Local authorities are best placed to lead the effort to decarbonise the country’s housing stock, the Local Government Association (LGA) says in response to the announcement of the Warm Homes Plan.

Launched today, the Government’s Warm Home Plan aims to deliver £15bn of public investment, roll out upgrades – such as insulation, heat pumps and solar panels – to up to five million homes and help lift up to a million families out of fuel poverty by 2030.

‘With this investment, we embark on a national project to turn the tide - waging war on fuel poverty and taking another step forward in tackling the affordability crisis for families throughout Britain,’ said the energy secretary, Ed Miliband.

Cllr Arooj Shah, chair of the LGA’s Neighbourhoods Committee, welcomed the announcement but emphasised that the programme had to be ‘delivered properly and to high standards’.

She added that councils were ‘best placed’ to lead this work locally and target support where it’s needed most but added that they need ‘more powers and long-term, devolved funding’ to deliver.

Kate Bell, assistant general secretary of the TUC, and co-chair of the Warm Homes Taskforce, welcomed the announcement: ‘If delivered right, this programme of investment can deliver quality jobs in every corner of the country and bring down bills.’

Energy UK, the trade association for the energy industry, also applauded the measure, with the organisation’s chief executive Dhara Vyas describing it as a ‘substantial commitment’.

‘Supporting better access to clean heat systems, solar panels, batteries and other low-carbon technologies will help millions of households across the UK bring down their energy bills,’ she added.

However, Andy Prendergast, national secretary of the public sector union GMB, was more critical of the Warm Homes Plan, describing it as ‘muddle-headed top down bureaucracy’.

‘The idea that we will deploy more than one and a half million heat pumps a year within a decade is a fantasy; we don’t have the supply chains, skills or public appetite,’ he said.

'This is money that could have been spent decarbonising a popular, successful gas network.’