Waltham Forest is one of five boroughs to benefit from new government funding to help tackle fuel poverty.

According to a study by the London Health Programme, the borough, home to 97,000 households, has the highest percentage of pensioners without central heating in London.

Nearly a third, or 29 per cent, of pensioners in the borough are living without central heating, according to a report published by the NHS entitled 'Initiative to address fuel poverty'.

The Child and Poverty Strategy for Waltham Forest revealed in April how 30.8 per cent of children are also living below the poverty line.

To help address the problem, the department of energy and climate change has set aside £6.6m of which the council will receive around £500,000 as part of the Green Deal Communities Fund Scheme.

For more on this story buy next week's Waltham Forest Guardian and Chingford Guardian, which is out next Thursday.