More than £30,000 has been awarded to charitable and community organisations across the Bath area to help tackle carbon emissions and fuel poverty.
This year, the Bath & West Community Energy Fund is supporting eleven organisations.
Community-owned Bath & West Community Energy (BWCE) develops renewable energy projects and runs energy demand programmes for local benefit.
For the ninth year running, it has given a portion of its surplus income from renewable energy generation to the independently run BWCE Fund for the benefit of the community.
The Quartet Community Foundation administers the grant programme on behalf of the BWCE Fund.
The grants will be used by local charitable and community organisations on a range of important projects, intended to cut carbon emissions, reduce energy bills and waste and help with the cost-of-living crisis by tackling fuel poverty.
Sophie Hooper Lea, Chair of Trustees for the Bath & West Community Energy Fund: “Like so many of us, local charities are becoming more environmentally conscious and want to play their part in reducing carbon emissions in their own organisations and within local communities.
“The BWCE Fund provides funding for projects that are climate-friendly, which often has the added benefit of saving money during the cost of living crisis.
“Since 2015 the BWCE Fund grant programme, administered by Quartet Community Foundation, has awarded 91 grants worth over £238,000.
“Those grants have all gone to local organisations doing vital work to benefit our local communities as well as the environment.”
Angela Emms, Philanthropy Manager at Quartet Community Foundation, added: “We know that the local charitable sector is under pressure due to the cost of living crisis. Many local projects are facing growing demand twinned with falling income.
“We’re delighted we can help the BWCE Fund award these grants to groups across the B&NES area.
“Many of the projects this year will help protect the environment while enabling people to reduce their fuel bills and energy consumption in a low carbon way.”
Jo Dolby from Oasis Hub Bath, which will benefit from BWCE funding, said: “We’re so grateful for this BWCE Fund grant which will make a huge difference to our pantry members, who have been hit particularly hard by the cost of living crisis.
“The grant will enable us to distribute a slow cooker and heated blanket to each member, helping them keep warm and save money on their energy bills.”
Penny McKissock MBE from the Southside Family Project added: “We are very grateful to BWCE for this timely grant for Southside.
“It will enable our team to support families experiencing fuel poverty, helping them to use their energy more efficiently and reduce their energy bills. This will benefit families significantly during the cost of living crisis and difficult winter.
“We will provide targeted advice and support, alongside energy saving packs, including radiator reflectors, draught excluders and energy saving bulbs, tailored to their needs.
“We will be able to support families to reduce energy/other waste and understand simple ways to make their home more energy efficient.”
The 11 funded B&NES projects are:
- £4,908 to Southside Family Project for fuel debt advice and energy efficiency training for Southside Support Workers. Helping local families in fuel poverty to reduce their energy use, alongside the provision of energy-saving packs.
- £5,000 to Bath City Farm for an air source heat pump to supply heating and hot water to the main community farm building.
- £2,650 to Bath Share & Repair to invest in a thermal imaging camera and put together materials to support a number of workshops in partnership with community organisations aimed at helping people to learn “HOW TO” save energy and reduce fuel costs.
- £1,800 to Climate Friendly Bradford on Avon for a feasibility study of a proposed new traffic-free, multi-user greenway between Bradford on Avon and Trowbridge.
- £1,200 to Climate Hub Bath & North East Somerset toward the development of a physical Climate Hub in Bath that can act as a focus for climate action work locally.
- £1,600 to Fairfield House toward implementing the Fairfield House Sustainability plans to improve the energy efficiency of the bungalow on site.
- £2,700 to Keynsham Community Energy to provide slow cookers and energy efficiency advice to parents at Keynsham Children’s centre, reducing people’s energy bills and cutting CO2 emissions.
- £1,100 to Kidical Mass Bath for free learn-to-cycle sessions for families and adults (all levels of riders). To learn, practise and gain confidence in cycling, with the support of expert coaches and free access to loan bikes.
- £4,875 to Oasis Hub Bath to provide slow cookers, slow cooker recipe books and heated over-blankets for food pantry members this winter.
- £2,472 to SWALLOW for the group’s Energy Saving project that will make information easy to understand for people with learning disabilities. Helping them to reduce energy consumption, increase energy efficiency and save money.
- £3,200 to Transition Bath for a paid student intern to grow Eco Together climate empowerment. This project will help form new Eco Together groups.