East Cambridgeshire District Council

This January to highlight the dangers of carbon monoxide, East Cambridgeshire District Council and Care and Repair are working together to help those most at risk.

With carbon monoxide responsible for the deaths of around 50 people each year in England and Wales and causing the illnesses in a much larger number of people, the two organisations are launching a project to assist people get their boilers serviced.

To help further, the project has received £2700 of funding from the Department of Health’s Warm Homes, Healthy People Fund to help with inspections and provide free carbon monoxide monitors.

Yvonne Thresh, East Cambridgeshire Care and Repair Manager, said: “We are aiming to help vulnerable people who have not had their boilers serviced over the last year because they have been economising and also to install Carbon Monoxide detectors.  This is to make their boilers more efficient and to protect against carbon monoxide poisoning, which kills around 50 people each year.”

Rachel Doyle, Energy Efficiency Officer at East Cambridgeshire District Council, said: “If a boiler is serviced and running efficiently there are more benefits than just a warm house.  A cold, inefficient home can mean a resident can be more susceptible to colds and illnesses over a winter as well as the threat of carbon monoxide poisoning. It is something that might get overlooked as we tighten our household budgets, but your health is not something you can afford to ignore.”

To apply to the scheme, applicants must own their own home, not have had your boiler serviced in the last 12 months, and the household should include someone over 65, or children under five.

For more details you can contact Care and Repair on 01353 723777 or for further information please call on 01353 665555 or visit www.eastcambs.gov.uk