Nottingham City Council is leading a regional bid for up to £140million of Government funding to help tackle fuel poverty.

As the accountable body for the Midlands Energy Hub, the Council plans to apply for the grant from the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS), through its ‘Sustainable Warmth Competition’.

The Midlands Energy Hub sits within the Carbon Reduction Energy and Sustainability Division and is one of five set up and funded by BEIS. It works across the area and supports each of the nine Midlands Local Enterprise Partnerships (LEP).

The Hub has already received more than £59million of Government funding as part of Phase 2 of its Local Authority Delivery scheme, which runs until December this year. The latest opportunity to bid for grants was launched last month and forms part of Phase 3, running from January next year to March 2023.

The primary aim is to tackle fuel poverty and the project will target residents on the lowest incomes, in the coldest and most vulnerable homes. Also, it is hoped the funding will drive retrofitting measures to improve building fabric, decarbonise heating systems and see more renewable energy in homes across Nottingham and the wider region.

Councillor Sally Longford, Portfolio Holder for Change, Carbon-Reduction and Sustainability, and Deputy Leader of Nottingham City Council, said: “I’m proud that we have a well-deserved national reputation for our climate-change agenda and regionally we are seen as leaders in the field.

“Applying for this funding will allow us to continue our forward-thinking programme of low-carbon retrofit work across the city.

“Through the Midlands Energy Hub we have identified an exciting opportunity for us to bid in partnership with other local authorities across the region, which, if successful, will have a significant impact on improving the lives of the most vulnerable in our communities.

“This supports our ambitious carbon-neutral and fuel-poverty plans at the same time as helping partner councils to deliver their own retrofitting programmes at a pace and scale needed to deliver local and national net-zero targets.”

Wayne Bexton, Interim Corporate Director for Growth and City Development, said: “We’re working closely with local authorities across the region and the Sustainable Warmth Competition offers the opportunity to build on the hard work of this team.

“We will be utilising the effective local and regional support mechanisms we’ve put in place through the Midlands Energy Hub, which will have local and regional benefits around job creation and enabling the transition to net-zero.”

The proposal was approved this afternoon (Tuesday) by the Council’s Executive Board.