The Liberal Democrats called on the Mayor of London Sadiq Khan to do more to help Londoners living in fuel poverty today during the London Assembly’s annual budget meeting.
The Lib Dems had asked the Mayor to provide £700,000 of funds from the Business Rates Reserve (BRR) to fund a ‘Green Doctors Scheme’.
The proposal was passed with the support of Green Assembly Members, while Conservatives and Labour Members abstained. This means that Sadiq Khan must consider the proposal ahead of his final budget in February.
Green Doctors is a charity that offers free appointments at home to residents across London helping them make changes to how they use energy, fitting insulation and carrying out other energy saving measures on their behalf.
The Liberal Democrats calculated that their proposed scheme would allow the charity to reach 400 visits to Londoners in its first, to be scaled up to a further 2,400 Londoners in its second year. In addition to helping Londoners retrofit their homes and make energy saving changes, the funding would also provide £107,000 worth of fuel vouchers for those most in need over the course of the two years.
The Mayor of London’s office estimates that between 404,000 – 750,000 Londoners live in fuel poverty.
The Liberal Democrats have argued that in addition to helping to reduce fuel poverty, the scheme would help tackle climate change, pointing out that while Sadiq Khan has focused on reducing greenhouse gas emissions from transport, 37 per cent of Green House Gas emissions in London come from domestic energy use making it the single biggest source of emissions in the capital by far.
Commenting Liberal Democrat London Assembly Member and Environment Spokesperson Hina Bokhari AM said:
“The state of the planet, and the state of our bank balance are two of those things that keep Londoners awake at night right now.
“Across London people are struggling with energy bills, catching hypothermia in their own home and having to make the difficult ‘choice’ between eating or staying warm.
“Meanwhile domestic heating continues to be one of the biggest sources of emissions.
“Our budget proposals today would have made a significant and tangible impact on both of these problems.
