Renfrewshire Council has announced work is underway on the first phase of a £5m programme to reduce the risk of fuel poverty among households.

Phase one of the project will see over 700 homes in Gallowhill, Paisley benefit from measures to help residents save money on heating bills.

The homes will be made more energy efficient as part of a joint project between E.ON and the council.

The properties will receive external wall insulation, saving residents money each year on their fuel bills.

The work will be carried out by E.ON on behalf of the council.

This is in addition to loft insulation work already carried out to homes in the Gallowhill area.

The council formed the £5m funding package after research revealed properties in the Gallowhll and George Street areas of Paisley suffered from poor wall insulation and outdated heating systems.

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The funding package includes £3.35m from the Scottish Government's Home Energy Efficiency Programme for Scotland: Area Based Schemes (HEEPS:ABS).

The council provided over £700,000 towards the fund while E.ON provided approximately £1m through its commitment to the Energy Company Obligation (ECO) scheme.

Councillor Tommy Williams, Convener of the council's Housing and Community Safety Policy Board, said: "We have made a clear commitment to tackling the causes of poverty within our communities and have undertaken extensive work to research the areas where households are most at risk. These houses in Gallowhill are older and poorly insulated meaning they can lose energy and cost people more to heat.

"By pulling in funding and working with EON we are able to provide modern external wall insulation to more than 700 households for free. This will make a huge difference to people and make the houses more energy efficient for years to come."

The project is part of the ECO scheme, which requires energy suppliers to provide energy efficiency measures to people living in hard-to-heat homes and lower income, vulnerable households.

ECO is also part of the government's strategy to cut the amount of greenhouse gases generated from burning fossil fuels.

Steve Lauri from E.ON's Energy Efficiency team, said: "Energy saving schemes like this bring real benefits to communities; not only to the thousands of people whose homes will be more comfortable and more affordable to heat, but also to the small businesses in Renfrewshire that will be working alongside us."

(LM)