We’ve Got It Covered

(Date of issue: Wednesday, 13 January 2010)

Carlisle City Council working with longstanding partners Bookmysurvey Ltd, is continuing to identify households throughout the area that would benefit from home insulation. In just five days, assessors working in Yewdale ward identified 106 householders whose homes hadn’t been insulated, and have arranged for them to have the measures installed before the end of January, making their homes warmer this winter.

• 106 homes without insulation identified
• Savings for each property estimated at £135/year off their fuel bills
• Total Annual savings amounting to £14,310
• Total savings over 40 year lifetime - £1.5 million
• Over 63 tonnes of CO2 will be saved every year

To cope with the expected increase in survey requests, Bookmysurvey has employed a local assessor and surveyor to work alongside its own dedicated staff, and is looking to recruit more local staff to help target the area during the adverse weather.

Cllr Ray Bloxham portfolio holder for Environment and Infrastructure said:

“Over the last 12 years, we have encouraged local householders to install insulation as an easy way to reduce fuel bills and carbon dioxide emissions. As a result, Carlisle’s CO2 emissions from domestic housing have been reduced by 30% and for those with the insulation, winter fuel bills have not been as high, which is especially relevant with the cold weather firmly upon us.’’

Cllr Joe Hendry, Yewdale has been keeping a watchful eye on the scheme and has been delighted with the responsible attitude of the assessors in helping people access the discounted insulation.

“It makes a change to be praising this type of operation instead of finding fault with it’’ said Cllr Hendry “the staff at the Council have been actively involved in making sure that the assessing has been done in the most sensitive way possible, and lifetime savings off fuel bills in 5 days of £1.5M is a phenomenal result.”

Cllr Fiona Robson said:

‘’I am extremely pleased that 106 households in Yewdale Ward have been identified by this scheme. This type of scheme provides an invaluable service to the community helping the more vulnerable members of our society, which is especially relevant during the extreme weather we have recently experienced. This scheme has been running in Carlisle for a number of years now and is open to residents throughout the area, I would strongly encourage anyone to participate in this scheme as it will help reduce their bills in both the short and long term, and help reduce their own impact on global warming and CO2 output and I am glad that the residents of Yewdale are actively involved in this.’’