustainable Energy puts the figure
at 25%, giving the Isle of Wight the highest rate of fuel poor
households in the South East. Householders aged 60 and over make
up 52% of fuel poor on the Island and families with children 37%.
Over 70% of post 1919 houses have no cavity insulation. Of homes
built between 1945 and 1964 some 12.5% have no loft insulation.
A very high percentage of all dwellings do not have the full 100mm
of loft insulation.
Action by the IW Council and the Third Sector
to tackle fuel poverty has mainly focused on the promotion of
the Government's Warm Front grant. Whilst this has been fairly
successful the Council and its partners recognise that there are
still many people in fuel poverty. The Footprint Trust is to launch
a WARMAHOME scheme during 2008, which will compliment this strategy
and seek to reach those in greatest need. This is to be funded
by the Big Lottery Fund.
The way in which to engage the public in tackling
fuel poverty and Climate Change is to encourage partnership working
between the Third Sector and the statutory bodies, such as the
local authority. The Third Sector has inroads into the local neighbourhood
and is generally trusted by the local community. It is important
that local environmental groups are involved along with those
involved in tackling poverty, such as Age Concern and Anchor Staying-Put.
Engaging with the public at local fetes, community
and sporting events is a good way of getting to people who might
otherwise be missed. Something simple, such as offering free low
energy light bulbs, can be a way of starting conversations about
saving energy—which in turn lead to giving information on
Warm Front or other help available.
The Third Sector can produce good results which
represent good value. However, funding would need to be made available
for this to occur. It has taken over 18 months and six applications
before funding was awarded for the WARMAHOME project. Clearly
the hurdles to funding to fight fuel poverty must be removed.
Footprint Trust Ltd
March 2008
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