‘We’ve got no choice’: locals fear life as lab rats in UK hydrogen heating pilot

In Whitby, just outside Ellesmere Port, residents wait to hear whether their village will be chosen

On the site of an old leisure centre, a U-shaped trio of temporary offices sit alongside a neat lawn and fledgling shrubs. Named the hydrogen experience centre", this unassuming place is at the heart of a testy tussle that could have implications for how homes across the country are heated.

The site, in the village of Whitby, just outside Ellesmere Port on the south bank of the Mersey, could become the UK's first hydrogen village". It is being analysed, along with Redcar in the north-east, for potential conversion to 100% hydrogen heating, using the existing gas network and new appliances to update up to 2,000 properties.