|
BERWICK UPON TWEED TO BE ONE OF UK’S FIRST LOW CARBON COMMUNITIES
Berwick upon Tweed in Northumberland has won up to £500,000 in a competition to become a blueprint for sustainable living.
Berwick is one of the first ten winning locations to benefit from a £10million fund as part of the Low Carbon Communities Challenge.
Around a quarter of the UK’s greenhouse gas emissions come from heating, lighting and powering electrical appliances in homes. By 2050 this needs to be almost zero if the UK is to cut its emissions by 80%, highlighting the importance of local action.
The Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) launched the competition in July to find communities keen to be at the forefront of moving to a low carbon economy.
Berwick Community Trust and Community Renewable Energy will receive a grant to pay for 50 homes to have solar panels installed which will provide an income for the 12,000 residents in the whole community through the Government’s clean energy cashback scheme to be launched in April.
Energy and Climate Change Minister Joan Ruddock said: “We’ve had more than 300 communities register their interest with the Low Carbon Communities Challenge, so there’s a real appetite out there to save energy to help tackle global warming and save money on fuel bills. The ten winning projects will now spend the money on things like community wind turbines, solar panels, heat pumps, insulation or green transport projects to cut emissions.
“The UK has the most ambitious emissions reduction commitments in the world and communities like Berwick will help to develop the policies we need in the future to make the successful transition to a low carbon economy.”
Peter Watts Chair of Berwick Community Trust said: “This project will allow Berwick upon Tweed to take a major step forward in becoming a low carbon community and act as a powerful driver to further action. The income generated will be reinvested in renewables projects and behaviour change initiatives and we are delighted that DECC have been able to support us”
Ross Weddle MD of Community Renewable Energy said: “CoRE is delighted to receive this support for this project. One North East and DECC have both supported CoRE in the past and this is a further endorsement of our work with communities”.
In return for technical and financial assistance, people living and working in Berwick will work alongside government and contribute to finding low carbon solutions from which the whole country will benefit. Successful outcomes from the project will pave the way for a national roll-out of proven measures.
DECC is now looking for an additional twelve communities in England, Wales and Northern Ireland to take part in the next phase of the Challenge.
December 2009
|
