Energy Efficiency campaigners call for more investment
Campaigners have called for an increase in funding for energy-efficiency measures in Scotland's homes as a poll shows strong support for the move.
Campaigners have called for an increase in funding for energy-efficiency measures in Scotland's homes as a poll shows strong support for the move.
WWF Scotland urged ministers to boost investment in improving cold and damp housing in order to slash fuel poverty and help meet climate change targets.
A OnePoll survey of 1,000 Scots commissioned by the environmental charity found 69% agreed the Scottish Government should increase spending on improving home energy efficiency, with a further 87% backing an end to cold homes in Scotland by 2025.
WWF Scotland has united with health, housing and anti-poverty organisations to back funding for energy efficiency being increased to ÂŁ190 million, with a total of ÂŁ4.5 billion of public funds being spent between now and 2025 through subsidised loans, grants for the fuel-poor and other schemes.
The group highlights that while the Government's draft budget for 2017-18 proposes a year-on-year increase in spending on fuel poverty and home energy efficiency to ÂŁ114 million, it falls short of the ÂŁ119 million spent in 2015-16.
WWF Scotland director Lang Banks said: “Improving energy efficiency will help lift people out of fuel poverty and improve their health, stimulate the economy, create jobs and cut our climate change emissions.
“The Scottish Government already has all the powers it needs to improve the quality of the homes we live in.
“We now need to see a commitment from the Scottish Government that it will put in place funding and policies to support all homes to reach the energy performance certificate band C standard by 2025.
“Currently nearly 748,000 households in Scotland are living in fuel poverty.
“As we move into 2017 the results of our poll show the majority of Scots believe this isn't good enough and want to see more being done to end the scourge of cold, damp homes.”
Royal College of Nursing Scotland director Theresa Fyffe said: “Far too many of our homes are still cold, damp, and unhealthy places to live in.
“Nursing staff see the health consequences of this every day in the thousands of people who live in unfit houses and pay a high price of avoidable and persistent illnesses, or treatments they never should have required.”
Shelter Scotland director Graeme Brown said a new fuel poverty target and strategy was “urgently required” while Norman Kerr, director of the national fuel poverty charity Energy Action Scotland, said it was “clearly not acceptable that anyone should have to live in a cold, damp home in Scotland today”
.Housing minister Kevin Stewart said: “This poll shows that an overwhelming majority of the public support the Scottish Government's work to reduce energy demand in our residential, services and industrial sectors.
“The Scottish Government designated energy efficiency as a national infrastructure priority in 2015 and we are investing over £140 million in 2016-17, part of our commitment to make half a billion available in funding for Scotland's energy efficiency programme over the next four years.”
Scottish Greens' housing spokesman and Lothian MSP Andy Wightman said: “The findings of this poll could not be clearer.
“People in Scotland want immediate action on ensuring that no one has to live in a cold home by 2025.
“That's a reasonable deadline to aim for, but it will only be met if the Government shows willingness to take immediate action.
“There is never a more timely reminder of the detriments of living in a cold home than at this time of year.
“Yet, since the target to eradicate fuel poverty was recently missed, people across Scotland will be looking to the Scottish Government to take heed and actively work towards tackling this issue.”