Climate change campaigners Extinction Rebellion protesting in Wolverhampton
Climate protestors Extinction Rebellion are protesting in Wolverhampton on Friday.
The protesters are demanding the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities (DLUHC) and West Midlands Combined Authority (WMCA) increase investment in green retrofits for homes.
Extinction Rebellion groups in Wolverhampton, Birmingham, Coventry, Stourbridge and the wider region will be joining the action as part of a fortnight's region-wide programme of raising environmental issues local to different areas.
In the West Midlands, the focus is on its old housing stock, which protesters say is inefficient to heat and to keep cool.
Extinction Rebellion Wolverhampton's Kate Gilbert, 70, said: “There’s a gap between the government’s plans to retrofit the region’s 1.1 million homes by 2041 and the lack of finance for it.
"Buildings that are older than 1920 have solid brick walls that leak 45% of heat and much of the region’s housing stock was built in the 19th century. We need people to know they won’t have to foot the bill themselves to tackle climate change.
"This isn’t only a climate issue: millions of people will be trapped in fuel poverty this winter - that’s where their energy bills are more than 10% of their income. Even before this crisis the West Midlands had the highest fuel poverty gap in the UK due to the average age of local housing stock. It is unjust that people with the very least have to make the choice between heating and eating."
She added: "Anyone can see we’ve got to change our gas heating to renewable energies. Fossil fuels are on the way out, but our national government is propping up industries that are trying to hang onto gas and oil when they should be turning their full attention to systems that are free of carbon and methane emissions.
"The Department needs to ensure clean, green energy that works for our ecologies everywhere, for the survival of animals, insects, plants, for green jobs and pollution free communities. We need a rapid boost in investment in training and green manufacturing to create green jobs, and we need it now. We have the tradition of advanced engineering in the West Midlands.
"It can be an economic boost for the region. If the Government are serious about levelling up they must act now to provide the cash to local government. The best approach is to make retrofit plans community-led, so these radical changes can involve the people whose homes are being affected."
Extinction Rebellion Wolverhampton is holding a public meeting on Tuesday, July 26, at Newhampton Arts Centre, Dunkley Street, at 7pm, and everyone is welcome.
