Scots Demand Government Investment for improved Energy Efficiency and Warm Homes

Well, if you are aware of the winter times in Scotland then you would not deny the fact that the old homes in Scotland need some proactive measures to combat the snowy season. A big portion of homes in this northern most country of the UK are in need of energy efficient homes. There are huge numbers of people suffering from the issue of fuel property in this country. To deal with the never ending winter problems, the Scottish people have appealed to the government to invest more in facilitating energy efficient homes.

Nearly 69% of Scots participate in public investment for creating energy efficient homes and 87% of people have a strong desire to end cold homes in Scotland within a time frame of ten years. These figures were found through a survey done by the WWF Scotland, the biggest conservation organisation on the globe. The group said that people of Scotland are sending a clear message to the government that it should pace up measures to create warm homes in the country. It also said that the people want more government funds to end the matter of cold homes in this wonderful country.

The environmental group joined hands with health, housing and anti-poverty organisations and urged the Scottish government to increase the energy efficiency funds to £190m. It conveys that with a total of £4.5bn of public funds, they can together create warm and well heated homes by 2025. They suggested that this can be made possible only if the government executes more subsidised loans, grants and other schemes that are planned to get rid of fuel poverty.

This kind of a public plea has put some into picture after the Scottish government’s draft budget which allotted £114m on fuel poverty and home energy efficiency during the financial year 2017-18. This is quite less when compared to £119m spent on eradicating fuel poverty in the year 2015–16. According to the conservationist group, £114m would not be enough to deal with fuel poverty and climatic change targets of the country.

The group emphasised on the necessity of increasing the government funding as warmer homes are necessary for the health and hygiene of the people of the country. WWF Scotland director, Lang Banks addressed the issue by stating that “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.”

The group also pointed out the fact that thousands of people in the country are still living in cold, damp homes, which results in various ailments and diseases that they would not have caught if they were living in warmer homes. They even suggested that cold homes are one of the reasons why people have to make frequent visits to the NHS which in turn puts pressure on the already stretched NHS.

As per a statement given by Graeme Brown, Director at Shelter Scotland, it was made clear that “A new fuel poverty target and strategy is urgently required. The new strategy must look at the whole picture of why people are in fuel poverty including low incomes as well as energy efficiency. In particular, those receiving benefits whose income has been capped and frozen will struggle to cope when fuel prices rise as they inevitably will.”

Therefore, raising government investment for energy efficient homes was a unanimous appeal made by all public conservationist and healthcare groups. Reacting to this, Shay Ramani, founder of FreePriceCompare.com, suggested that “The public’s appeal to the Scottish government is a positive step towards creating energy efficient homes in Scotland. The country needs certain measures to combat cold homes and ensure healthy living for its people. If the government agrees to increasing the funds then that would be an ideal situation for Scotland.”

To conclude, Scottish people are urging the government to create warm homes and eradicate fuel poverty. This is a positive step which may solve the problem of cold and damp homes in Scotland.