What the Warm Homes Plan means for Cheshire East

Too many homes in Cheshire East leak heat, cost a fortune to warm, and leave families battling damp and mould. The Warm Homes Plan changes that, starting with the homes that need help the most.

Fuel poverty is a real concern across the borough. The Warm Homes Plan gives low‑income households priority access to fully funded upgrades so that no one is left behind.

Thousands of homes across Cheshire East were built long before modern insulation. The Warm Homes Plan funds the upgrades they’ve needed for decades. This means: proper insulation, new windows and doors, modern heating systems and smart controls to cut waste, ie, real improvements that make homes warmer and cheaper to run.

Households will be able to benefit from clean power technologies such as solar panels, heat pumps and batteries that will bring down their energy bills. For example, a household could receive fully funded installations of solar panels and a battery, to the full average cost (which is currently between £9,000 and £12,000).

There are also new protections for renters, to ensure landlords also invest in these upgrades to cut bills for renters and social tenants. For social housing residents, this could mean upgrades to entire streets at the same time, lowering bills and improving warmth and comfort for whole neighbourhoods. Labour believes in a simple principle that if you rent a home, private or social, a landlord has a responsibility to ensure that it is safe, warm, and affordable.

There is also a government-backed, zero and low interest loans programme to get solar panels onto the nation’s rooftops. New rules will also ensure that every new home will come with solar panels by default. This plan will triple the number of homes with solar panels on their rooftops by 2030.

For anyone who wants to get a heat pump, there is a £7,500 universal grant for heat pumps, and the first ever offer for “air-to-air heat pumps” that can also cool homes in the summer.

This isn’t a temporary rebate. It’s a long‑term fix that will permanently cut bills by stopping heat leaking out of older homes across the borough.

The plan will also bring new skilled jobs to Cheshire East: installers, engineers, apprenticeships and local supply chains.

It’s the intention that thousands of families in Cheshire East will be lifted out of fuel poverty by the end of the decade. Change is happening.

If you would like to find out more about the grants available, search for ‘Help with heating your home’ on the Cheshire East website.