The mouldiest places in Britain to live, revealed

Campaigners have urged the government to speed up insulating homes by ranking the top 10 cities in the UK for cold homes with damp and mould.

Warm This Winter called on the government to step up its Warm Homes Plan, warning Labour’s action will be too late for one in five people across the UK living in mouldy homes in the present day.

The group named Plymouth as the city facing the biggest damp and mould problem in the UK with a quarter of the population living in cold homes.

“It is shocking that too many people are living in true Dickensian conditions, where cold damp homes are making them ill caused by over a decade of neglect from the last government,” said Warm This Winter spokesperson Caroline Simpson.

“The government has made encouraging noises and we hope they prioritise insulation so people get the homes they deserve and banish these appalling conditions to a bygone era where they belong.

“These shocking figures have hardly changed since last year and with energy bills still averaging £700 a year more than in 2021, the situation is now critical for the government.”

Brighton and London follow Plymouth as the next two cities with the mouldiest homes, affecting 21% of households.

A fifth of the population are hit by damp and mould and Liverpool followed by 17% of households in Newcastle, Sheffield and Manchester. Birmingham (16%), Cardiff (15%) and Norwich (14%) rounded out the top 10.

Retrofitting and insulating homes is considered to be an important part of efforts to fight climate change and lower energy bills as well as preventing demand on the NHS.

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People who live in poorly insulated homes risk seeing damp and mould spread and the NHS warns that people living in these conditions are more likely to have respiratory problems, respiratory infections, allergies or asthma. Experts also warn damp and mould can also affect the immune system and increase the risk of heart disease, heart attacks or strokes.

Asthma + Lung UK has previously warned that the UK has the worst death rate in Europe for lung conditions with poverty considered a large driver.

The English Housing Survey estimated around on million households live in a home with damp with private renters likely to live in a poor quality home.

Campaigners have called for a fully funded nationwide insulation and ventilation programme to create healthy, energy efficient homes and reduce excess deaths from living in damp and mouldy conditions.

The government has set out its £13.2bn Warm Homes Plan to tackle the issue. 

The manifesto pledge promises to bring energy upgrades to five million homes, including upgrading 300,000 homes in 2025.

The government has pledged grants for installing heat pumps and funded upgrades for social housing residents, lower income households and renters.

Minister for energy consumers Miatta Fahnbulleh said: “The idea at the heart of our Warm Homes Plan is a simple one – all families deserve the security of a home they can afford to heat.”

Warm This Winter’s Simpson said chancellor Rachel Reeves must bring forward funding for the Warm Homes Plan at the summer’s comprehensive spending review and commit to helping the worst insulated homes get support first.

Local authorities increasingly step in to help households suffering in cold damp homes too. Campaigners highlighted Camden Council’s Cost of Living Crisis Fund, Basingstoke & Deane Town Council’s range of support and the Sunderland Fuel Fund.

A spokesperson for the End Fuel Poverty Coalition, added: “We know councils want to help their residents stay safe and improve the energy efficiency of their homes, but they need the resources to do that.

“The chancellor needs to work with tenants, landlords, social housing providers to ensure that schemes are available to help people stay warm every winter.

“The government must have the ambition to create the homes people deserve and end the reality of people living in appalling conditions reminiscent of those from a bye-gone era.”

The 10 worst cities in Britain for damp and mould

1. Plymouth
2. Brighton
3. London
4. Liverpool
5. Newcastle
6. Sheffield
7. Manchester
8. Birmingham
9. Cardiff
10. Norwich

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