London Assembly Member Murad Qureshi today slammed Mayor Boris Johnson for failing to meet his own paltry targets on insulating Londoner’s homes.
The criticism follows an announcement from the Mayor that only 40,000 properties have received insulation as part of the RE:NEW scheme. Originally 200,000 properties were to be retro-fitted, the Mayor then reduced this target to 55,000 by March 2012 and now it emerges that only 40,000 have been completed.
Labour Assembly Member Murad Qureshi said: “The mayor is failing to deliver on one of his flagship environmental projects. This is cold comfort to all those Londoners suffering from a late cold winter, huge hikes in fuel bills and there only defence is to make their homes more energy efficient. This is a damning indictment of his failed environmental policies that he has only achieved a fifth of his original target, and even that will be late.”
“This is less than 2 per cent of London's 3.3 million homes, he completely lacks the vision and ambition required to tackle the pressing issues of high energy bills, cutting CO2 emissions and helping people, especially the old and vulnerable, out of fuel-poverty. According to London Council's 1 in 4 households in the capital are in fuel poverty.”
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Murad Qureshi is a Labour Londonwide Assembly Member and Chairs the London Assembly’s Environment Committee