Bristol City Council to set up warm places for winter

Fears are mounting that people will not be able to pay their bills

Communal warm places are set to be introduced to help those who can not afford to heat their homes this winter.

Bristol City Council is planning to set up the areas across the city to help those struggling financially.

Average energy bills increased in April by £693 after the regulator, Ofgem, lifted its price cap.

Mayor of Bristol, Marvin Rees, made a plea for help providing the warm places and funds to set them up.

"This will need to be about a city mobilisation to help us all through these challenging times," he said.

He made the comments as cabinet discussed the cost of living crisis at a meeting on Tuesday, according to the Local Democracy Reporting Service.

Marvin Rees said any help people can offer would be "very welcome"

Energy bills are expected to significantly increase again in October, adding more pressure and worsening the crisis.

Mr Rees said: "It almost sounds like wartime, but we'll be working with community organisations and partners around the city to set up warm places that people can go to if they need to, come the autumn when people need to turn their heating on again.

"It'll be a warm place, there'll be homework support, services there, financial advice.

"Hopefully we'll be able to align it with some of the programmes we have to tackle hunger as well."

The mayor has asked for help from "anyone in the city" who can offer a warm place or financial support to establish the warm spaces.

"If you have a place, we're looking for places for financial support, food support, educational support, and we need the cash," he said.