The Liberal Democrat visited Sunderland to support a campaign to insulate thousands of homes across the North East.

The North East Home Insulation Partnership (NEHIP) says more than 400,000 homes in the North East have inadequate insulation.

In Sunderland, there are 35,000 homes without cavity wall insulation.
NEHIP is lobbying for Government money to fund a programme of free insulation for vulnerable homes, with subsidies to make insulation available at a reasonable, standard cost across each local authority area in the region.

"More than 40 per cent of the energy we consume is used in buildings," said Mrs Hall.

"Only if we get a grip on energy efficiency and start improving the energy performance of our buildings will we be able to achieve the targets we have set ourselves nationally and at a European level.

"Otherwise, we will continue to let climate change spiral out of our control.

"That is why we are calling on the people of Sunderland to insulate as many homes as possible – and reduce their energy bills in the process."

NEHIP has calculated that insulating all the cavity walls and lofts of homes in the North East could meet about 25 per cent of the Government's residential carbon reduction target for the whole country.

Project manager Daniel Ludgate said: "By insulating all the cavity walls and lofts in the North East we can save 0.11million tonnes of carbon annually. Carbon savings through the lifetime of cavity wall and loft insulation would achieve 4.1million tonnes."

Andy Stephenson, chairman of the North East Domestic Energy Forum, added: "Local authorities will soon have to develop solutions to identify carbon reductions.

"Although most North East councils have been very proactive in doing this, still the best way of achieving significant reductions from residential homes is through installing cavity wall and loft insulation."

For more information and advice about the benefits of home insulation, contact the Energy Saving Trust advice centre on freephone 0800 512 012.