Green Assembly Member Baroness Jenny Jones has critisized Mayor Boris Johnson for the “national scandal” of the death of 2,700 Londoners.
Baroness Jenny Jones AM has critisized the missed opportunity to increase energy efficiency in London’s homes. Image courtesy of Don from USA.
According to provisional annual data published by Office of National Statistics, the number of excess winter deaths amongst 75-84 year olds in London during 2012/13 was 900, a 36 per cent increase on the 660 recorded in 2011/12. However, across all ages, there was 100 fewer excess deaths recorded in 2012/13 compared to the 2,800 recorded in 2011/12, a 3.6 per cent improvement.
Research has shown that the UK in Europe has amongst the highest rates of fuel poverty and excess winter deaths with the poor energy efficiency of our housing stock emerging as the main cause.
The Mayor of London missed his own 200,000 homes energy saving retrofit target by 2012 through his RE:NEW programme by only managing 99,000 homes. In a written answer to Jenny Jones, Boris Johnson said ‘I have not set a target for the number of properties assessed and/or retrofitted in London under the Green Deal’.
Jenny said: “Even with this tiny overall improvement, it’s still a national scandal that 2,700 Londoners died from the cold because of some of the worst fuel poverty levels and energy inefficient homes in Europe.”
“The Mayor missed a real opportunity to help an additional hundred thousand London households when he failed to meet his own target to tackle energy inefficient homes. He also ignored warnings to put far more resources behind the Green Deal to maximise its early uptake. This resulted in a massive drop in the number of home insulation assessments, let alone completions”