About the Partnership
Read the executive summary to find out more information on the Affordable Warmth Action Group.
Executive
Summary
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To download the latest Executive Summary please
click here.
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To download
the latest Affordable Warmth Strategy please
click here.
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To
download the completed Affordable Warmth Strategy Action
Plan 2007-2008 please
click here.
Background
In 1999
Wolverhampton MBC was one of the first UK local authorities to
develop an Affordable Warmth Strategy.
“Action for Affordable Warmth - A Strategy for Wolverhampton”
had four key objectives:
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To
raise energy efficiency awareness and provide energy
advice
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To
improve energy efficiency in public sector homes
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To
assist residents in the private sector to achieve
affordable warmth
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To
provide an affordable energy service
The
document helped to provide not only a systematic and focused approach
towards the eradication of fuel poverty, but also was used as a
springboard to attract alternative funding from other streams and
initiatives.
However,
Central Government has since published the UK Fuel Poverty Strategy
with a commitment to ending fuel poverty for vulnerable households by
2010. There have also been a number of other political, social
and environmental changes with significant national and local impacts
on dealing with fuel poverty. The Affordable Warmth Strategy has
impacts on many of these policy areas including:
Wolverhampton’s
Community Plan – 2002-2012
This
presents a vision to improve the quality of life in the City.
The issues and concerns are those of the people of Wolverhampton.
The Local Strategic Partnership has put together the targets and
actions to address the 7 priority areas. The Affordable Warmth
Strategy supports three of these areas:
Wolverhampton
Neighbourhood Renewal Strategy
The
purpose of this Strategy is to set a framework for joint action by
public, private and voluntary organisations to improve the quality of
life in Wolverhampton’s most deprived neighbourhoods.
The
strategy has a serious of floor targets to enable its delivery.
Affordable Warmth most notable assists the Housing and Environment
floor target. This clearly states that, by 2010, all the city’s
social housing will be brought up to a decent condition, thus
improving the living and environmental conditions.
This, in turn, will improve our citizen’s health. The
Affordable Warmth Strategy constantly strives to eliminate cold
related illness by providing thermal efficiency and affordable heating
systems.
Wolverhampton
Partnership’s Sustainability Charter
Sustainability
is concerned with achieving a balance between the needs of the
economy, society and the environment. The Wolverhampton Charter
encourages development that seeks this balance, leading to a better
quality of life for all and ensures a more sustainable future for the
City. The Charter consists of a series of key principles to
which all the partners subscribe. It forms both a framework and
a public commitment to the long-term sustainable development of the
City. Affordable Warmth mainly supports the following
principles:
The links
with both corporate housing and health policies should also be taken
into consideration when improving resident’s health and well being
through providing affordable warmth.
Current
Position
Wolverhampton
City Council became the first local authority to organise a review of
the Affordable Warmth Strategy, to take into account the age of the
document, along with the national and local policy changes.
A steering
group, made up of partners from the public, private and voluntary
sector has been
reviewing the document in detail since April 2003. A new action plan
has been developed that has reviewed the existing content of the
document and included some new areas for consideration. The 5 Action
Targets are:
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Raising
Energy Awareness and Providing Energy Advice
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Social
Housing
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Homeowner
and Private Rented Sector Housing
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Provide
an Affordable Energy Service
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Delivering
the Strategy
The group
is also working on the content of the remaining document to support
the action plan.
It is
intended that the final document will be published on the council
website, with a “newspaper” style leaflet available for general
distribution to advise on the main components of the strategy.
