Council uses spy plane with thermal imaging camera to snoop on homes wasting energy

Thermal imaging cameras are being used to create colour-coded maps which will enable council officers to identify offenders and pay them a visit to educate them about the harm to the environment and measures they can take.

A scheme is already under way in Broadland District Council in Norfolk, which has spent £30,000 hiring a plane with a thermal imaging camera. It said the exercise has been so successful other local authorities are planning to follow suit.

Broadland, which covers towns including Aylsham, Reepham and Acle, hired the plane from a Leicestershire-based company for five days at the end of January.

The aircraft took images of homes and businesses, with those losing the most heat showing up as red, while better insulated properties appear blue.

The council's head of environmental services, Andy Jarvis, said the original plan was to target businesses but it was realised the scope could be extended to include residential properties.

'The project we put together was for a plane to go up on various nights flying strips of the district and taking pictures,' he said. 'Through those images, a thermal image photograph can be created in which you can pick out individual properties which are losing a lot of heat'.

'We do a lot on domestic energy conservation already and realised it would be useful to see if any of the homes which were particularly hot were properties where people had not insulated their lofts'.