Local green charity wins £140,000 for Bradford

Local charity Climate Friendly Bradford on Avon has been awarded around £140,000 from the British Gas Green Streets energy fund.

The money will be spent on making local homes more energy efficient, and fitting solar panels on to one of the town’s schools.

More from the official British Gas announcement:

“Members of Climate Friendly Bradford on Avon impressed the judges with their strong community support.

“The group has ambitious plans to make Bradford on Avon carbon neutral by 2050. These plans include fitting 100 homes with energy efficiency measures and to install solar panels onto a local school. They also hope to boost their membership further, which currently stands at just over 400 and encourage more residents to embrace renewable and sustainable energy.

“The group beat two other projects from the South West region who pitched against each other to win a share of the Green Streets funding. In total almost 100 projects from across the UK applied for the British Gas Green Streets initiative, where a total of £2 million will be invested in innovative community energy projects across the UK.

“The programme will give groups the funding, support and technical expertise to generate their own energy, improve energy efficiency and bring the community together to do their bit in the fight against climate change. Installing micro-generation and energy saving technologies on local schools, village halls, churches and pubs will breathe a new lease of life into these community buildings, curbing running costs and benefiting the wider population by providing learnings that can be replicated in villages, towns and cities across the UK.

“Richard Craft, chairman of Climate Friendly Bradford on Avon, said: “This is fantastic news for Climate Friendly Bradford on Avon. It will be a great opportunity to demonstrate the passion and commitment of our supporters, as well as showing energy efficiency improvements that everyone can do. Our community is just one of thousands across the UK, and if we can do something positive about tackling climate change, everyone can.”

“Martin Orrill, Head of Energy Technology and Innovation at British Gas, who sat on the judging panel, said: “The level of support within this community is outstanding. I was very impressed with the huge participation from across the town. We were particularly encouraged by the ideas that Climate Friendly Bradford on Avon had to involve the whole community.”

“Subject to final survey and contract, Climate Friendly Bradford on Avon will be one of 14 projects from across the UK who will all receive a share of the £2 million funding pot. Next year, the projects will go head-to-head in a number of challenges to reduce energy use, generate local energy and increase support amongst members of their own community. Their progress will be monitored for a year by the independent Institute of Public Policy Research (ippr) think-tank and the project crowned Britain’s greenest community after a year stands to win a further £100,000 in funding from British Gas.”