WINCHESTER City Council has no plans to revisit a city-wide solar panel scheme, according to its housing boss.

Chief housing officer Richard Botham said no provision for photovoltaic cells had been included in this year’s maintenance and improvement programme because of funding problems.

Speaking at a housing committee meeting on June 19, Mr Botham said: “We have made no specific provision in this programme for solar panels and we have not been able to identify any source of external funding to allow us to invest.

“If we found money for it ourselves it would be at the expense of something else in the programme. It’s something we will have to look at again in future years.”

In September 2010 the then-Lib Dem led council announced it would install solar panels on 2,000 of its 5,000 houses, but the project was scrapped a year later by the Tories because it was not cost-effective.

But Cllr David McLean said the council should be considering solar panels again because they can save money.

He said: “The difficulty is finding the money up front to install them and allow for the six or seven years to get that money back. But it’s something we should be looking at.”

The council remains committed to offering renewable energy heating systems where possible, such as biomass boilers.

Housing portfolio holder Cllr Tony Coates added: “I have heard nothing but praise from people for these new heating systems and our tenants seem satisfied with them.

“There’s a bit more work to do in terms of educating people how to use them, but we are going to give them simple instructions.”

The near £8m maintenance programme provides for major repairs like kitchen and bathroom replacements and new heating installations, as well as smaller works like window, door and garage maintenance.