Mayor rejects Lib Dem proposals for extra help to keep homes warm

The Mayor of London has rejected an amendment to his budget made by Liberal Democrat London Assembly Members that called on him to provide additional funding for schemes to help people keep their homes warm and reduce their emissions. Labour London Assembly Members also voted against the proposals this afternoon.

Last month, the Liberal Democrats successfully passed an amendment to the Mayor’s Budget on the London Assembly, meaning the Mayor had to consider altering his budget to include the Lib Dem proposals.

The proposals laid out by the Liberal Democrats would have seen £700,000 of funds from the Business Rates Reserve (BRR) to fund a ‘Green Doctors Scheme’.

Green Doctors is a charity that offers free appointments at home to residents across London helping them make changes to how they use energy, fitting insulation and carrying out other energy-saving measures on their behalf.

The Liberal Democrats calculated that their proposed scheme would allow the charity to reach 400 visits to Londoners in its first, to be scaled up to a further 2,400 Londoners in its second year. In addition to helping Londoners retrofit their homes and make energy-saving changes, the funding would also provide £107,000 worth of fuel vouchers for those most in need over the course of the two years.

The Mayor of London’s office estimates that between 404,000 – 750,000 Londoners currently live in fuel poverty.

The Mayor of London has claimed in response to the motion that his current Warmer Homes Advice Service is sufficient, without the need to fund the Green Doctors programme. However, the Liberal Democrats argue that funding their proposals would allow more people to be reached by help and have pointed his current scheme ends this May.

Liberal Democrat Assembly Member Hina Bokhari said, “Londoners are really worried about the state of the planet and the state of their bank balances.

“Our proposals don’t contradict the Warmer Homes programme but complement it, it would mean even more people getting the help they need to keep their homes warm and reduce their emissions.

“The single biggest source of greenhouse gas emissions in London is domestic energy use. Just from using and heating our homes. That’s more than transport, and industrial and commercial energy use.

“At a time we face a climate crisis and Londoners are facing a debilitating cost-of-living crisis we needed the Mayor to show strong leadership, instead he and Labour have chosen to continue with a ‘steady as she goes’ approach and burry their heads in the sand.”