So is this going to stop them rioting? Housing estate at the centre of London looting is fitted with £3m of solar panels to cut fuel bills

RSS Feed

So is this going to stop them rioting? Housing estate at the centre of London looting is fitted with £3m of solar panels to cut fuel bills

January 5th, 2012

FAKE NEWS for the Zionist agenda

By
Rebecca Seales

Last updated at 8:06 PM on 4th January 2012

A notorious London housing estate that was at the centre of the August riots has been transformed by a green energy scheme.

Rows of solar panels now line the roofs of the Pembury estate in Hackney, East London – months after the world watched it descend into violence during the summer riots.

Almost 2,000 solar panels have been fitted to houses on four roads, enough to provide electricity to three villages.

Spruced up: Four roads on the Pembury estate in Hackney have new solar panels, designed to lower fuel costs for residents

Progress? The Pembury has a reputation as one of the capital's most deprived housing estates, and the panels could help cut household bills by up to £150 per year

Progress? The Pembury has a reputation as one of the capital’s most deprived housing estates, and the panels could help cut household bills by up to £150 per year

The 1,874 ‘photovoltaic’ panels have
been installed on ten blocks, with the energy generated put towards
cutting tenants’ fuel bills.

The solar panel project is part of a £23 million green energy scheme launched by the Peabody Trust, the housing association that manages the estate.

Estimates suggest the development will slash household energy bills by as much as £150 a year.

The panels were installed on south facing blocks of 238 flats by EDF energy, at a cost of around £1 million.

Although they were installed in August, the same month that unrest swept the borough of Hackney, the panels are being connected this week.

They are expected to generate 400kwp of energy annually, and save 170 tonnes of carbon dioxide.

Sunshine estate: The solar panel project is part of a £23 million green energy scheme launched by the Peabody Trust, the housing association that manages Pembury

The panels are connected to the block’s existing electricity power supply, which also powers lifts and communal lighting.

The Pembury Estate has a reputation as one of the capital’s most deprived housing estates, and has been plagued by crime and gang violence since the 1980s.

During the riots, masked youths fought running battles with police and set bins and cars on fire along Clarence Way – the road that runs alongside the estate.

It is also home to the postcode gang the Pembury Boys, who have been linked to dozens of turf-war murders since the early 2000s.

Looting hotspot: August's unrest saw masked youths set bins and cars on fire along Clarence Way - the road that runs alongside the Pembury estate

Looting hotspot: August’s unrest saw masked youths set bins and cars on fire along Clarence Way – the road that runs alongside the Pembury estate

The scheme that funded the Pembury project has been controversially wound up after the government’s clean energy cashback scheme was scrapped on 12 December.

Environmental groups and two companies have applied for a judicial review at the High Court over the move to cut payments to households and housing authorities that generate green electricity through solar panels, known as the Feed-in-Tariff (FiT).

Responding to the scaling-back of the FiT scheme, Peabody chief executive, Steve Howlett said: ‘We will not be able to deliver our solar programme as first planned, leaving thousands of Peabody homes without solar panels.

‘Many of our residents will have lost the valuable energy savings that the panels would have generated, putting them at increased risk of fuel poverty.

‘My big concern is that this move means solar panels will become the preserve of the rich, rather than a way to tackle fuel poverty and reduce living costs for those in our society who are most vulnerable.’

The Peabody Trust is one of the oldest and largest social housing providers in the country, and manages over 19,000 properties.

Here’s what other readers have said. Why not add your thoughts,
or debate this issue live on our message boards.

The comments below have been moderated in advance.

Newest
Oldest
Best rated
Worst rated

As we saw with Labour in past, bad behaviour being rewarded and funded by the rest of us.
Behave yourself, work hard and you’re on yor own.
Shame on the coalition…again.

– gel, peasemore, nr Newbury, 04/1/2012 20:30

I’m proud to live on a Peabody Estate – they care about the tenants in a way few others do in the country

– Always London, London, 04/1/2012 20:29

Some social housing flats in London have windows that are one hundred years old and some have no heating at all, so solar panels for someone elderly and on a state pension for instance, who lives in such a home could have been a godsend.They aren’t all looters living in social housing.

– lisa, Leicester, 04/1/2012 20:20

I thought the idea with councils at the moment was to save money with all the cutbacks……obviously the cutbacks are only for those that have worked and payed for services…….Scandalous waste of money

– Mark, Waikuku New zealand, 04/1/2012 20:14

Think they should have spent the money on some landscaping and rejuvination …I can feel the will to live being sapped from me just looking at this picture, never mind having to live there.

– Liz Smith, Sydney, 04/1/2012 20:13

EVERYBODY who lives there rioted? I did not know that. Every single person looted. wow.

– Jo, chippenham, 04/1/2012 20:11

will keep them nice and warm when they are watching daytime tv.

– charlotte, alicante spain, 04/1/2012 20:10

Solar panels at 7% guaranteed for 25 years of subsidy may lower the bills of those who have them…certainly for those who have them installed for free….but the subsidy comes from tens of thousands of poor people elsewhere who are put into greater risk of ‘fuel poverty’. The programme benefits the Peabody estate not the tens of thousands of poor pensioners who are forced to contribute through higher bills as a result of the whole shambolic policy.

– RGH, London, 04/1/2012 20:00

Its us the energy payers that subside this. No wonder many of us now have to cut down. I am using 30% less energy than this time last year mainly due to mild winter and also because I have cut down yet I am actually paying more in fuel due to two price rises, go figure how are the mugs here us the consumers, and they want to do more for climate change? yea right put energy prices so high many of us have to cut down.

– Simon wellbeing, heaven here I come, 04/1/2012 19:55

Hope that someone who is good with math, can report if there are any true savings here. I figger it to be about 36,000 pounds savings per year. At that rate, you’d have to wait a very long time to cover the 23 million it cost.

– pop, boston, 04/1/2012 19:52

The views expressed in the contents above are those of our users and do not necessarily reflect the views of MailOnline.