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Councils help battle backlog of free central heating project
Councils are helping to tackle the massive backlog in the Scottish Government's free central heating programme for the elderly.
Communities Scotland, which is administering the troubled scheme, has written to all local authorities to see if any can assist with the installation of replacement boilers, insulation, and smoke and carbon monoxide detectors.
Five councils - Glasgow, South Lanarkshire, Stirling, Clackmannanshire and Renfrewshire - have already offered to help bail out the government, Communities Scotland and Scottish Gas, the lead contractor for the work, by taking up the slack in their areas. The move has been welcomed by charities for the elderly.
Despite being in operation since 2001, the scheme has run into difficulties in recent months, with Age Concern Scotland claiming in November that the national waiting list for a new heating system was approaching the 11,000 mark.
The backlog was created largely by demand outstripping supply, despite around 15,000 central heating systems being installed across Scotland in 2007 at a cost in excess of £50m.
Following the Age Concern claim, the government pledged a further £7m, to ensure that as many caught up in the delays had new systems installed during the winter months. But in parliament it was claimed contractors were pulling out of the work amid difficulties over payments by Scottish Gas.
At First Minister's Questions last week, Labour leader Wendy Alexander said the waiting-list time had doubled since her party was in power and now averaged 33 weeks.
According to a report due to go before Glasgow council's executive committee this Friday: "Scottish Gas appears to have had a problem with its capacity to carry out this additional work and, as a consequence, Communities Scotland has been approaching local authorities to gauge their capacity to assist by taking on some of the work directly."
Glasgow City Council recommends that City Building, its former building services department which is now run as an arm's-length private enterprise, undertakes the work and installs 40-plus boilers a week to help cut the six-month waiting list facing elderly householders in the city.
The proposal is for City Building to undertake the work under guidance from Communities Scotland which, in liaison with social services and the NHS, will identify the most vulnerable groups to ensure they are prioritised for repairs or boiler replacements.
George Ryan, Glasgow's executive member for development and regeneration, said: "Fuel poverty and incidences of cold-related illness are real problems for our older residents, especially at this time of year. I'm delighted we are able to aid the central heating programme."
David Manion, Age Concern Scotland's chief executive, said Glasgow was "taking a very positive step to address both fuel poverty and reduce associated health risks brought on by cold temperatures".
A Communities Scotland spokesman said: "The local authorities will be using some of the £7m made available to tackle the waiting times and target priority cases."
Sent: 05/02/2008
Email us direct at: repairs@londonheatingservices.co.uk
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