FUEL poverty in Bradford is worsening, but key schemes to try to combat it are being slashed, it has been revealed.

Fifteen per cent of homes in the district are now classed as being in fuel poverty - the worst figure in Yorkshire and 12th worst in England.

The city’s many old stone-built houses are particularly hard to keep warm and each year, hundreds more people die during the winter months than at any other time of year.

But an annual project helping vulnerable people through harsh winters is having Council cash pulled from 2019, while another scheme which aims to insulate homes against the cold has also hit major funding problems.

Now one councillor has called the situation “a disaster”.

Councillor Kevin Warnes, the deputy chairman of the Council’s environment scrutiny committee, said tackling fuel poverty should be far higher up the national agenda.

Cllr Warnes (Green, Shipley) said: “It’s a social issue, it’s an environmental issue, it’s an economic issue and it’s also a health issue, so for all of these reasons I want it to be more of a priority.”

Fuel poverty - when a household is pushed below the poverty line by high energy costs - is on the rise in Bradford, with the worst-affected areas being the inner-city wards of Bradford Moor, Bowling and Barkerend and the city centre.

But local schemes to tackle the problem are struggling amid funding cuts.

This includes the annual Warm Homes Healthy People project, which provides warm clothes, advice and practical support to vulnerable people through the winter months.

It is run by charities and community organisations and funded jointly by Bradford Council and local NHS clinical commissioning groups - but the report reveals that the Council has cut its £115,000-a-year contribution by three-quarters and expects to pull funding completely from 2019.

Meanwhile, another scheme called Better Homes Yorkshire was set up by local authorities in the region to carry out free or subsidised work to homes to make them more energy efficient, such as replacing boilers or installing insulation.

But cuts of more than 50 per cent to national subsidies for energy efficiency measures mean they have had to dramatically scale back their work.

An original target, to improve 1,115 homes across the Bradford district this year, has now been slashed to just 83 homes.

Councillor Sarah Ferriby, who oversees environmental issues at Labour-led Bradford Council, said: “The difficulty we are having in Bradford is we have a lot of housing stock that hasn’t cavity wall insulation. A lot of properties do not have cavity walls and that makes trying to insulate them more difficult.”

Cllr Ferriby said officers were trying to seek more funding to insulate homes, but called on the Government to “re-think” its funding decisions and give people more support.

She said: “People are struggling with low wages and having to visit foodbanks - and that’s people in work.”

Asked whether Bradford Council itself was setting enough of its budget aside to help people in fuel poverty, Cllr Ferriby said: “There has been such a drastic reduction in central Government funding. It’s very difficult, but we do consider the impacts of all our decisions when we make them.”

Fuel poverty is a daily reality for those struggling with debts, low wages or serious health conditions, according to the charities trying to help.

Gareth Thompson, the manager of a Christians Against Poverty debt centre at the Light Church in Jermyn Street, Bradford, said he had witnessed many examples of families in fuel poverty through his work.

He said: “I visit people in their homes to help with their debts and I’m finding that the majority of them do tend to be gas, electricity and water bills. A woman last night had a £3,000 electric bill.

“One gentleman had no access to his gas meter and was having estimated bills for quite a while. Then they came and did a meter reading, and he ended up with a bill of just short of £1,000 land in his lap for gas.

“I have seen an 82-year-old retired gentleman with rugs everywhere keeping him warm because he didn’t want to put his heating on.

“I have seen kids running around with coats on in their house because their family didn’t want to heat their house.

“People say they have to prioritise other things over keeping their homes warm, like eating.”

Mr Thompson said funding cuts had meant there were now fewer organisations able to help people, with the remaining ones finding themselves under increased strain as a result.

He said: “The more places that shut down, it’s causing other places to shut down quicker because they are just getting more people coming to them.

“They just can’t cope with the extra demand.”

Louise Foster, who runs the new Tong Street Debt Centre from the Gateway Christian Centre in Vulcan Street, said she had only started work last month but was already fully booked until Christmas.

She said: “The debt problem is massive. At the moment, for most of my clients, it’s Council Tax debt and it’s fuel debt.

“It’s fuel or it’s Yorkshire Water - it’s not because they are maxed out on credit cards.”

Mrs Foster said she often heard about poor conditions people were living in at home, particularly in rental homes.

“It’s shocking,” she said.