Council officials the Swadlincote area are struggling to give out hundreds of thousands of pounds for vital home improvements in deprived areas.

South Derbyshire District Council has £1.8 million in Government funding to spend on improving homes in the area which are excessively cold.

The identified homes are the most energy inefficient and also lie in the most deprived areas of the district – parts of Newhall, Woodville, Church Gresley and Linton.

However, Allison Thomas, the council's strategic director for service delivery told a meeting of the South Derbyshire Partnership yesterday (Oct 20) that giving out the money was proving harder than expected.

If the public funding is not handed out, it would have to be given back to the Government.

She said: "It is surprisingly a hard sell. We thought the prospect of having a grant of £10,000 per property for families with incomes of less than £30,000 would be a really easy thing to communicate to the public and that we would get quite a high take-up.

"That has not been the case, which is very surprising to me.

"We have done a lot of door-knocking, a lot of leafleting and a lot of social media to promote the initiative.

"This is legit money, from a legitimate source, there aren't any strings attached and there is funding available to make your home more energy efficient.

"We would be delighted to speak to you because we are finding it quite a difficult slog to get the message out and there is a very short timescale, as with every Government grant, to spend the money.

"We certainly don't want to be handing it back. We want South Derbyshire communities to benefit from that funding and not lose it."

Cllr Kevin Richards, leader of the council, said: "The money is there, let's get it out and do some good with it."

In June, the council revealed that 125 homes in South Derbyshire's most deprived areas have levels of excess cold which are harmful for the health of those living in them.

It is offering an array of insulation improvements, including in the loft space and walls, to all of the identified homes in these specific areas.

The key areas which are being focused on are:

• DE11 0SQ – Parliament Street, Newhall

• DE11 7DX – Station Road, Woodville

• DE11 8DQ – Moira Rd, Woodville

• DE11 9EG – Swadlincote Lane, Church Gresley

• DE11 9NB – Oxford Street, Church Gresley

• DE12 6RF – Coton Park, Linton

The council had said there were 4,019 properties in South Derbyshire which have been found to have an energy rating between E and G (G being the lowest), around two-thirds of which are owner-occupied and a third are privately rented.