Portsmouth City Council has won £3.1 million in grant funding to assist with the installation of energy efficiency measures in homes.

The grant will allow qualifying households to receive solid wall insulation for free up to a value of £10,000, with all other homes with hard-to-treat walls being eligible for 66% of the total cost, up to £5,000.

The scheme, which will be delivered by Switched On Portsmouth, is expected to help households in the city save around £43,500 on their energy bills and reduce carbon emissions by 177 tonnes annually.

Up to 300 additional households across Portsmouth and Gosport are to benefit from the funding.

Councillor Dave Ashmore, Cabinet Member for Environment and Climate Change said: “I am over the moon to be able to announce the award of this funding. Treating solid walled homes in the city has always been difficult to fund, despite the enormous benefit to the households’ energy usage and carbon emissions.

“Domestic properties are responsible for around 15% of carbon emissions, with solid wall homes often being those with the highest emissions so this is an important step on our journey to net zero carbon by 2030.”