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.
Read more: North East bids to create first low energy heating cluster
IPPR said that all of England’s 24m homes need upgrading, putting the country “far behind” European neighbours like Germany and France. The UK is currently installing less than a tenth of the measures needed in its “cold, damp and leaky” housing stock to meet its net zero target, it said, with the pace of deployment required only increasing in the face of the “dire” energy price crisis.
The think tank said investing in its proposals for a multibillion pound retrofitting programme could save average households £430 per year when energy bills are capped at £2,500 this autumn, and sustain more than 1.2m direct jobs nationally and 1.5m indirect jobs by 2050.
Luke Murphy, head of the fair transition unit and associate director for the energy, climate, housing and infrastructure team at IPPR, said: “The new Prime Minister and Chancellor have said they want to focus on growth. This report shows that a national retrofit programme can deliver jobs and growth right across the country, and deliver levelling up at the same time. It would also lower energy bills, reduce energy demand and our dependence on Putin, and lessen carbon emissions.
“It’s hard to think of another intervention that could deliver on so many objectives at the same time. It’s time the Government acted and invested to upgrade our nation’s homes making them warmer and more affordable. It’s a no-brainer.”
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