Claire Perry takes on the problem of social housing tenants caught up in the energy trap

The rising cost of energy problems faced by low paid and vulnerable tenants living in social housing in Marlborough were outlined to Devizes MP Claire Perry by a delegation of five on Friday.

Many of the tenants live in flats installed with Economy 7 electric heating and the hardest hit are having to switch to heating a single room with single halogen electric fires because they cannot afford their heating bills.

And some have opened up their old hearths and are using wood and coal to avoid expensive heating bills, Peggy Dow, the independent Wiltshire councillor seeking re-election on May 2 told her MP.

Mrs Dow was present at the meeting with Marlborough town councillor Richard Pitts, Dr Sam Page, chair of Transition Marlborough, its secretary Alexandra Wax and Judy Hindley, leader of Transition Marlborough’s climate group.

“The result was a positive outcome with Mrs Perry, who is a government Green Deal ambassador, agreeing to take up the issues with ministers at the Department of Energy and Climate Control as soon as possible,” Councillor Pitts told Marlborough News Online.

“I felt she is probably the greenest Conservative MP I have ever had the pleasure of working with in trying to implement relatively cheap and easy measures to help people caught in the energy trap.

“She seemed well on board with many of the concepts and issues being raised by the transition movement and was delighted to accept a copy of Rob Hopkins latest book, The Transition Companion, from the team.

“We simply wanted to ensure that she had the latest information available on the way sustainable thinking is currently developing.”

Alexandra Wax, a social services specialist, also explained the vicious circle of low pay and reducing benefits tenants were suffering from due to the government’s austerity measures such as the “bedroom tax”.

She pointed out that it targets in particular families living in Marlborough’s East Ward, whose quality of life is being reduced.

Transition Marlborough intend to produce copies of the DECC leaflet for distribution to all local private landlords and estate agents and in doing so suggest they get together to find ways of sharing the cost of Green Deal assessments.

“Fifteen per cent of the funding available has been set aside for low income households in rural areas with a population of 10,000” said Councillor Pitts. “In Marlborough 34 per cent of the dwellings were built before 1930 and need solid wall insulation.

“The cost of that is £10,000 per dwelling but it saves approximately two tonnes of CO2 a year.  Our big project, working with Claire and the town council, is to discover how we can access these funds in order to insulate all the dwellings that qualify.”