£2bn green homes scheme gets SCRAPPED

£2bn green homes scheme gets SCRAPPED: Plan to make properties more eco-friendly is dropped after just six months amid claims that grants were hard to get

  • Green grant for homes that had been due to run until March 2022 is scrapped  
  • Only around 10 per cent of 600,000 homes targeted for the grant were reached
  • It aimed to provide up to £10,000 per household to help pay for green measures 

A £2billion scheme to make homes greener has been scrapped after only six months.

The Green Homes Grant was meant to be a key part of the Tories’ plan to ‘Building Back Better’ and create a more environmentally-friendly Britain after lockdown.

The scheme had been due to run until March 2022 and was intended to cut greenhouse gas emissions from UK houses, which are among the least energy-efficient in Europe. A total of 19million homes need to be insulated.

The Green Homes Grant was meant to be a key part of the Tories’ plan to ‘Building Back Better’ and create a more environmentally-friendly Britain after lockdown [File photo]

The grant aimed to provide up to £10,000 per household to help pay for measures such as solar water heating and double-glazing.

But only around 10 per cent of the 600,000 homes targeted for the money were reached amid claims the grant was difficult to get.

The Government announced it would axe the grant from March 31 as part of reforms which will provide a £300million boost to council schemes boosting energy efficiency for poorer households.

Labour accused ministers of ‘staggering ineptitude’ while Greenpeace UK attacked the grant’s ‘shambolic rollout’.

Business Secretary Kwasi Kwarteng claimed the changes would mean more houses will be able to get council grants with total energy efficiency spending topping £1.3billion over the next year.

The grant aimed to provide up to £10,000 per household to help pay for measures such as solar water heating and double-glazing [File photo]

The grant aimed to provide up to £10,000 per household to help pay for measures such as solar water heating and double-glazing [File photo]