Decarbonising buildings, especially our homes, is a vitally important part of the UK’s journey towards Net Zero emissions. However, how that decarbonisation is delivered is equally important.

That’s why I have taken such a keen interest in a situation that was recently brought to my attention by a group of local Flagship Housing residents in Weasenham.

Flagship Housing/Victory Homes rightly decided to take measures to decarbonise the heating of many of their properties and, in Weasenham, installed ground source heat pumps – with the added incentive of reducing the heating bills of those living in those homes.

Heating is in fact one of the toughest things to decarbonise however and, unfortunately, this positive step forwards by Flagship has been undermined by a number of issues. Residents began reporting difficulties in heating their homes to the desired temperatures despite setting the thermostat accordingly and the new heating systems broke down several times. Furthermore, technical issues would mean the heating would come on at the wrong times and heating bills actually increased.

The dissatisfaction of many of these residents was compounded by the fact that they had been required to sacrifice their airing cupboards to accommodate the new heating systems, with new unpainted pipes added along skirting boards and down walls. The mess, noise and disruption caused during the improvements also left many feeling very disillusioned with the process.

I therefore welcomed the chance to meet with affected residents, alongside local councillor Robert Hambidge, this past Friday. Meeting at the Community Rooms on Lambert Close, we listened to residents as they detailed their frustrations in depth and, having invited Adrian Barber (MD from Flagship Housing/Victory Homes) to attend also, I was pleased to see that he was taking the complaints being raised very seriously indeed.

Adrian explained that Flagship/Victory had installed the new heating systems with the very best of intentions and acknowledged that lessons were being learned as a result of the problems that had been encountered. Residents appreciated his commitment to send out members of his team to meet with them and document all of the issues they had experienced, with Adrian also promising to then follow up on each complaint to ensure that everything was being addressed.

Vulnerable residents in social and sheltered housing should not end up paying more.