North Herefordshire MP Dr Ellie Chowns has written to the Minister for Energy Consumers ahead of the publication of the government’s Warm Homes Plan urging him to make sure the scheme properly recognises and supports rural households.

In her letter Dr Chowns highlights that rural homes are often older, detached, and more difficult to retrofit, and that installers have been known to avoid complicated properties because they are less profitable - meaning national schemes can fail to reach more isolated homes across North Herefordshire. She called on the government to build rural-specific delivery routes into the Warm Homes Plan and to back the rollout with strong, independent oversight and clear measures to hold rogue contractors to account.

Dr Chowns said: “People in our towns and villages do everything they can to maintain their homes, support their neighbours, and keep local communities alive. But when big national programmes are designed without rural places in mind, those communities are left behind.

“I’ve written to the Minister to ask for a Warm Homes Plan that understands and values rural life, with targeted delivery for more isolated homes and real protection for householders. I will keep speaking up in Parliament so North Herefordshire’s voice is heard where these decisions are made.”

Other key asks set out in Dr Chowns’ letter include: a well-resourced, independent public body to coordinate, monitor and evaluate the nationwide rollout of warm homes programmes and to enforce quality standards; robust procurement and payment mechanisms and a compulsory remedial fund or industry-underwritten mechanism to pay for necessary fixes so householders don’t carry any risks; and a transparent public register of firms that fail to meet standards.

She has also offered to meet the Minister and arrange for local stakeholders to bring direct evidence of the barriers faced by rural communities on the ground in North Herefordshire.