Clearview Midlands January 2014 - Issue 146 | Page 50

ENERGYEFFICIENCY

CHANCELLOR MUST DELIVER ON PROMISE
TO INVEST IN BRITAIN’S HOMES
The Chancellor has missed a golden
opportunity to reverse decades of
underinvestment in Britain’s ageing housing
infrastructure by not implementing a
reduced rate of VAT on domestic renovation
and repair, leaving millions of households
powerless in the face of rising fuel bills, says
the Federation of Master Builders (FMB).
Brian Berry, Chief Executive of the FMB,
said: “The Government continues to focus
on big-ticket projects such as road and rail,
which will be years in the planning and are
unlikely even to begin within the term of

this Parliament. The Chancellor has missed
an opportunity to reduce VAT on housing
renovation and repair.

‘A significant saving’
“Householders need more help to combat
the rising cost of heating their homes, and
lowering the rate of VAT charged on all housing
renovation and repair would do this at a stroke
– for example a 15% reduction in the rate of
VAT on insulation and double glazing would
represent a significant saving to the customer,

and empower homeowners to protect against
spiralling energy bills. Only by making your
home more efficient can you arrest, or even
reverse, the seemingly inexorable rise in the cost
of energy.”
Berry added: “Furthermore, diverting £4
billion raised annually in carbon taxes into a
mass programme of publicly funded energy
efficiency improvements would help those
who can’t afford to pay for this work up front.
Not only would this lift millions of the most
vulnerable out of fuel poverty, it could also
provide more than 70,000 new jobs by 2015.”

www.clearview-uk.com

PUBLIC WANTS WARMER HOMES
OVER ROAD OR RAIL SPEND
Making homes more
energy efficient is a greater
infrastructure priority for the
UK public than building HS2
or new roads, airports and
power stations. In a poll out
today, 85 per cent of adults
rank free energy efficiency
measures, which could save an
average family £500 every year,
in their top three infrastructu