ST HELENS Council is bidding for more Government funding which would be used to help private tenants living in converted flats to conserve energy and increase their food safety in the home.

If successful, the council plan to replace any old, inefficient refrigerators with modern, high-performance models which waste less energy. The new models have been manufactured by Scottish company, Hydro-Electric in response to the recent outbreak of food poisoning in the region and the council plan to make them available to landlords at a reduced cost.

A council spokesman said: "The old refrigerators are a significant source of wasted energy and harmful to the environment and in multiple occupation houses (HMOs) where large houses have been converted into individual flats, there are often just four or five fridges being used by several people.

"Now, the idea is to provide individual residents with their own high-performance fridges which means there is less risk of cross contamination of food through multiple use."

He added: "All local authorities have a duty to encourage energy efficiency for residential property in their areas and this bid is designed to target the 48 houses in multiple occupation in St Helens which can only normally be assisted through the renovation grants system."

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