A third of households in parts of Norfolk living in fuel poverty
Parts of Norwich, King's Lynn and Great Yarmouth are worst affected
More than 30pc of households in several Norfolk neighbourhoods are living in fuel poverty, thanks to a “perfect storm” of old housing and fixed incomes.
Data produced by the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) shows how many people are both living in poorly-insulated properties and are below the UK’s official poverty line after spending the money needed to heat their home.
The statistics show that that the area with the worst fuel poverty in the county is the Earlham estate in Norwich, in an area immediately west of the cemetery. In that part of the city, some 235 out of 611 households (38.5pc) are deemed fuel-poor.
In second place is a collection of streets immediately north-west of that area, centred around Clarkson Road and Motum Road, with a percentage of 35.1pc.
Outside of Norwich, the area with the highest proportion of fuel poverty is the South Denes area of Great Yarmouth, with 34.3pc in fuel poverty.
And the Gaywood Clock area of King’s Lynn also performs poorly, with 30.4pc of households in fuel poverty.
In England the overall percentage of households in fuel poverty is 13.2pc, with exactly the same proportion found across the six counties of the East of England. But in Norfolk, the figure is 15.6pc.
The statistics, which date from 2020 – the most recent available – were presented to borough councillors in King’s Lynn, where the problem is even more acute, at a meeting on Thursday, June 30.
An officer told the meeting: “16.6pc of households the percentage across the borough as a whole is pretty well above the national average, and therefore we do have an issue with households in fuel poverty in west Norfolk.”
He added: “One of the problems that we have, not just in King’s Lynn but in west Norfolk and Norfolk generally, is the age of our housing stock.”
While he said the county had relatively high average incomes among those working, there is also an unusually elderly demographic, who are on fixed incomes.
“In essence, in Norfolk we have kind of the perfect storm in terms of energy efficiency,” he said.
“We’re not in one of these more metropolitan areas, where they’ve got lots more modern housing, or housing which you’re able to retrofit easily.”