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Londoners are to be given an unprecedented opportunity to cut their bills and make their homes more energy efficient under a proposal given a £9.5 million boost today.

It will be a joint initiative between the Mayor, the London Development Agency, London Councils, and the capital's 33 boroughs. The proposal to retrofit the capital's homes was approved by the London Development Agency’s board at a meeting today attended by the Mayor of London Boris Johnson. The decision paves the way to launch the scheme across London in April 2010, following the trial stages taking place in the coming months.

The scheme will include free-of-charge, easy-to-do and innovative measures – from changing to low energy light bulbs to installing stand-by switches. The aim is that more substantial steps, such as loft and cavity wall insulation, will involve no upfront costs and be free for those on benefits and subsidised for those able to pay.

Over a third of London’s carbon dioxide emissions are generated from homes. The new plans aim to build on existing schemes designed to improve London’s domestic homes providing residents with a series of simple measures to reduce their energy use.

By working with London’s boroughs and the utility companies, this will generate a step change in energy consumption across the capital, and make real progress toward the Mayor’s target to cut London’s carbon emissions by 60 per cent by 2025. While there is a range of organisations providing energy efficiency schemes to Londoners, a single city-wide scheme would provide consistency for residents, increase uptake and boost the potential to attract additional funding.

The Mayor of London Boris Johnson said:

"One of my top eco-goals is to make it easy for every Londoner to go green in their homes to save hundreds of pounds off fuel bills, and ensure the capital is seriously tackling climate change. I am determined to take the robust steps required to make London a beacon of low carbon living to improve our quality of life and secure our future good fortunes. This will prove great for our environment and great for our economic revival, stimulating new industries and creating green collar jobs."

London Development Agency Chief Executive Sir Peter Rogers said:

"Climate change is one of the biggest issues facing London's economy. This new scheme aims to make real cuts in carbon dioxide emissions for a cost-effective rate per ton of saved carbon. We have learned that this is best achieved by targeting particular areas and offering residents easy measures to implement. The end result will be savings on energy bills and big overall cuts in emissions."

London Councils' Chairman Councillor Merrick Cockell said:

"Today's announcement by the London Development Agency is welcome boost to this major partnership scheme. We are delighted to be working together with the Mayor and the London Development Agency to help cut carbon emissions from London's homes and the backing from the London Development Agency will help us draw in the additional funding needed to deliver this programme over the next few years."

Sixty per cent of London's housing was built before 1945, compared to 40 per cent nationally so it is less energy efficient than the UK average, which will allow London to make big savings through easy-to-complete measures.

The new scheme has been developed by learning from lessons learned in London and across the UK. It aims to become fully operational from April 2010, after the completion of technical trails and a demonstration project to showcase how to retrofit buildings to become more energy efficient. The programme is expected to be operated by London’s councils and will aim to provide improvements on an area basis.

For further information, please contact the LDA news team: Robert Beasley 020 7593 8437. Out of hours 07977 439371. Public enquiries 020 7593 9000.

Notes to Editors

1. The London Development Agency aims to improve the quality of life for all Londoners, working to create jobs, develop skills and promote economic growth.

2. The London Development Agency Board agreed the business case for the green homes retrofit programme at its meeting today. The programme will move to next stage of the London Development Agency’s approvals process in October, when an investment decision is taken to release funds for the project.

3. There are a number of existing schemes to improve London’s housing stock. These include Warm Front and the utility companes’ Carbon Emissions Reduction Target (CERT) funding.

4. To achieve an annual saving of 1.25 million tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions by 2015, around 1.8 million homes will need to sign up to scheme.