Councillors approve investment of over £2 million in Caithness housing stock to help tackle fuel poverty

Caithness councillors have approved an investment of more than £2 million in the county's housing stock after identifying fuel poverty as their number one concern.

At a meeting of Highland Council's Caithness Committee today, it was announced that the member-led capital housing budget had increased by 10 per cent and housing improvements worth £2,253,000 will be carried out across the county.

Local housing staff were praised by Councillor Nicola Sinclair, who chairs the committee, for their hard work in the face of extra pressures created by the coronavirus pandemic.

A priority of the capital programme is improving heating and making homes more energy efficient, with over £1,300,000 approved to replace the oldest and most inefficient heating systems and with a further £150,000 for one-off heating replacements.

These works will help towards achieving the Scottish Government’s Energy Efficiency Standard for Social Housing, aimed at reducing energy consumption, fuel poverty and the emission of greenhouse gases.

In addition, the programme includes an allowance for kitchen and bathrooms replacements, structural work to roofs, chimneys and the external fabric of properties, allowance for environmental works, regeneration works and continued funding of equipment and adaptations.

Councillor Sinclair said: “Firstly I would like, on behalf of our committee, to sincerely thank our housing staff for their hard work – those involved in repairs and maintenance and the staff who have been busy liaising with and supporting tenants. It’s impressive that repairs targets have been met in spite of the extra demands of Covid-19.

“I am heartened that we’ve been able to increase the member-led element of the housing capital budget to allow us to target resources where our tenants tell us it’s most needed. We have a plan in place to gather tenants’ views and as local members we’re very much aware of the need to accelerate the heating replacement programme as fuel poverty is front of our minds coming into winter.

"We all appreciate the efforts of our housing team in addressing this and look forward to continuing our close working relationship.”

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