The UK government has unveiled a new scheme that it says plans to incentivise people to install low-carbon heating systems in a “simple, fair and cheap way”.
This means that, from April next year, homeowners in England and Wales will be able to apply for grants of £5,000 to replace their old gas boiler and install more efficient, low-carbon heating systems, such as heat pumps that do not emit carbon when used.
This will be through a new £450 million three-year Boiler Upgrade Scheme.
The new scheme is part of the more than £3.9 billion funding announced yesterday and allocated to cutting carbon from heating and buildings, which will be used to help reach the government’s target for all new heating system installations to be low-carbon by 2035.
The government says that these £5,000 grants mean that people choosing to install a heat pump will pay a similar amount as if they were installing a traditional gas boiler.
ADVERTISEMENT
At present, heat pumps cost an average of £10,000 to be installed, but the government said it would work with industry to make them same cost to buy and run as fossil fuel units by 2030.
Homeowners in England and Wales will be able to apply for grants of £5,000 to replace their old gas boiler / Credit: Pxfuel
Heat pumps work by using a refrigerant to absorb natural heat found in the air, ground or water, which is then transferred to the cold water system in a house to heat it up and pump it to radiators and hot taps, and as the pumps also run on electricity, this can be sourced in more eco-friendly ways, including the use of solar panels.
ADVERTISEMENT
There are currently around 30,000 heat pumps installed in the UK each year, but the government wants to significantly increase this to 600,000 per year by 2028.
The grants for heat pumps will be available for households in England and Wales, as part of the UK-wide heat and buildings strategy.
It was previously thought that millions of homeowners could face fines of up to £10,000 if they did not replaces their gas boilers with a low-carbon solution, but the government has this week insisted that “no one will be forced to remove their existing fossil fuel boilers” as this transition will take place over the next 14 years to allow households to gradually move away the boilers in an “affordable, practical and fair way”.
ADVERTISEMENT
There are currently around 30,000 heat pumps installed in the UK each year / Credit: Wikimedia Commons
The government says this transition will enable homeowners to “easily make green choices” when the time comes to replace their old boiler.
Although Prime Minister Boris Johnson said that the new grants will “help homeowners make the switch sooner, without costing them extra, so that going green is the better choice when their boiler needs an upgrade”, the Boiler Upgrade Scheme has been met with some criticism from opposition parties and industry experts.
Labour’s shadow Business Secretary, Ed Miliband, called it a “meagre, unambitious and wholly inadequate response” as millions of families face an energy and cost of living crisis, while Green MP Caroline Lucas agreed that the voluntary aspect of the scheme was concerning, and told Sky News that “there simply isn’t enough money in this package to properly insulate homes”.
The head of the Climate Crisis Advisory Group, Sir David King, has also called for a “comprehensive policy” after calling the scheme just a “small step in the right direction” and raising concerns that the “voluntary nature” of the policy “threatens its rollout”.
Featured Image – Flickr
News
Luxury Manchester gym Blok confirms permanent closure after weeks of uncertainty
Daisy Jackson
Blok Manchester has announced its permanent closure, weeks after the doors to the premium fitness facility mysteriously closed.
Around a fortnight ago, members began to arrive to their classes to find the gym on Ducie Street locked up and a forfeiture notice on the door – but at the time, Blok said that it was fighting to reopen.
Sadly, in an email sent to members today, its founder has confirmed that the studio is now permanently closed.
Blok – which has several very successful sites down in London – said that its relationship with its landlord has ‘broken down to a point where trust has been lost’.
The gym wrote that it’s been left with ‘no workable way forward’.
They said: “BLOK Manchester was a space built by our loyal and dedicated community. Whether you joined us for one class or one hundred, we are deeply grateful. You helped create something genuinely special in an incredible city.”
In the immediate future, they said they’ll be supporting the team of fantastic trainers who worked here, as well as looking after members.
Members will be contacted within a few hours with options and refunds owed.
Blok Manchester has announced its permanent closure. Credit: The Manc Group
CEO and founder Ed Stanbury said: “While this marks the end of a chapter, we don’t see it as the end of our story in Manchester. We’re already speaking with developers about potential future sites and remain committed to returning to the city when the time is right.
“Thank you for being part of our story so far. Let’s shape the future of wellness. The mission continues.”
Commenting on Blok’s Instagram post – its first in almost a fortnight – people have been sharing their sadness at the closure of its Manchester site.
One person wrote: “beautiful space, beautiful staff and beautiful community.”
Another said: “Sending love to all the instructors !! :(((( gutted”
Someone else commented: “THE BEST CLASSES. I’m gutted.”
‘The average cost of a pint’ in the UK by region, according to the latest data
Danny Jones
Does it feel like pints keep getting more and more expensive almost every week at this point? Yes. Yes, it does, and while you can’t expect a city as big as Manchester to be one of the cheapest places to get one in the UK, we do often wonder how it compares to other parts of the country.
Well, as it happens, someone has recently crunched the numbers for us across the nation, breaking down which regions pay the most and the least for their pints.
The data has been examined by business management consultancy firm, CGA Strategy, using artificial intelligence and information from the latest Retail Price Index figures to find out what the ‘average cost of a pint’ is down south, up North and everywhere in between.
While the latest statistics provided by the group aren’t granular enough to educate us on Greater Manchester’s pint game exactly, we can show you how our particular geographic region is looking on the leaderboard at the moment.
That’s right, we Mancunians and the rest of the North West are technically joint mid-table when it comes to the lowest average cost of a pint, sharing the places from 3rd to 8th – according to CGA, anyway.
Powered by consumer intelligence company, NIQ (NielsenIQ) – who also use AI and the latest technology to deliver their insights – we can accept it might seem like it’s been a while since you’ve paid that little for a pint, especially in the city centre, but these are the stats they have published.
Don’t shoot the messenger, as they say; unless, of course, they’re trying to rob you blind for a bev. Fortunately, we’ve turned bargain hunting at Manchester bars into a sport at this point.
We might not boast the lowest ‘average’ pint cost in the UK, but we still have some bloody good places to keep drinking affordable.
London tops the charts (pretends to be shocked)
While some of you may have scratched your eyes at the supposed average pint prices here in the North West, it won’t surprise any of you to see that London leads the way when it came to the most expensive pint when it came to average cost in the UK.
To be honest, £5.44 doesn’t just sound cheap but virtually unheard of these days.
CGA has it that the average cost of a beer in the British capital is actually down 15p from its price last September, but as we all know, paying upwards of £7 for a pint down that end of the country is pretty much par for the course the closer you get to London.
Yet more reason you can be glad you live around here, eh? And in case you thought you were leaving this article with very little, think again…
The Manc -
19th October 2021 
