A GROUNDBREAKING scheme to lower energy bills and provide warmer homes for thousands of residents in the region has been extended.

The GoWarm project, which has already helped 1,700 householders across Stockton and Thornaby, will now encompass 5,000 privately owned homes.

All the borough's remaining solid wall homes will be offered external wall insulation, free of charge and many could qualify for new boilers and central heating.

This latest development means Stockton is the first council in the UK to run a borough-wide ECO scheme.

It will also help create a new range of apprenticeship opportunities for Stockton Riverside College and GoWarm’s appointed installers - Dalmid, Synergize, AH Property, Castle and Edendene.

Councillor David Rose, Stockton's cabinet member for the environment, said: “We can now look forward to transforming thousands more people’s homes – making them warmer, better insulated and cheaper to heat – and regenerating streets.”

The GoWarm project has become the largest scheme of its kind in the UK.

The first stage, which was completed earlier this year, was funded by North Yorkshire-based Eggborough Power Ltd and focussed on properties in Stockton’s Parkfield, Newtown and Mill Lane wards, as well as the Mandale and Victoria areas of Thornaby.

This latest phase, which is expected to be completed by the end of 2015, will cover the rest of the borough and receive ECO funding from power and gas company E.ON.

Karen Hindhaugh, director of GoWarm, said: “The project has more than doubled in size since it was originally launched and it is thanks to the ongoing support of the the local residents, Stockton Council, our funding partners and numerous contractors, that we are able to increase it once again and offer help to more than 5,000 additional homes.

“This will not help only help to reduce fuel poverty across the borough, but the associated benefits will undoubtedly have a significant impact on the householders and the wider communities as a whole.”

For more information visit www.gowarm.org.uk, call 01642-605130, drop into the office at Blue Post Yard, Stockton or search for GoWarm Parkfield on Facebook and Twitter.