I read with interest the features on energy in this week鈥檚 issue. Of particular interest was the article 鈥淗omeowners want cheaper bills not greener measures鈥� (page 23).

True, I would like cheaper energy bills, but here鈥檚 the rub. I own a Victorian house that has solid brick walls and some rooms with sloping ceilings under the roofline. It has, then, poor thermal performance.

So, could I get a grant towards installing insulation? Nope.

Actually, that鈥檚 an exaggeration. I could get some funding for a fibreglass quilt for the roof, but nothing towards stripping and reslating, vapour barriers, and so on, needed to undertake this work properly. As for asking for a grant towards rigid insulation? Yes, but only to the value of fibreglass insulation. If I had a house with cavity walls and a proper loft, no problem.

Where鈥檚 the logic in this? The occupants of the oldest housing with the worst thermal performance don鈥檛 get much help. The 1860s, no; the 1960s, yes.

I suppose the oldest housing could be demolished and then newly built, but if it鈥檚 like mine, there are conservation issues. Winter draws on, then 鈥�

Postscript

Vaughan Castell, Estates Department, University of the West of England, Bristol

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