Aug
3

Author: Chloe Smith, Updated: 03 August 2022 13:41

Schools, hospitals, leisure centres and historic town halls across Norwich and Norfolk will be among hundreds of public buildings across England to receive energy efficiency upgrades, to help slash energy bills and save taxpayers millions of pounds each year.

Up to £365 million of government funding will be made available to public sector organisations across Norfolk and the country so they can install low carbon heating, such as heat pumps and energy efficiency measures including double glazing and loft insulation.

The funding is available through the Public Sector Decarbonisation Scheme with organisations such as NHS Trusts, schools and local authorities able to apply for grants from September. Public sector bodies and taxpayers are expected to save an average of £650 million per year on energy bills over the next 15 years.

Upgrades are already under way through earlier rounds of the scheme, with 734 grants awarded to public sector organisations across England so far and Phase 1 alone supporting up to 30,000 jobs in the clean heating and energy efficiency sectors.

Installing low carbon heating systems, powered by cleaner, cheaper, renewable energy will also help organisations to cut their use of costly fossil fuels where prices are being pushed up by pressures on global energy markets linked to Putin's invasion of Ukraine.

The current measures will help public organisations become more efficient and move off expensive gas and this investment is a particularly important step towards making our public sector more efficient by saving local families' taxpayer's money and creating tens of thousands of jobs by cutting our link to expensive gas.

The Public Sector Decarbonisation Scheme supports the aim of reducing emissions from public sector buildings by 75%, compared to 2017 levels, by 2037 and with guidance on how to apply for funding published today.

I support the Government's £6.6 billion investment that the government is investing this parliament to cut fossil fuel use and emissions from buildings including households whilst also creating high wage, high skill jobs. This funding will be essential to make sure that local public sector organisations across Norwich and Norfolk are able to benefit from the Government's efforts to reduce reliance on gas.