Braintree District Council is launching a £100,000 fund to provide grants to community groups wishing to reduce their carbon output.
This is part of a three-year investment plan funded from central government’s UK Shared Prosperity Fund.
The fund will support the council’s delivery of a key outcome of its Climate Change Action Plan 2023/24, to help local community groups to reduce their carbon emissions and energy costs. Applications that feed into other Climate Change Action Plan outcomes are welcomed.
The capital funding is available to existing constituted groups such as charities, associations, parish councils, voluntary and community groups, to make changes to physical structures such as:
- Installing sources of renewable energy to buildings or their surroundings
- Installing energy efficiency measures such as insulation or LED lighting to buildings or their surroundings
- Installing or embedding other capital projects which reduce carbon emissions to buildings or their surroundings.
Support will be given to a minimum of ten projects with funding of approximately £10k per project; however, applications for larger and smaller amounts will be considered. The grant is discretionary and projects may not receive the full funding requested if it enables Braintree District Council to support a greater number of projects.
The project should be accessible to the community and should demonstrate a carbon reduction from existing infrastructure of at least 5%, which should be effective for at least five years. Groups will need to demonstrate how they will achieve this in their applications, and report annually following an initial six month evaluation.
Cllr Peter Schwier, Deputy to the Cabinet Member for Transformation, the Environment & Customer Services, said: “I am delighted that Braintree District Council has secured this funding for our community groups. It’s important that we all do what we can for our planet, and investing in energy efficiency will also help the successful groups to save money. The Community Infrastructure Grants will ensure our communities can future-proof their buildings and look after the generations to come, by reducing carbon emissions.”
The Community Infrastructure Grants Fund has received £100,000 from the UK Government through the UK Shared Prosperity Fund.
Full guidance notes are available online at https://www.braintree.gov.uk/braintree-district/climate-change-1/7