The Affordable Warmth Partnership is a working group of representatives from the public, private, and voluntary sectors and aims to work towards improving energy efficiency, to reducing fuel poverty and delivering affordable warmth.
The Partnership’s main aims and objectives are to
Aims
- We aim to improve the energy efficiency and income levels of those households currently in fuel poverty.
- To reduce the level of cold related ill health as close to zero as possible by 2020 and improve general well being.
We know that fuel poverty has a severe effect on cold related ill health and personal well being, particularly amongst vulnerable households and people on low incomes. We also know that a large number of Leeds residents fall into these categories and that many of them live in older, hard to treat properties which are difficult to insulate.
In order to achieve our overall aim, Leeds City Council in partnership with other Affordable Warmth Partnership signatories will work towards the following objectives:
Objectives
- To Facilitate affordable schemes to bring loft and cavity wall insulation to households across Leeds.
- To reduce fuel poverty in a way which minimises carbon emissions.
- To promote and facilitate schemes which target heating and energy efficiency measures towards households most at risk of cold related ill health.
- To direct people towards fuel bill, energy efficiency and benefits advice to increase household disposable income by increasing co-ordination between these services.
- To promote and facilitate schemes to ensure that hard to treat properties, particularly those with a SAP rating of less than 35, have adequate heating and solid wall insulation.
- To co-ordinate and assist partner and voluntary organisations to help Leeds residents obtain energy advice and measures, and to educate them about the importance to their health and well being of keeping warm.
- To draw together whatever resources are available from central government and other sources to alleviate fuel poverty amongst Leeds residents.
- In the longer term to provide Leeds residents with access to renewable energy where this can provide a cost-effective way of providing affordable warmth, for example, for households which are off the mains gas network.
- To attract political support and advocacy for affordable warmth and share technical information for the benefit of partner organisations.
To develop a data set to help to identify residents who are living in fuel poverty.
The Board members represented are as follows:
- Leeds Primary Care Trust
- Leeds Landlord Accreditation Scheme
- Leeds ALMOs
- EAGA Warm Front
- Leeds Pension Service
- Leeds Citizens Advice Bureau
- Leeds Benefits Service
- Care and Repair
- Connect Housing
- Re’new
- Leeds City Council’s Climate Change/Sustainable Development
- Leeds City Council’s Strategic landlord
- Leeds City Council’s Adult Services