Politicians love to pose as saviours of the planet. But it’s the public that will bear the exorbitant cost.

Pimlico is a quiet part of central London. But in recent weeks, it has been turned into the front line in the climate wars, thanks to the local council’s zealous pursuit of its Net Zero targets.

At the centre of the battle are the residents of Pimlico’s Churchill Gardens Estate. They fall within the jurisdiction of Westminster City Council, which since 2022 has been run by Labour. More than 3,000 homes, schools and a library on the estate are currently heated by three giant but ailing gas boilers and a system of ageing pipes that are prone to bursting. One solution to this problem would be to supply each home with an electric boiler at a cost of between £1,500 and £5,000 each – a solution that would require no new pipework.

But Westminster City Council has other, far more expensive ideas. It is considering asking each household to pay between £40,000 and £66,000 to be moved on to new pipes in a low-carbon ‘heat network’ – all so it can achieve its dream of Westminster becoming Net Zero by 2040.