Energy secretary Ed Miliband visited Reading to champion affordable, green heating as a way to tackle the cost of living crisis.
He toured the Arthur Hill Flats — built on the site of the old pool and opened as affordable key worker housing in January 2024 — with Reading Borough Council leader Liz Terry and Reading MP Matt Rodda.
Mr Miliband inspected the flat of Pam, a key worker, to see how an air source heat pump is keeping her home warm. She was overheard saying she did not need to put the heating on in her bedroom because of the flat’s efficiency.
He hailed the Arthur Hill Flats as an exemplar as Labour rolls out its Warm Homes Plan to upgrade insulation in five million homes. “Look, I think this is a fantastic testimony to the incredible job that Reading Council under Liz’s leadership is doing.
“This is new social housing, we met a very satisfied tenant in Pam, she loves her flat, she loves the clean heating that is keeping her bills low. She says it’s incredibly comfortable.
“And, we’re seeing record investment in our Warm Homes Plan, 15 billion pounds of public investment in order to tackle the biggest issue that people across Reading face, which is a cost of living crisis, but we need great councils and great leadership that we’re seeing in Reading in order to make it happen.”
Cllr Terry (Labour, Coley) added: “So we’ve made a determined effort wherever we can to raise the funding to make sure that we have affordable properties and part of making them affordable is making sure that they’re sustainable because that’s the best way to heat and to run properties these days.
“We opened up some new council housing only yesterday that’s almost all to Passivhaus standards, they’ve got ground source pumps in them, so solar panels, the insulation, the triple glazing, all the things we’ve talked about and seen here today (Thursday, January 30).”
About Pam, she said: 'I hardly have to put the heating on', demonstrating how the design and triple glazing keep bills low. “She’s a key worker for us, so it’s another part of the population we’re really keen to support,” Cllr Terry added.
Mr Miliband said the Warm Homes Plan covers different tenures — private rented, social housing and owner-occupiers — and aims to make clean tech available to everyone, not just the wealthiest. “So it’s about saying, look, we don’t just want the kind of clean tech for which there is massive demand now to be available to the richest in our society, we want it to be available to everybody so we can tackle fuel poverty.”
You can apply for a Warm Homes Grant to improve the heat efficiency of your home on the government website.
James Aldridge, Local Democracy Reporter
