COUNCILLORS have given the go-ahead to spend up to £1,100 on three thermal imaging cameras which could help people in Wellington make their homes more energy efficient.

Members of Wellington Town Council’s environment committee recommended last month that they buy the cameras so that they could be loaned out to people to enable them to assess what action needed to be taken on their homes to help reduce energy bills.

Councillors were told that Somerset Council last year introduced a scheme where people could borrow a thermal imaging camera through the Library Service for a three-day period at no cost that connects to a smartphone or tablet to identify areas of heat loss to help improve energy efficiency, reduce bills and bring down carbon emissions.

But it was revealed that there was a high demand for the cameras at Wellington Library and had resulted in a long waiting list for their use with the equipment coming from Taunton.

So members of the environment committee recommended to the full council on Monday (July 1) it help solve that demand by buying three cameras to be used by Wellington Library.

Although councillors voted in support of the recommendation, not all of the councillors were convinced it would be money well spent.

Cllr Justin Cole said: “They are nice to have, but I’m not sure whether they are things that we must have. There is nothing robust in the report to tell me that we need them – there’s not enough information for me.”

Former Mayor, Cllr Marcus Barr, added: “Within six months of buying them the cameras could be locked away in a cupboard and never used.”

Town clerk Dave Farrow said: “It will be up to us that we promote the thermal imaging cameras and tell people about the benefit of them.”

Cllr Mark Lithgow said that the council had already pledged itself to doing what it could locally to promote environmental issues and do its bit against climate change.

“We need to put our money where our mouth is and we aren’t talking about tens of thousands of pounds,” he added.