A recently published paper by Dr Andrew Price and Professors Gary Higgs and Mitchel Langford at the University of South Wales has drawn attention to geographical variations in access to warm spaces in Wales.
Warm spaces provide an opportunity to help households try to minimise the impact of rising energy bills in the winter months but also play an important role in helping to reduce social isolation and promote social interaction. Many of these hubs have remained open over the summer months with these aims in mind. The Welsh Government made £1m available to local authorities to fund such warm hubs during the winter of 2022/2023.
However, in this study the team highlights the need to consider variations in the opening hours of such spaces in relation to the availability of public transport during weekdays, and at weekends, in order to fully understand variations in the provision of such spaces and help evaluate the effectiveness of these hubs.
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