Residents in limbo as cuts stall work to make houses more ‘energy friendly’

Bradford East MP David Ward was contacted by residents of the Parkside estate in Bowling over issues caused by work to “clad” their homes.

Since last year hundreds of households on the estate have signed up for the Energy Companies Obligation (ECO) scheme – which is funded by energy companies and is part of the Government’s Green Deal programme.

Leeds-based Green Deal Warehouse is one of the companies that has been working on the estate, installing cladding on houses that would cut energy bills.

But in recent weeks people who signed up have complained of work not being completed or delays between scaffolding being installed and work being done. Others are unsure if their houses will ever be started on.

Mr Ward has visited the estate and plans to speak with the company about the issues that were raised.

Residents who contacted the Telegraph & Argus have complained of drainpipes not being re-attatched properly after other work was completed, fittings including lights and burglar alarms not being re-attatched to walls, construction gear and rubbish being left in gardens and scaffolding being left up for weeks.

James Kahn, from the Green Deal Warehouse, said that recent Government changes to the ECO scheme meant that companies like his were seeing large amounts of funding cut, leading to job losses. He said these cuts would lead to job losses at the company, with much fewer workers being available to finish jobs and the future of a number of houses signed up to the scheme uncertain.

He added: “We’re going back to sort all the issues out, and we are not charging people. We were in the situation where we didn’t know if we were going to get paid to do the jobs or not. We have given people this service for free and now we’ve had our funding pulled. People are screaming and shouting but they are getting the work for free. “We’ve been working years towards this, but now we won’t get paid.”