Latest news with #ECO4
The Independent
26-05-2025
- Business
- The Independent
Solar panel grants and UK funding – how does it work?
If you are considering installing solar panels at your home, the good news is that there is financial help available, be it loans or grants. You can even have panels on a subscription. If you are interested in a grant, there are a number of options, depending on where in the UK you live and what you earn. Most are for those on low incomes in homes with poor insulation. The biggest is the ECO4 scheme, or Energy Company Obligation 4, to give its full title, since it covers all the UK and can cover the entire cost of solar panel installation for low-income families. Another perk, although it isn't a grant as such, is the 0 per cent VAT which applies to solar panels. This compares to the standard value added tax rate of 20 per cent for most goods and services and the reduced 5 per cent rate which applies to your domestic electricity and gas bills. The Treasury cut the rate from 5 per cent to zero per cent in 2022 and it said it will return it to 5 per cent in April 2027. Then there's the smart export guarantee, which offers a guaranteed price for the electricity you sell back to the grid. Again, not exactly a grant, but it can make balancing the books on a solar project easier and it's open to all. The schemes at a glance Name of grant Who's it for? What's on offer? Run by? Closing date ECO4 Low-income families which receive benefits Can fund all of a solar panel installation, plus other improvements UK government but funded by big energy firms March 2026. May be extended as ECO5 Warm Homes Nest Scheme Low-income families in Wales on benefits Can fund all of a solar panel installation Welsh government None Home Upgrade Scheme (HUG2) Low-income families on certain benefits Up to £18,000 UK government March 2025 Solar Together Everyone Save a third on the cost of a solar installation Some local councils Varies by local council 0 per cent VAT on solar panel installations in homes Everyone Save 5 per cent on the price of an installation UK government April 2027 Home Energy Scotland Grant and Loan Scheme Scottish home owners A loan of up to £5,000 but only for hot water or hybrid panels Scottish government Closed for electric solar panels, but ongoing for thermal Smart Export Guarantee Everyone Guaranteed income for unused electricity sold to the grid Energy companies None Energy Company Obligation 4 (ECO4) grant What it is If you or someone you live with qualifies for state benefits, then the ECO4 grant could be for you. It is a government efficiency scheme designed to tackle fuel poverty and cut carbon emissions. As the name suggests, this is the fourth version of the scheme, it runs to 31 March 2026, and it is funded by big energy companies and administered by the energy regulator Ofgem. Who it's for You can get help if you earn less than £31,000 as a family, and receive one of the following benefits: Child Tax Credit Working Tax Credit Universal Credit Pension Guarantee Credit Pension Savings Credit Income Support Income-based Jobseeker's Allowance (JSA) Income-related Employment and Support Allowance (ESA) Child Benefit Housing Benefit If you own your house, it must be rated D or lower for energy efficiency, and if you rent, it's E or lower. If you are in social housing, you may get help for insulation and heating systems, but not solar installations. You can apply with your energy company for up to £10,000 of funding. The scheme is for broad energy efficiency, so you might find that insulation and a smart thermostat are better uses of the funding for your energy use. You can also receive help for air source heat pumps, electric storage heaters, loft and wall insulation, and smart heating controls. How to apply You can apply for the funding in England, Wales and Scotland, but not Northern Ireland, by contacting your local council or a big energy firm such as British Gas. A list of participating firms is on the Ofgem website. About 18,700 homes have received solar panels or a heat pump through the scheme, according to data from the Department for Energy and Net Zero. LA Flex LA Flex, also known as ECO4 Flex, is an extension of the ECO scheme, and it allows local authorities – councils and local government, in this case – to set their own criteria for getting funding, which could mean that you might not need to be on benefits to qualify. It is targeted at people vulnerable to the effects of the cold, including the elderly and those with health problems. Your local government website should indicate if it is part of the scheme and what criteria it has chosen. So, if you earn a little above the £31,000 for most applicants for the ECO4 scheme, applying through your local council might be the best plan. Welsh Government warm homes nest scheme What it is This scheme is targeted at disadvantaged communities in Wales on low incomes, and it is unusual in having no end date yet. As with other schemes, you can apply for a plethora of improvements beyond a solar installation, including insulation and heating systems. Who it's for Naturally, this scheme is only for those who live in Wales. You will need to own a home or be a private tenant and receive a means-tested benefit or earn a low income. Finally, you will need to be in a home with an energy efficiency rating of E or lower. If your rating is D and you or someone you live with has a health condition, you may also qualify. The health conditions include respiratory diseases such as chronic obstructive pulmonary disease; circulatory diseases such as strokes and heart attacks; mental health struggles, dementia and developmental disorders. There is no listed claim limit, although the Welsh Government said in 2023, that the average claim is £2,457. How to apply Contact Nest on 0808 808 2244 during office hours, Monday to Friday. Solar Together What it is Solar Together is a scheme to group-buy solar panels and batteries, keeping costs down. Solar panel providers bid for the chance to install the solar panels. It is more of a bulk discount than a grant. It is available in certain local authorities that have signed up to the scheme. Who it's for This is probably the scheme with the broadest appeal. It's open to homeowners and tenants who have gained their landlord's permission in council areas that are part of the scheme. It is UK-wide and can offer discounts of about a third compared to going it alone. How to apply Firstly, check that your council is part of the scheme. You can do that on the Solar Together website, where you can also apply. Some councils have run the scheme in the past and then withdrawn, often due to a lack of interest. Solar Together encourages you to register your interest to show that there is demand if your local authority is not taking part. Once you have applied, you wait until registration closes in your area. Then, solar installers are invited to bid for your work, with the cheapest winning. This is particularly useful for those who don't want to haggle themselves over their solar quotes. 0 per cent VAT on solar installations What it is The government typically applies VAT to most things, with food and children's clothes being the big exceptions. Domestic power also receives some relief, being charged at 5 per cent, rather than the 20 per cent levied on much of everything else. In 2022, the government decided to cut the 5 per cent it added to solar installations to zero in a bid to help homeowners to pay for them and get the UK closer to zero emissions. The government plans to end the tax break in 2027, and while it could be extended, chancellor Rachel Reeves has been looking for ways to raise money for the Treasury, and solar panels may find themselves in the firing line. Who it's for If you are buying panels and installation, you automatically get the tax break. The tax is simply not applied. Smart Export Guarantee What it is Replacing the previous feed-in tariff, the smart export guarantee was introduced in 2020 and ensures energy companies offer a rate for homeowners to sell their unused power back to the grid. This is particularly important since many homeowners will use more power at home in the evening, while solar panels generate most power during the day. Who it's for It is available across the UK, and even if you have panels and a solar battery to use your panel-generated power later in the day, it's important to have a good export agreement in place to get a good price for your power, since bigger homes may sell more than they use. How to apply The guarantee means power companies must offer a rate for selling to the grid, so there is no need to apply. But it is worth shopping around to ensure your purchased power is cheap and that you are getting a good rate when you sell, too. Home Upgrade Grant 2 Home Upgrade Grabt 2 closed in March 2025 after two years. Up to £630m of funding was available for local authorities to spend on energy efficiency and low-carbon heating in the second phase of the endearingly titled HUG, which offered up to £18,000 in some areas. It was for people who live off the gas grid, making it rather more niche than ECO4, and you must earn as a household less than £36,000 to qualify. Home Energy Scotland Grant and Loan Scheme What it is This scheme is for those living in Scotland and now covers solar thermal panels – ones which heat water rather than generate electricity – and hybrid units which do both. A £5,000 interest-free loan is available for these panels. Who it's for The criteria are much more relaxed than other schemes and anyone in Scotland can apply if they are doing so for their own home. The loans are interest-free, although a 1.5 per cent fee is applied to the loan. Even after this fee is applied, it is still a very cheap way to borrow for these panels if you live in Scotland How to apply Ring Home Energy Scotland on 0808 808 2282 during normal office hours How we did our research We spoke to solar companies and fitters across the UK as well as insiders in the solar market to find you the best options on solar grants and discounts. Why trust us? The Independent has been reporting on green energy and climate matters since it was founded in 1986. Since then, we have written hundreds of reviews and news stories on energy, including the best solar fitters and various other guides on green power. Frequently asked questions Are there government grants for solar panels? Yes, the ECO4 scheme offers grants and there is also support for Welsh families through the Welsh Government warm homes nest scheme. Are there solar panel grants for tenants and landlords? Yes. Tenants will have to ask landlords for their permission to access some of these schemes, but most landlords will not object to improvements being made to their homes once they understand the nature of these schemes. The ECO4 scheme offers grants for tenants, as does the Welsh Government warm homes nest scheme. Can I get free solar panels? It is possible to get free panels if you are on benefits or have a vulnerable family member living with you, such as someone with a serious health condition. The ECO4 scheme and the Welsh Government warm homes nest scheme can offer free installation for those who qualify.
Yahoo
23-05-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
‘I got a £30k energy grant for having asthma'
Jane Bee has suffered with asthma since she was in her 20s. Now in her 70s, she has spent a lifetime using inhalers and steroids to keep it at bay, not helped by her 17th century home in Hamsterley village, Durham. However, since more than £30,000 worth of eco upgrades were made to the property last year, her condition has improved 'significantly' as the cold and damp has subsided. The best part – all of the work was free. Through her neighbours in the village, Mrs Bee and her husband Alan had heard of ECO4, the scheme that upgrades the energy efficiency of properties for no charge. Launched in 2013, the Energy Company Obligation (ECO) was initially only open to low income households or those in receipt of benefits living in homes with an EPC rating of D or less. But in 2022, access was expanded to include those with a medical condition that makes them vulnerable to the effects of living in a cold home. Examples of common conditions that make you eligible for the free upgrade include arthritis, high blood pressure, severe eczema and diabetes, according to advice website Energy Saving Genie. It is part of the Government's target to make the UK net zero by 2050, and aims to reduce fuel poverty and energy bills in the long-term, as well as reducing carbon emissions. The change in eligibility conditions meant that as a lifelong asthma sufferer, Jane could apply for a suite of upgrades to their four-bedroom detached home that had an EPC rating of E. 'We'd been living in the property freezing for 49 years, it was just so cold. So when we got the chance to go for this, we thought it was silly not to,' says Mrs Bee, a former lecturer at Durham University. 'The house first changed hands in 1730 so we don't actually know how old it is.' She sorted the application and work started in late October last year. 'They insulated the house, so any outside wall had another four inches added. They also put in new radiators in every room and added new ones where we didn't have them before. They added in the air source heat pump outside and then the boiler inside which is huge.' In addition, the house was fitted with solar panels, and the couple opted to pay for batteries to store any excess energy they create. Aside from the storage that cost £3,800, the only other element the Bees paid for was a shower as their old model no longer worked with the new system, costing around £400. However, Mrs Bee estimates the overall value of the work they had done is worth more than £30,000. 'As you can imagine we are nice and cosy now,' she says. However, while the work was free, the couple's energy bills have risen substantially. Before the changes, energy bills over the winter of 2023 ranged from £62 a month to £119, yet this winter, they hit an eye watering £409 in January before dropping gradually to £134 in April. The hope now is that they will continue to fall over the summer months, evening out the cost across the year. In addition, the solar panels generate enough electricity that the property can export it out, which over time should also reduce the bills. Over 2.5 million homes have received upgrades under ECO, the retrofit scheme which is now in its fourth iteration. This total comprises more than four million individual measures including biomass boilers and loft insulation. The scheme is mandated by the Government as part of a drive towards better energy efficiency and the country's net zero target by 2050. However, it is funded by energy companies, meaning that it is ultimately energy bill payers who foot the cost. ECO4 is worth £1bn per year over the four-year scheme up to March 2026. However, it is running ahead of its budget – with a total spend of £3.7bn between April 2022 and December 2024. Under the current energy price cap, the scheme adds around £59 (around 3pc) to the typical household's bill, equating to around £1.5bn of total cost for households, according to Energy UK. It is not without its issues. In January this year, the Government announced it was taking action against contractors who had installed poor-quality wall insulation under the scheme. In addition, Trustmark, the independent body, discovered problems with retrofits under ECO including missing paperwork, wall insulation issues and insufficient ventilation. There is now a remediation programme in action under regulator Ofgem to fix all properties with deficiencies as a result of work under the scheme. Despite their bills rising, Mr and Mrs Bee say they aren't bothered by the costs. Before the upgrades, heating oil was costing them close to £1,000 annually in addition to £110 on logs and £25 a week on coal between October and March – half the year. The result was around £140 a month extra if the winter costs were spread over the year. 'We only had the oil central heating on for four hours a day. If we'd had it on all the time (like the air source heat pump is now), it would have cost a small fortune,' Mrs Bee says. 'We are so grateful to the people who made it happen. Yes, it has probably proved more expensive, but we would have had to spend more to keep warm anyway.' A spokesman for Octopus said: 'Because they switched from oil heating to electric, their electric usage and subsequently their electricity bill has increased. Please note that this also means they don't have to pay for oil any more. 'The solar panels installed by Alan and Jane were connected on March 23 2025. While they wouldn't have seen any benefit from them during the most recent winter period, we can see they've already made over £41 back between March 23 and May 3, which is great news.' Broaden your horizons with award-winning British journalism. 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Telegraph
23-05-2025
- Health
- Telegraph
‘I got a £30k energy grant for having asthma'
Jane Bee has suffered with asthma since she was in her 20s. Now in her 70s, she has spent a lifetime using inhalers and steroids to keep it at bay, not helped by her 17th century home in Hamsterley village, Durham. However, since more than £30,000 worth of eco upgrades were made to the property last year, her condition has improved 'significantly' as the cold and damp has subsided. The best part – all of the work was free. Through her neighbours in the village, Mrs Bee and her husband Alan had heard of ECO4, the scheme that upgrades the energy efficiency of properties for no charge. Launched in 2013, the Energy Company Obligation (ECO) was initially only open to low income households or those in receipt of benefits living in homes with an EPC rating of D or less. But in 2022, access was expanded to include those with a medical condition that makes them vulnerable to the effects of living in a cold home. Examples of common conditions that make you eligible for the free upgrade include arthritis, high blood pressure, severe eczema and diabetes, according to advice website Energy Saving Genie. It is part of the Government's target to make the UK net zero by 2050, and aims to reduce fuel poverty and energy bills in the long-term, as well as reducing carbon emissions. The change in eligibility conditions meant that as a lifelong asthma sufferer, Jane could apply for a suite of upgrades to their four-bedroom detached home that had an EPC rating of E. 'We'd been living in the property freezing for 49 years, it was just so cold. So when we got the chance to go for this, we thought it was silly not to,' says Mrs Bee, a former lecturer at Durham University. 'The house first changed hands in 1730 so we don't actually know how old it is.' She sorted the application and work started in late October last year. 'They insulated the house, so any outside wall had another four inches added. They also put in new radiators in every room and added new ones where we didn't have them before. They added in the air source heat pump outside and then the boiler inside which is huge.' In addition, the house was fitted with solar panels, and the couple opted to pay for batteries to store any excess energy they create. Aside from the storage that cost £3,800, the only other element the Bees paid for was a shower as their old model no longer worked with the new system, costing around £400. However, Mrs Bee estimates the overall value of the work they had done is worth more than £30,000. 'As you can imagine we are nice and cosy now,' she says. However, while the work was free, the couple's energy bills have risen substantially. Before the changes, energy bills over the winter of 2023 ranged from £62 a month to £119, yet this winter, they hit an eye watering £409 in January before dropping gradually to £134 in April. The hope now is that they will continue to fall over the summer months, evening out the cost across the year. In addition, the solar panels generate enough electricity that the property can export it out, which over time should also reduce the bills. Over 2.5 million homes have received upgrades under ECO, the retrofit scheme which is now in its fourth iteration. This total comprises more than four million individual measures including biomass boilers and loft insulation. The scheme is mandated by the Government as part of a drive towards better energy efficiency and the country's net zero target by 2050. However, it is funded by energy companies, meaning that it is ultimately energy bill payers who foot the cost. ECO4 is worth £1bn per year over the four-year scheme up to March 2026. However, it is running ahead of its budget – with a total spend of £3.7bn between April 2022 and December 2024. Under the current energy price cap, the scheme adds around £59 (around 3pc) to the typical household's bill, equating to around £1.5bn of total cost for households, according to Energy UK. It is not without its issues. In January this year, the Government announced it was taking action against contractors who had installed poor-quality wall insulation under the scheme. In addition, Trustmark, the independent body, discovered problems with retrofits under ECO including missing paperwork, wall insulation issues and insufficient ventilation. There is now a remediation programme in action under regulator Ofgem to fix all properties with deficiencies as a result of work under the scheme. Despite their bills rising, Mr and Mrs Bee say they aren't bothered by the costs. Before the upgrades, heating oil was costing them close to £1,000 annually in addition to £110 on logs and £25 a week on coal between October and March – half the year. The result was around £140 a month extra if the winter costs were spread over the year. 'We only had the oil central heating on for four hours a day. If we'd had it on all the time (like the air source heat pump is now), it would have cost a small fortune,' Mrs Bee says. 'We are so grateful to the people who made it happen. Yes, it has probably proved more expensive, but we would have had to spend more to keep warm anyway.' A spokesman for Octopus said: 'Because they switched from oil heating to electric, their electric usage and subsequently their electricity bill has increased. Please note that this also means they don't have to pay for oil any more. 'The solar panels installed by Alan and Jane were connected on March 23 2025. While they wouldn't have seen any benefit from them during the most recent winter period, we can see they've already made over £41 back between March 23 and May 3, which is great news.'
The National
27-04-2025
- The National
Landlord kicks woman, 83, out after securing free upgrade
The elderly tenant, who was renting a house in Fife, was given notice to leave after being 'harassed' by her landlord into agreeing to the 'improvements'. Under the ECO4 scheme, homeowners can secure free energy efficiency upgrades for low-income households. The 83-year-old's rented home was eligible for the scheme as she is classed as a vulnerable tenant but there is no rule preventing landlords from giving tenants notice to leave once the work is done. READ MORE: Thousands of people turn out to pro-independence march in Wales 'As far as I know, past energy upgrading schemes like this had a built-in requirement that the tenant had to carry on living in the property for a couple of years after the upgrade was completed but ECO4 has no such requirement,' the tenant told the Sunday National. She is fighting to stay on at the property and aims to take her case to the Scottish Government's housing tribunal. 'I'm 83 and on a low income so with the rental market going berserk, my chance of finding somewhere similar that isn't at least double my rent is zero,' said the tenant, who asked not to be named. She said the flaw in the scheme should have been obvious from the start. 'It's supposed to benefit the tenant by giving them a warmer home and lower bills but that doesn't work if they're evicted once the work's done,' she said. 'The landlords' free upgrade doesn't even get mentioned in the promotional stuff about the scheme but my landlord wouldn't have got it if I hadn't qualified for it.' The tenant said she had expected her landlord to be grateful she had agreed to the work even though she was reluctant to do so. 'I didn't want anything to do with the scheme in the first place but when the landlord got wind of all the lovely freebies on offer, he harassed me into eventually having the work done but it was horrendous,' she said. 'He didn't even help with clearing up the terrible mess afterwards and didn't even have the guts to serve the notice to leave himself. He hired a letting agent to do that for him.' Initially told the work would take four days, it ended up taking three weeks. 'I'd expected they would do one room at a time but the workmen were all over the house at once and I had to keep my clothes in black bin bags in the car because there was nowhere else to put them,' said the tenant. READ MORE: John Swinney 'moved' as he meets with Northern Ireland FM at Pope Francis funeral 'It was a monumental upheaval and involved tearing up the floorboards to install much bigger radiators, a new hot water tank and an air source heat pump. 'And by the way, the fabulous new heating system is expensive and useless when it's really cold!' Other much-needed repairs that are the landlord's responsibility are not being carried out, according to the tenant who is calling for the ECO4 loophole to be closed. Her call is backed by campaign group Living Rent. Chair Aditi Jehangir said: 'It is appalling that this tenant was made to put up with weeks of work only to be given notice to leave once the work was done. 'As a result, aged 83, she was forced to live in the property while work was being completed, which completely disrupted her life. The landlord could have found temporary accommodation for her or given her compensation for the struggle she was put through. 'Making her stay in the property while work was being done to her home only to then give her notice to leave suggests the landlord just wanted to extract as much money as he could from her. 'Across Scotland, landlords are evicting tenants claiming that they are going to sell the property or that they are going to move in only for the tenant to later find the property on the market with inflated rent. Any tenant who discovers this should take their landlord to a tribunal where they are entitled to up to six times the original rent in compensation.' The tenant's case was taken up by her MSP Shirley-Anne Somerville who wrote to the UK Minister for Energy Consumers, Dr Miatta Fahnbulleh MP. In her reply, the minister said: 'One of the reasons that there are no time period requirements associated with the PRS [private rented sector] uptake of the ECO, is that provision for residential tenancies as a housing matter is devolved to the Scottish Parliament. 'Any tenancy protections related to the ECO would need to be implemented by the Scottish Parliament through amending the applicable housing legislation.' The Scottish Government was approached for comment.
Yahoo
14-02-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
'Black mould, damp and decay': Homes excluded from insulation scandal help
Homeowners who say their houses are being destroyed by unsuitable insulation fitted under a government scheme say action announced to fix it won't help them - as the work was carried out too long ago. The government found a "serious systemic" issue in homes fitted with insulation under two of its own schemes since 2022 – and ordered installers to put it right. But that won't include 93-year-old Margaret Chappell whose work was done in 2021 and now her house is consumed by damp, black mould and crumbling plaster. The government said it would keep other schemes under review but Mrs Chappell said she and other residents were being ''ignored". "It's as if we don't exist. It's appalling," added Mrs Chappell, who has lived in her home in County Durham for 60 years. She and 153 of her neighbours in the town of Chilton had solid wall insulation fitted after Durham County Council advised them to take advantage of a free government scheme. They were told the work would help make their homes warmer and lower their energy bills. But Mrs Chappell, who suffers from chronic asthma, said that since then, damp has consumed her living room. Her wallpaper has peeled off and the plaster behind it is saturated and crumbling. "I don't want to be sitting here, breathing in this dust," she said. More than three million homes in the UK have had insulation fitted under government schemes including 260,000 properties which have had solid wall insulation. In October, the BBC told the story of 84-year-old Tormuja Khatun from Luton whose house with unsuitable solid wall insulation had mushrooms growing on the walls and dry rot feeding off the floor joists. Since then the house became so dangerous to live in she had to move out. Her family has been warned it will cost more than £100,000 to fix. Ms Khatun's insulation was fitted in 2022 so in theory should be covered by the government's promise of help - but they still don't know when the work will start and who will pick up the bill. Not long after this BBC report, the government ordered an audit by the independent organisation Trustmark of more than 1,000 properties that have had solid wall insulation. It found that in half of the homes audited the work had not been done to the required standard. The Minister for Energy Consumers, Miatta Fahnbulleh MP, told Parliament last month that the audit had found ''serious systemic'' problems. She said installers would be required to fix and pay for any problems. The energy regulator Ofgem is now trying to establish how widespread the problems are and has written to 65,000 households that have had solid wall insulation since 2022 under the government's ECO4 and GBIS schemes. But because the homes in Chilton were done under a different government programme, called the Local Authority Delivery Scheme, there is currently no plan to contact residents. The government said it was ''currently confident the quality of works under the Local Authority Delivery scheme was high'' but it would keep the situation under review. Building surveyor, David Walter, has been inspecting insulated properties for 25 years. He assessed the damage at several of the homes in Chilton and said ''poor design and poor workmanship'' had led to rain penetration which was causing the damp and mould. In Mr Walter's view the properties were unsuitable for solid wall insulation and said it would have to be removed from all of the properties. He warned this could cost tens of thousands of pounds per home to fix. He said the cost "could actually exceed the market value'' of each house and added ''it just demonstrates what a catastrophic scheme it's been.'' Susan Haslam said she has been fighting to get the damage repaired to her late parents', Bob and Maureen's Chilton home ever since they died three years ago. She said her father worried about the damp as he cared for her mother, who had dementia. She said the stress had prevented her family from being able to grieve properly for their parents, who saw the house "as part of their legacy," after working for decades. "We don't want to let them down, we want it to be sorted for them and for us," she said. "Somebody is responsible and they need to act." The company hired by Durham County Council to do the work on Mrs Chappell's house, Tolent, went bust before the installations were completed. Tolent sub-contracted the work to another firm, Westdale North Ltd, which says it is "still on site, and working on issues that have arisen." It added that it was doing the work "as a goodwill gesture although it may not legally be required to do so" adding "the care and consideration we have for residents is a core part of our service." The company said the work had been signed off by the Council and Tolent before it went bust, adding: "Some issues that were raised with Tolent were not communicated to us, due to them no longer being in business." Durham County Council's head of planning and housing, Michael Kelleher said it had been "a complex situation, with the collapse of Tolent causing delays outside of our control and we understand residents' frustrations." Mr Kelleher said the council has set up an email address for concerned residents, arranged for inspections to take place at affected properties and provided Westdale North with a list of issues raised by residents. "Westdale North has carried out extensive work to resolve the issues and we will continue to liaise with them to ensure any outstanding problems are rectified," he added.
