Tom Gordon MP leads Parliament debate on spray foam insulation

On Friday, Tom Gordon, Lib Dem MP for Harrogate and Knaresborough, led a debate in Parliament. The debate was about the installation of spray foam insulation in houses as part of the Green Homes Grant Scheme. 

The scheme ran from September 2020 through to March 2022. Spray foam was one option available under the scheme, to help insulate homes. However, if applied incorrectly, spray foam can rot roof timbers, which has led to expensive bills for replacing roofs for homeowners, and many banks have also been refusing mortgages for houses with spray foam, essentially making many people’s homes unsellable. 

The previous Government refused to investigate the situation and had no idea how many homes are affected. They have also refused to pay for replacement of spray foam in affected houses, despite the money having come from the government scheme, and the government having approved the installers under the Trustmark scheme. 

Tom has had a number of constituents affected contact him about this issue, and has written to Ed Miliband. Spray foam has been covered by both the BBC and ITV in recent weeks. During the debate, Tom highlighted some of his constituents’ stories, who have been left with large bills of many thousands of pounds when they simply wanted to do their bit for the environment. 

Commenting, Tom said:

“I’m so glad to have had the chance to bring this issue to light in Parliament through a debate. It is not fair or right for many people, including a number of my constituents, to have to pick up the bill when they had spray foam installed in good faith, and from approved providers. 

“We must see government action to establish the number of people affected, and then provide help towards the cost of replacing spray foam insulation installed under the scheme, as well as making sure mortgage providers are treating customers properly, and clamping down on cowboy operators taking advantage of homeowners. 

“The action must be quick, before more people’s homes are allowed to rot, which will only increase the ultimate cost. It is unacceptable to leave people unable to sell their homes, when they acted in good faith.”

ENDS