A NEW thermal imaging camera is now available to all residents of Calstock Parish villages to borrow in a bid to help people lower their heating bills.

The new thermal imaging camera which has been bought by Gunnislake Community Matters group has been made possible with the help of a Cornwall Council Community Chest Grant made available to the group by Calstock Parish and Cornwall Councillor, Dorothy Kirk.

The camera will help people to identify heat loss in their homes in order to conserve energy, allowing people to identifuy heat loss and remedy it, whilst minimising the wastage of energy.

The camera works by capturing heat images using colours to show hot, warm and cold spots.

Ross Hanley, Chair of Gunnislake Community Matters group expressed that the idea for the thermal imaging camera came from a Wiltshire village that had purchased one.

Ross said: ‘A village we used to live in acquired one there at the end of last year and I thought that’s a good idea, let’s see if we can get the funding for one for Calstock parish.

‘The idea behind the purchase of the camera is for residents to use it in their homes to look for cold spots, and having found them, research if there is anything that can be done to reduce those spots, by, for example, increasing insulation or stopping draughts.

‘Hopefully the camera will result in lower heating bills for people and have some environmental benefits.’

The thermal imaging camera is available to rent for free, but Ross expressed that if people could provide donation for maintenance and eventually for a replacement camera that would be appreciated.

The camera cost £500 to buy with the majority of the money being provided by Dorothy Kirk who decided to provide the money to the group through the Community Chest Grant and who is very much in support of the original and innovative idea and said: ‘I think it’s great, I think it’s a really good initiative. It’s a practical way of helping people save energy but also helps in locating the source of energy loss which is not that easy.

‘I think it’s really good and I’m really happy to support it.

‘I’m always happy to support things that will benefit local people, that’s what the Community Chest fund is for.’

Following news of the camera, there has already been an influx of positive response from locals on the Gunnislake Community Matters Facebook and other Calstock parish villages community pages with residents supporting the idea and wanting to book to use the camera.

‘There’s lots of availability if people that would like to borrow the camera for three days to go round their houses’, said Ross.

‘It’s very easy to use and we will give people instruction on how to use it, there’s a very simple user-guide with it. We’ve limited borrowing time to three days because we’re trying to make sure it gets round as many homes as possible.’

To book a date to hire the camera, and for more details, email: [email protected]. A copy of the “hire” agreement will then be sent to you.