Retrofitting England’s homes with good insulation and heat pumps could play a key role in “levelling up” regions like the North, creating tens of thousands of jobs and knocking hundreds of pounds off household bills, a new report claims.
The IPPR think tank has drawn up a 28-year plan, at an annual cost of £7bn, to deliver energy-saving domestic upgrades across the country in a bid to ease the strain on people’s wallets and the environment. IPPR claims its plan would bes “uniquely placed” to become “the cornerstone of the Government’s levelling-up strategy in England”, as those communities with the highest demand for installers tend to be current or former industrial centres and coastal communities outside London and the South East.
The scheme could create more than 61,200 new direct roles in the North East, equivalent to more than 5% of the total job market in the region, IPPR said. 137,662 jobs could be created in Yorkshire and Humber, and 169,521 in the North West - both more than 4% of the jobs markets in those areas.
