Helping to make homes warmer, healthier and more energy efficient

The Housing Decarbonisation programme and what it means for you as a homeowner, tenant or landlord in Cornwall.

Cornwall Council adopted the Housing Decarbonisation Strategy for Cornwall on 13 November 2024. We gathered evidence on all housing types, to find the best ways to reduce harmful emissions, while keeping our homes warm in the winter, cool in the summer and making them affordable to run.

As a council we want to make sure that everyone has access to the right advice and information. If you are a homeowner, tenant or landlord, having the best advice and support on the most effective ways to make green home improvements and ways to fund them is vital.

Cornish homes are some of the oldest and leakiest in Europe! While they have a rich heritage, historically the array of building methods and materials used means they can be difficult to keep warm or cool, meaning they could be using more energy, making them more expensive to run.

There are lots of benefits to be enjoyed from living in a more energy efficient home:

• It’s easier to keep it warm or cool when necessary.
• It needs less energy and so will be cheaper to run.
• It will be kinder to the planet using less energy = lower emissions!
• It’s a healthier place to live.

Poor housing costs the NHS over £1 billion a year according to the Building Research Establishment (BRE). By making improvements that reduce carbon we can also help to ease the burden on the NHS and be kinder to the planet at the same time.

The council works with housing providers to offer grants and initiatives to improve homes to make them more energy efficient and help them become cheaper to run. Grant funding is not always available to everyone and with limited budgets the council can’t pay for improvements to everyone’s home. So, we are looking for the best ways to support homeowners so they can help themselves to make improvements. With this in mind a main theme of the strategy is that no one is left behind, so we looked at practical ways to support all of our residents.

This could be with advice and information, useful online tools, signposting to alternative funding options to help people improve their own homes such as the Green Home Improvement Loan scheme introduced in April 2024. There are many things that we as a council can do, including helping industry to attract and train people with the right skills and supporting the supply chain to help keep costs down.

A "Thriving and Sustainable Cornwall" is a Council priority and the Housing Strategy 2030, aims for every resident have access to a safe, warm, and secure home.

We want to know what you think and what's most important to you. We will be adding to this page as we develop the strategy. So please register or follow for more information and to get involved and tell us what you think.

The Housing Decarbonisation Strategy was adopted on 13 November 2024, you can view or download it along with the consultation feedback report.

Thank you.

The Housing Decarbonisation Team