Finally a visit - still hopeful for Christmas.

We had three people around today two from Dodds and one from PV company to assess for Solar Panels and put an estimate into the Council. The PV man did mention a limit on amount of panels to 2.1 kw which PV man thought would be a waste when it could be made more efficient and produce
8 kw.. Either way lets hope its done for Christmas!

We are still waiting for Surveyor to come round and look at garden, to lay more slabs we need a holding or retaining wall put in as the garden slopes so badly.I am hoping to be able to use it myself with some raised beds it will be fantastic and to have somewhere to sit and eat.

My front door still is not sealed, again waiting for someone to come and do as wind howls through which as you know with Passiv it is actually a sealed unit - supposedly.......

Looking forward to using the garden!

Well had a good Holiday, weather was nice for UK and most places accessible. Now I am looking forward to having my garden made accessible so I can actually use it! My linen line is to be moved so its usable and my garden levelled although I think the council will only slab a section of it, it does need to still be levelled all over. Looking at the guidance for accessible gardens it looks like it is supposed to be any hard flat level surface as long as its not grass!

I also need advice on catflaps? I see they can now be fitted and any advice on who does them, It looked like they were about £1500 which is understandable.

Tree Surgeon finally visits my neighbour

Well finally a tree surgeon has visited my neighbour to discuss giving the overgrown Oak a decent trim, well if I had my way it would be back to an acorn stage. Also my neighbour is getting his garden laid with paving slabs, honestly who in their right mind would give a wheelchair user a grassed lawn to care for, one that is far from uneven. We still have a surveyor due out to look at ours, it will need shearing up at fence as the incline is such a steep slope that the ground will slide down if not held back.

I have been as always reading up on the requirements (legislatively that is) of the provision needed for a level 3 new build and not as a surprise I would hasten to add, we are not as we should be. It helps that the Minister who helped draw up this legislation is actually our local MP so some help should be here if we need it. I will be quite happy as long as its a level hard surface for the full use of a wheelchair, not a part paved temp fix.The guidance actually says anything but not grass that is the worst, it should be a surface with some grip and gradient should never be greater than 1:2 and ideally almost level. Drainage also needs to be thought about as we are set low down, the ground was dug out to site the bungalows on so we sit below the level of most peoples gardens which means the water will run down to us.

Met with Graham and Richard today

First time I have actually met Graham from GY council who seemed pleasant enough and had a good understanding of the builds - Richard I have met before who is always polite.

Heating is finally going to be addressed or at least discussed with best way forward for next winter so we have some chance of being warm and maybe at a cheaper rate. The average usage for this size property in this area is around 803 kWh whilst we are using 1350 kWh so well above average. Bearing in mind the insulation quality of our house we are using a lot more energy than expected and its not as we use extra appliances so council will discuss pros and cons of what will work without putting up the electricity bill further. I am in favour of Solar Panels as really need to reduce costs of energy, however to be warm again open to suggestions. My next door neighbours are keen also to have a warmer winter later in the year. I await suggestions with interest.

The patio and garden area, I am desperate to be able to do some gardening and would love to have some raised beds but need a flat surface to stand them on, also a reasonable rotary airer to use and dry my linen on without dragging on the floor still giving me access to a patio which can be enjoyed. Luckily the council have a duty to promote well-being, care and support functions under The Care Act 2014 which includes housing and suitability of living accommodation including access and use of garden. I didn't need to mention any of this as it is obvious we have problems with the garden, Graham is bringing out the surveyors to see what can be done. Happy Happy.

The draft through the door is going to be repaired, luckily a draft could be felt on the day to prove it was not just in my head.

And last but not least removal of dead tree, although having been promised this several times now I will wait until it has gone prior to celebrating, and a healthy trim to the giant Oak tree who has waywardly strayed over the fence causing us, and both neighbours problems.

As always I will keep you posted.

My Grassed area is a soggy muddy patch

Oh it would be nice to go onto my garden, at present its a soggy muddy bumpy and in places steep area - not accessible to. me in Alice it would be lovely to get into my garden - why oh why was it not paved all over. I could have raised beds and sit in my garden like a normal person. I miss being normal.

Certainly not energy efficient for us!

This is taken directly from my bill, it is not up to 90% cheaper as we were  lead to believe in fact we are above average as per below and we are still cold!

Usage summary

Comparing your Electricity consumption with households in NR, based on 3 full months from your last bill.

Average usage: 803  kWh - £93

Your usage: 1320 kWh - £153

More information

User Type	kWh	Cost in £'s	CO2(kg)
Low	228	26	122
Average	803	93	431
You	1320	153	709
High	2298	267	1234

Well campaign Warm Home/Accessible Garden is only just beginning

I and my neighbours are still waiting to hear what is going to be done about the
1. Heating
2. Accessing the Garden
3. Dead and overhanging trees
the deadline keeps moving, promises are made and yet not one kept.

My Mother once said I was the most stubborn person she knew other than herself,  however she did not factor in my fathers genes, I am actually a lot worse than she thinks .Once I get the bit between my teeth and my goodness I have, I am only just beginning to warm up. The one thing I do know is how to raise public awareness and create a fuss when something isn't right, after all hundreds  have ploughed into training me to do just that. The results I would like to see are

1. Solar Panels/Combi Boiler
2. Paving, Slabbing or even concrete as long as its flat
3. Chopped and Trimmed.

All this is without the returning our keys, at this rate I will have to have locks changed myself, its principal really, if something is handed into a government body they should have it recorded especially when it has a value on it. If records are not being kept then this is potentially misconduct and the government treats this seriously potentially dismiss-able, there are codes of conduct in place for such things..

Letter in Mercury this week.

My Eco home is also very cold

I read the article about the Caister “Eco council house too cold” in last Friday’s Mercury and have a similar experience. I live in one of the new Eco houses in Martham and have raised the same issues with the council, so far without resolution.

I am disabled and was grateful to move to a bungalow with proper wheelchair access and where we were told we would also save money on heating bills, but it is not true. The system alone does not maintain an adequate temperature and the lack of a boiler means we have to use full-price electricity to supplement it and for all our water heating.

We use less energy but electricity is so expensive that I am now paying more in fuel bills than I was in my inaccessible, larger GYBC flat, yet am colder.

To keep the cost down we use blankets, hot water bottles, and stay in bed to keep warm. Our neighbours tried a mobile gas heater but they have been advised against using it as these houses are sealed units. So they, like us, are also cold.

I have written to Brandon Lewis, not only as our local MP but as Housing Minister. It needs to be recognised the reality of this type of housing, without economic supplementary heating, does not live up to the propaganda. Our carbon footprint may be less but there is no cost saving to us and we are cold even in this exceptionally mild winter.

Name and Address withheld

Oh my goodness it was cold this morning

Wow, I don't think I have been this cold since I was small and lived in a large farm house with only one coal fire for the whole house. This morning there was snow everywhere on car park over cars and pavements, its treacherous using a tailgate to access a vehicle in a wheel chair when there is snow.
We have had convection heating and oil filled radiators on to try and warm us up today so electric bill will be hit again. We have a Hugh South facing roof, why no one ever fitted Solar Panels which would work towards the government targets. Our neighbours both next door and in Caister were cold also.

We are not alone

it seems that we are not the only cold residents of the new environmentally friendly council built properties though we are the most expensive. Bradwell and Caister both having their water heated via Gas, no we dont have Gas but we do have Oil and I believe Solar Panels are environmentally the government rage at the moment.  I am totally flummoxed as to why anyone in their right mind would build brand new houses with such lack of suitable heating or even endorse such building without completing through background checking prior to installation. And its obvious that no one has any idea on what the heating is or ability to perform even the heating engineers have had to take the manual away to read up on as they freely admit they have no knowledge what so ever. From the average £100 - 150 estimated average quoted in heating costs we are a long way off, in fact to keep the bungalow warm its more like that a month!

Turning colder next weekend

Not looking forward to it, I know its going to be cold so weekend in bed I suspect. It wont help as I have my IV at Hospital end of week so will be sick as a skunk for the next few days and cold.

I am still waiting to here back from GYBC and Beatty, must follow up on  Innovation Agency as am going to join their experiments, thought long and hard, but my work is fine with it, no clashes of interest etc

Temperatures have dropped

and today/evening I am cold. My hips are painful as are my shoulders, ankles, neck and wrists. My new sofa has arrived which is lovely but now I need hot water bottles and blankets piled high to keep warm. Lets hope summer is not too far away.

Sorry I have been gone for a while

Yes I know its three months since last bout of blogging but I am so fed up with it all - A newly built bungalow which is too costly to heat, a garden I cant use, and have just seen the article in the Telegraph that says 'Low Carbon Homes miss energy design targets' using up to 3.5 times more energy than they were designed too as reported by the Innovation Agency. Yes they are on my list to contact, will see what happens next however they had results from 76 independent  residents and I am going to go onto their testing lists and they want to investigate further. All very interesting.

My snagging list now consists of the front door which was fixed so I could close now has a draft coming through which renders the concept of frugal heating completely useless. The garden is not accessible, it has a steep gradient (not wheelchair friendly) the rotary line doesn't work on the slope it catches the grass and mud on clothing. Our well dead Elm tree needs trimming off at fence level currently goes about 30 ft high, next doors oak tree cuts light to us and neighbours and drops leaves in the garden it hangs over, and no that neighbour cant use his garden either.