Alistair Strathern, the MP for the Hitchin constituency, has welcomed the news that several public buildings across Hitchin and North Herts will receive clean power upgrades as part of new investment from central government to reduce bills and boost cleaner energy usage. 

 As part of the scheme over £1m has been secured earlier this month for sites in North Herts, including funding to upgrade Hitchin Town Hall, North Herts Museum, North Herts District Council and North Herts Leisure Centre. It will equip the buildings with new heat pumps to replace old boilers, and solar panels will be fitted atop Hitchin Town Hall. On top of this, the buildings will receive new glazing, LED lights and heat recovery systems to further improve energy efficiency. 

Nationally, say officials, the scheme will help deliver on average an estimated £650 million in energy cost savings for UK taxpayers every year over the next 12 years.

This follows Great British Energy's first major project to put solar panels on around 200 schools and 200 NHS sites, including the Lister Hospital, helping them to reinvest savings on their energy bills in teaching and healthcare. 

Mr Strathern has been a longstanding campaigner for greater investment in energy efficiency and clean power, and is currently running a campaign to push the Government to require new build housing to include rooftop solar panels as standard.

Alistair Strathern MP said: "The last thing we want our tax revenue to be spent on is on wasteful energy bills for public buildings. This really welcome set of funding will save taxpayers billions over the next 12 years, and bring our public services into the 21^st century. 

 "I am glad to see the Government delivering the clean power system that will ensure families, businesses and the services we rely on have energy security and lower bills for good."

"There is more we can do though, and I'll be continuing to push the Government to require solar panels on new homes too, ensuring thousands more households across the UK can benefit from lower bills as a result."

The Minister for Energy Consumers Miatta Fahnbulleh said: 

"We're delivering a clean energy upgrade for communities - from schools to museums to galleries and swimming pools – helping to rebuild vital public services as part of the Plan for Change. 

"This investment will see local communities benefit from our sprint to clean power, with warm public buildings run more affordably and taxpayer money spent on vital services."