Helping to make homes warmer, healthier and more energy efficient

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

We are working on a Housing Decarbonisation Strategy for Cornwall. This means looking at all housing, 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

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

We are working on a Housing Decarbonisation Strategy for Cornwall. This means looking at all housing, 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 at the best ways that we can support homeowners to help themselves to make improvements. With this in mind a main theme of the strategy is that no one is left behind, so we are looking 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. 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.

We would now like to invite feedback on our draft Housing Decarbonisation Strategy. You can provide your feedback by completing the survey below by 16 September 2024.

Before you start:

  • Please note the strategy is quite technical and the questions in this survey are intended to invite feedback on the detail of the strategy. You do not need to answer every question. We welcome all feedback. Feel free to respond only to the questions that you consider most relevant to you.
  • By registering yourself on Let’s Talk Cornwall (or signing in if you are already registered) before starting this survey, you will be able to save this survey part way through and return to it later without losing data you have already submitted. You will also receive a copy of your responses for your records.

Thank you.

The Housing Decarbonisation Team


  • CLOSED: This survey has concluded.

    Please complete our short survey to give your views on the Housing Decarbonisation Strategy. This survey will close on 16 September 2024.

    The draft strategy looks at how to improve energy efficiency and cut emissions in our homes. We have a legal duty to decarbonise as set out in the Climate Change Act 2008 (legislation.gov.uk). The Climate Change Action Plan 2019, included a Carbon Neutral Homes Programme setting out the Council's aim to move faster and A Climate Emergency DPD, was adopted in February 2023 introducing new, supportive planning policies. This draft strategy will be key to delivering on these aims.

    Homes in Cornwall contribute over 20% of total emissions. We know that over 90% of them will need some form of retrofitting to meet our carbon neutral ambitions. Cornish housing is less energy efficient compared to the rest of the UK and the Southwest so we have some catching up to do!

    The University of Exeter examined evidence and data on Cornwall Housing stock giving us the basis for the draft strategy. They found that emissions from heating and hot water are persistent, with no decline over the past 10 years. In fact, fuel combustion emissions are increasing in Cornwall.

    By adopting a strategy we can identify ways to reduce emissions from Cornish housing. It will give us the evidence we need to react quickly to all funding opportunities (public or private). In turn, this will allow us to deliver housing quality improvements and will provide focus for collaborative working to achieve shared goals.

    As the draft strategy has developed it confirmed the need to find a solution for all. We must ensure that no one is left behind and that positive health and long-term financial benefits are for everyone. To do this we must be able to offer the right advice and guidance to build trust in retrofit suppliers and technology. Helping residents to help themselves, will support growth in the green economy by and improving skills, training and employment we can help close supply chain gaps and attract new suppliers to Cornwall.

    We invite you to review the draft Housing Decarbonisation strategy. It suggests short, medium and long-term actions and sets out our key principles, targets and a ‘road map'. This will help us plan and progress housing decarbonisation measures in Cornwall.

    • Please note the questions in this survey are intended to invite feedback on the detail of the strategy. You do not need to answer every question. Feel free to respond only to the questions that you consider most relevant to you.

    Privacy Notice 

    We will use the information you provide to help us plan and progress housing decarbonisation measures in Cornwall.

    The Data Controller for the information you provide in this survey is Cornwall Council, New County Hall, Treyew Road, Truro TR1 3AY. Data Protection Registration Number: Z1745294. Once the survey has closed, your data will be held within Cornwall Council’s secure network and premises for up to 2 years. Where we ask you to supply personal data on this form, we will only make access to this data available to authorised members of staff who are required to process it for the purposes outlined in this privacy notice. Please note that other information you provide, such as responses to open questions, may be published in full.


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Page last updated: 16 Sep 2024, 05:00 PM