RURAL local authorities are among those to benefit from a new £25m fuel poverty fund.

Nationwide more than 7,000 households across England will benefit from £25m worth of government funding to keep bills low.
The £25 million Central Heating Fund competition opened in March to local authorities across England asking for plans to support local people living in homes not connected to the gas grid.
Twenty projects across England have been awarded funding; these new and existing projects will deliver services to those who need it the most.
Why is Hampshire missing from this list? Has it received money this time?

In Northumberland: Warm Up North partnership.
Beneficiaries include Northumberland County Council, which was awarded £6.5m to help tackle fuel poverty.
In Cumbria: Allerdale Borough Council led a bid to secure £1.14m to be split between four districts to deliver up to 250 new heating systems.

In total, the Department for Energy and Climate Change received more than 80 proposals from more than 100 local authorities.
Proposals were assessed on how they met the funding criteria which included value for money and how the plans would offer ongoing support to cut bills.
Energy minister Lord Bourne said that he recognised that households not connected to gas can pay over the odds for their heating and that he was pleased to be backing these projects that will help the people who need it most.

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