'We want to cut fuel bills for Medway residents with Green investment' say Liberal Democrats

The UK will host the 26th UN Climate Change Conference of the Parties (COP26) in Glasgow on 31 October to 12 November. Locally, Medway Liberal Democrats have long campaigned on environmental issues which affect our towns and we want to stay active on this issue. This is why we have decided to launch an environmental campaign for Medway to raise awareness of environmental concerns that affect our towns, which also coincides with our national 5 point green recovery plan, and our own Medway 5 point Green Recovery plan.

Green Every Home:

The recent huge spike in the cost of gas has shown us how unpredictable and dangerous the fossil fuel market is to the average household. When inflation and taxes are both beginning to rise, the last thing Medway residents need is an increase in their energy bills. This makes the conservative government's move to scrap the Green Homes Grant, a scheme to help people insulate their homes and save on their energy use, even more disappointing.

Meanwhile, the Liberal Democrats would upgrade all the insulation in houses by 2030 and require all new houses to be built eco-friendly. Medway Liberal Democrats would also identify ways that the council can assist home owners in converting their gas boilers into fully electric. Insulating our homes not only saves the planet, it saves you pennies.

Stuart Bourne, Spokesperson for Medway Liberal Democrats said " Locally we feel that home insulation should be a priority, in the face of many people facing doubling fuel poverty budgets. It is a disgrace that many households face fuel poverty. Our plans would help lift households out of fuel poverty, create jobs and protect our planet. Investing now to cut carbon from our energy networks will pay an environmental dividend for decades. We must take action now to improve homes and make them greener. This will create jobs, cut bills and tackle the climate emergency.

Medway Liberal Democrats would work towards making council housing carbon neutral by 2030 by investing in insulation and alternative heating systems which use non-carbon energy sources. This will also reduce fuel bills and help to end fuel poverty in our towns.

We are calling on the council to access all government funds which may be available to reduce our carbon footprint particularly to address insulation and use of carbon-based heating for the existing housing stock of all tenures. Update council policy to ensure that new build homes have reduced carbon footprint including insulation requirements and avoidance of fossil fuel heating boilers."

Over the past year, public interest in the environment has increased. According to YouGov' ' the percentage of people citing the Environment as the most important issue facing the country has increased from 23% in September 2020 to 33% in September 2021.

Liberal Democrats want to highlight that Medway's environment is local but is also connected to the global.

ENDS

Additional Notes for Editors:

The Liberal Democrats have said ministers need to introduce an emergency insulation programme ahead of a winter of surging bills - as new figures show millions of people expect to be unable to heat their homes this winter.

The Green Homes Grant offered households vouchers to go towards the cost of insulation, but it was scrapped in Rishi Sunak's last budget and replaced with a new scheme that gave funding to local authorities to distribute the cash.

Ed Davey, who served as energy secretary in the last coalition government, told The Independent that the new scheme had failed because it has only insulated 3,000 homes since coming into effect in October - "no bigger than a large village".

The Lib Dems have said targeting the worst-insulated band F homes by converting them to band A homes would save households on average £557 in heating bills.