The 10,000 council houses and flats owned by Swindon Borough Council will be up to national standards of energy efficiency by the time demanded by the Government, the council has said.

The government has told all social housing landlords, that properties they let should achieve an EPC rating of C – the middle rating of five – by 2035. Legislation is currently going through Parliament to mandate it.

It has said to private landlords that they should meet the rating by 2028 - the deadline haveing been  relaxed form the original date of 2025

A council spokesman said: “We are committed to improving the energy and thermal efficiency of our homes and a new council officer has been appointed to identify, commission and deliver strategies to achieve this aim.

“A great deal of work has already been undertaken in this area and, last year, more than 100 council homes were fitted with solar panels using funding from the Green Homes Grant scheme. We were also recently successful in obtaining more than £1.4m through the Social Housing Decarbonisation Fund as part of a £5m investment planned for Park South.

“We are commixed to staying ahead of any future legislation that applies a minimum EPC on social houses and we have recently begun a stock condition survey which will assess energy efficiency across our properties so we can co-ordinate a long-term investment plan to bring them up to the necessary standard.”