According to the town clerk, Haslemere has seen “little or no” take-up of the Warm Hubs initiative at Haslemere Museum, The Link, Town Hall and Pathways community centre.
The £400 provided to each venue by Surrey County Council will now be used for “other initiatives,” clerk Lisa O’Sullivan said in her recent Haslemere Town Council meeting report.
But the clerk reported that the Warm Hubs are open to anyone struggling to heat their home and have been more successful at Haslewey and Haslemere Methodist Church.
The ‘Haslemere Warm Hubs scheme was launched in November to provide people struggling to heat their homes a place to get warm and receive a hot drink/biscuit.
There are warm hubs in most Waverley villages, including Alfold, Cranleigh and elsewhere.
Over 1,000 people died in England due to living in cold, damp homes in December 2022.
Based on new analysis by the End Fuel Poverty Coalition of official data for December 2022, the levels of excess winter deaths caused by cold homes exceeded those of December 2021. They were similar in level to the Covid-pandemic-affected data of December 2020.
The vulnerable cannot access the facilities because there are no bus services to get them there.
You are absolutely right; what elderly person wants to stand in the cold for a bus that doesn’t turn up? However, we understand that the Hoppa bus does do a pretty good job.