emb123
30-May-08, 11:53
Here in the Highlands & Islands I think many if not most folk understand what it means to have to work to stay warm.
Even where it doesn't affect us personally, it probably affects our families and friends. There are a good many of us reliant upon solid fuel heating systems that require some degree of physical effort to sustain and some considerable amount of money to feed.
It is in some of the more remote locations that folks really can have a difficult time of trying to stay warm at night and often have to settle for simply not freezing instead.
Last winter at least 40% of my income for a good three months went on trying to keep warm. I had thermometers all over the place so that I didn't use too much fuel and to reassure myself that the temperature was warm enough when I could get it up to 20 celcius even if I didn't really feel warm. I was in a cold and draughty old stone-built croft house and ended up living in one room to save having to heat the rest of the house. It didn't actually bother me that much, I just accepted it as normal and got on with life - it was how things were when I was a child, and it's only now that I read that it is considered to be fuel poverty when more than 10% of your income is spent on fuel that I think maybe the Government is living in cloud cuckoo-land.
Currently this is extremely topical as one heating fuel after another rockets in price with knock-on effects on the cost of food and everything else that needs physical transportation.
By way of remedy, the Warmfront scheme is only for England & Wales. The UK Government policies are in fact only for England & Wales. Scotland's schemes can give you help up to £500 if you're eligible and lucky unlike England's potential £4000 of assistance.
It's good to keep the heat in and the cold out but you've also got to be able to afford to generate the heat in the first place.
If you look into (as I have) the policies and assistance, proposals, white papers, government recommendations, publications etc then most of them either only apply outside Scotland, or are woolly and completely ambiguous promising nothing that you can grasp hold of, and most haven't been updated for between three and seven years.
I believe that the Westminster Government proposals are far too paltry in their scope and won't help those who *really* need the assistance, and are even less helpful to the most needy people in Scotland. I don't get the impression that Scotland is of any concern to Westminster - though I welcome the chance to hear Gordon Brown enunciating the word 'Scotland' in his discussions about fuel poverty.
The Holyrood Government seem to have a better idea of what the problem is but don't really know how to juggle the pocket shrapnel that they have avilable to remedy the problem.
I think that fuel poverty is an important consideration here - what do you guys (and girls) think ?
Reference information
Warmfront.
http://www.warmfront.co.uk/do-i-qualify.htm
Do I Qualify ? NO. Not in Scotland you don't.
Warm Deal Scotland
http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Topics/People/OlderPeople/Homeimprovements/Warmdeal
Advice on how to stay warm and up to £500 help with insulation if you qualify.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/4702095.stm
Millions 'to face fuel poverty' (BBC News article July 2005) Governmental advice is to learn to be more fuel efficient.
The Times -today, Row erupts over new fuel poverty action plan
http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/industry_sectors/utilities/article4031380.ece
The Times - April 10, 2008
Government will not meet fuel poverty target
http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/money/consumer_affairs/article3722492.ece
Scottish (Government) Fuel Poverty Statetment
(dated August 2002)
http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Publications/2002/08/15258/9951
Latest info at the Scottish Government Web site
http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Topics/Built-Environment/Housing/access/FP/fuelpovertyreview
The latest proposals are to eliminate "as far as is reasonably practicable" fuel poverty in Scotland by 2016.
Jolly good.
Even where it doesn't affect us personally, it probably affects our families and friends. There are a good many of us reliant upon solid fuel heating systems that require some degree of physical effort to sustain and some considerable amount of money to feed.
It is in some of the more remote locations that folks really can have a difficult time of trying to stay warm at night and often have to settle for simply not freezing instead.
Last winter at least 40% of my income for a good three months went on trying to keep warm. I had thermometers all over the place so that I didn't use too much fuel and to reassure myself that the temperature was warm enough when I could get it up to 20 celcius even if I didn't really feel warm. I was in a cold and draughty old stone-built croft house and ended up living in one room to save having to heat the rest of the house. It didn't actually bother me that much, I just accepted it as normal and got on with life - it was how things were when I was a child, and it's only now that I read that it is considered to be fuel poverty when more than 10% of your income is spent on fuel that I think maybe the Government is living in cloud cuckoo-land.
Currently this is extremely topical as one heating fuel after another rockets in price with knock-on effects on the cost of food and everything else that needs physical transportation.
By way of remedy, the Warmfront scheme is only for England & Wales. The UK Government policies are in fact only for England & Wales. Scotland's schemes can give you help up to £500 if you're eligible and lucky unlike England's potential £4000 of assistance.
It's good to keep the heat in and the cold out but you've also got to be able to afford to generate the heat in the first place.
If you look into (as I have) the policies and assistance, proposals, white papers, government recommendations, publications etc then most of them either only apply outside Scotland, or are woolly and completely ambiguous promising nothing that you can grasp hold of, and most haven't been updated for between three and seven years.
I believe that the Westminster Government proposals are far too paltry in their scope and won't help those who *really* need the assistance, and are even less helpful to the most needy people in Scotland. I don't get the impression that Scotland is of any concern to Westminster - though I welcome the chance to hear Gordon Brown enunciating the word 'Scotland' in his discussions about fuel poverty.
The Holyrood Government seem to have a better idea of what the problem is but don't really know how to juggle the pocket shrapnel that they have avilable to remedy the problem.
I think that fuel poverty is an important consideration here - what do you guys (and girls) think ?
Reference information
Warmfront.
http://www.warmfront.co.uk/do-i-qualify.htm
Do I Qualify ? NO. Not in Scotland you don't.
Warm Deal Scotland
http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Topics/People/OlderPeople/Homeimprovements/Warmdeal
Advice on how to stay warm and up to £500 help with insulation if you qualify.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/4702095.stm
Millions 'to face fuel poverty' (BBC News article July 2005) Governmental advice is to learn to be more fuel efficient.
The Times -today, Row erupts over new fuel poverty action plan
http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/industry_sectors/utilities/article4031380.ece
The Times - April 10, 2008
Government will not meet fuel poverty target
http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/money/consumer_affairs/article3722492.ece
Scottish (Government) Fuel Poverty Statetment
(dated August 2002)
http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Publications/2002/08/15258/9951
Latest info at the Scottish Government Web site
http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Topics/Built-Environment/Housing/access/FP/fuelpovertyreview
The latest proposals are to eliminate "as far as is reasonably practicable" fuel poverty in Scotland by 2016.
Jolly good.