Residents in Manor Court in Knaresborough will benefit this winter following extensive work to connect their properties to the mains gas network.
As part of its commitment to improving services to tenants, Harrogate Borough Council in partnership with Northern Gas Networks (NGN) and Community Energy Solutions (CES) has installed 169 metres of new gas pipe to connect 32 low rise council owned flats to the network.
NGN put just under £30,000 of funding towards the gas infrastructure works, through their ongoing programme to tackle fuel poverty.
The properties have also had new gas condensing combi-boilers and radiators fitted by Harrogate Borough Council to provide ‘whole house’ heating, making the homes more comfortable during the cold winter months. Previously, the properties were heated by electric storage heaters.
Introducing gas central heating to the flats should have a positive effect on the energy rating and CO2 emissions as well as reducing the annual running costs of the flats by nearly 25 per cent, helping to make them more affordable to heat.
Councillor Mike Chambers, Harrogate Borough Council’s Cabinet Member for Housing said:
This is one of a number of programmes that the council is undertaking to improve the quality of life for residents in our district.
The work undertaken to connect these homes to the main gas network has been extensive and I would like to thank Community Energy Solutions and Northern Gas Networks for their assistance.
The flats in Manor Court will now be more comfortable in winter, fuel costs should come down as residents will no longer be reliant on electric storage heating, and there will also be a positive impact on the environment.
Tom Bell, Head of Social Strategy at NGN said:
The North of England has one of the highest levels of fuel poverty in the country, with 24 per cent of households estimated to spend more than ten per cent of their income on heating.
Partnerships like this are incredibly important, helping households to access more affordable energy solutions by providing them with free gas connections and efficient heating systems which will ultimately make life more comfortable for people living in our region.
Lee Cattermole, Programme Director at CES said:
We are delighted that Manor Court’s residents now have access to mains gas.
Gas central heating offers many benefits, including being more affordable and more easily controlled than alternative forms of heating.
We are looking forward to continuing this successful partnership in the future and offering these benefits to other households in the district that are currently off-gas.
Manor Court resident Pamela Thornes and her husband Peter are both delighted to now be ‘on the grid’.
Pamela said:
When we moved into the property eight years ago we had electric storage heaters and they were terrible.
We found out in January that they were coming to do the work and they were very quick. It only took three days and now we’ve got the new radiators and boiler it’s fantastic.
We haven’t had the heating on yet because of the weather – but I can’t wait for winter!
- Northern Gas Networks own all the gas mains in the North East, most of Yorkshire and northern Cumbria, transporting gas to 2.7 million homes and businesses
- The network consists of 37,000km of gas mains, enough to stretch from Leeds to Sydney in Australia and back
- NGN’s mains replacement programme will see 3,800km of old metal gas main replaced with modern plastic equivalents by 2021.
