Dartmouth Community Chest has started its fuel poverty appeal for this year.

All the money raised will only be used for the appeal to make sure no one in Dartmouth and the surrounding villages has to chose between eating and heating.

Fuel poverty is the condition of being unable to afford to keep one’s home adequately heated.

To donate please pay it straight into the charity account, hand it to a volunteer at the Flavel Church or Community Hall or buy something from the stalls and ask for the money to go towards the fuel poverty appeal.

Dawn Shepherd from DCC said: “ Let’s do what we do best when times are tough, stick together as a community and leave no one behind.”

According to a government report, one in 10 households in the South Hams are in fuel poverty. Figures from the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) show nearly 4,000 households would be pushed into poverty by the cost of heating and lighting their homes properly.

Last winter, Dartmouth Community Chest had to give out £3,000 to help families fight fuel poverty.

A study published in February by fuel poverty charity National Energy Action and climate-focused think tank E3G estimated that fuel poverty accounts for over 1,000 excess winter deaths in England each year.

Peter Smith, co-author of the study and Director of Policy and Research at NEA, said: "We know that living in fuel poverty causes winter hardship and premature mortality.

"It’s been shown by not only our charity but also the Committee on Fuel Poverty that the government’s existing set of policies aren’t sufficient in scale to address the problem."