Off the gas grid
DESNZ estimates that 10.76% of domestic properties in Cheshire West and Chester had no gas meter in 2024. The 2021 census shows the fuels behind that: 5,505 households on oil alone (3.5%), 2,256 on tank or bottled gas (1.5%) and 8,763 on electricity alone (5.6%). Oil and LPG homes are the ones for which the higher Boiler Upgrade Scheme band, £9,000, applies until 31 March 2027 if there is no mains gas connection.
Park homes
1,069 households lived in a caravan or other mobile or temporary structure in 2021, more than in Cheshire East (780) and far more than in Warrington. Park homes raise their own questions: the site owner's rules, the home's construction and the grant conditions for the specific case. An air source or air-to-air unit is the usual option where a heat pump is possible.
Tenure
68.3% of households owned their home, 14.6% rented socially and 15.7% privately. Social housing is outside the Boiler Upgrade Scheme, so for about one household in seven the decision rests with a council or housing association landlord. Private tenants can be eligible for the consortium's Warm Homes: Local Grant, with the landlord's agreement.
Heritage
The national planning dataset records 2,542 listed-building entries in the council area. Class G does not apply to listed buildings, so a heat pump on one needs planning permission and usually listed building consent. The dataset does not yet hold the council's conservation areas, so the council's own maps are the check. The listed buildings page explains the approach.
Grants paid
The Boiler Upgrade Scheme paid for 751 heat pumps in Cheshire West and Chester between May 2022 and September 2026, second of the three areas after Cheshire East. Lower-income households in homes rated EPC D, E, F or G can look to the consortium's Warm Homes: Local Grant, which runs until 31 March 2028.