Eleven projects across Bath and North East Somerset have benefitted from £33,000 worth of funding to help them reduce carbon emissions and tackle food poverty.
Bath Share & Repair has been awarded funding of £3000 | Photo © Bath Share & Repair
For the seventh year running, community-owned Bath & West Community Energy (BWCE) has given a proportion of its surplus income from renewable energy generation to the independently run BWCE Fund for the benefit of local communities.
Quartet Community Foundation administers the grant programme on behalf of the Fund.
The BWCE Fund grants go to a range of projects including those encouraging residents to reduce waste, such as the Bath Share & Repair, gardening projects, such as Youth Connect South West, and cutting carbon emissions from local buildings, such as Fairfield House.
Sophie Hooper Lea, Chair of Trustees for the Bath & West Community Energy Fund said: “It can be very difficult for organisations to get funding for environmental projects at the moment because many funds are prioritising Covid response projects.
“So it really matters that a fund like this exists to support local organisations that are reducing carbon emissions and helping to tackle the climate emergency under such difficult circumstances.
“Since 2015 the Fund has handed out 69 grants worth over £207,000. Those grants have all gone to local organisations that are doing vital work to benefit our local communities as well as the environment.”
Angela Emms, Philanthropy Executive at Quartet Community Foundation said: “We know that the local charitable sector is under pressure. Many local projects are facing growing demand twinned with falling income.
“We’re delighted we can help BWCE Fund award these grants to groups across the B&NES area. This will help protect the environment while dealing with the impact of Covid restrictions that we all face.”
Lorna Montgomery from Bath Share & Repair said: “We are so excited to be given this opportunity, thanks to BWCE Fund, for this pilot project to encourage people to reduce their carbon footprint.
“It will help families to understand more about how the ‘stuff’ we buy and throw away contributes to around 20% of carbon emissions – significant!
“In addition to the people engaged in our current share and repair activities, we want to reach upper primary school children. We want to encourage them to influence reuse, repair and waste reduction in the home.
“We are aware that more and more people want to do practical activities to make a difference. Now we can reach more people and help them do this.”
William Heath, chair, Fairfield House Bath CIC said: “We’re very grateful to BWCE Fund for this important grant. Fairfield House, left by HIM Haile Selassie I to Bath as a home for the aged, has been long neglected and there’s huge scope for energy performance improvement.
“This grant will let us work with the owners B&NES (local authority) to showcase just how much can be done with a listed heritage building. Also to show we can keep the Elders warm and cut costs and carbon emissions.”
The 11 funded projects across B&NES are:
- £5,000 to Grow Batheaston for the ‘Grow Batheaston Store’ project, to set up and run a community shop, supplying local produce in the village.
- £1,000 to the Peter Pan Play School for the provision of a bike, scooter, and pram shed with the aim of encouraging families to use sustainable transport for their commute to the pre-school.
- £5,000 to Bathampton Community Co-operative Ltd (Dry Arch Growers) toward the development of a ‘Community Energy Renewable Farm’, supporting the purchase of a solar mini-barn for storing food, charging farm tools and e-bikes for delivery of organic veg boxes.
- £500 to Wellow Village Shop Association toward the cost of replacing an old, power-hungry display fridge with a more energy efficient model for use at this community shop.
- £1,000 to SWALLOW for insulation for the offices and meeting rooms of this charity that supports teenagers and adults with learning disabilities throughout Bath and NE Somerset.
- £600 to Transition Larkhall toward an extension of the Larkhall Community Orchard, planting food producing trees that aid carbon capture and storage. It also will provide a source of local food that will cut carbon by reducing the need to transport food.
- £2,797 to Batheaston New Village Hall toward the purchase and installation of solar panels for a new Community Village Hall in Batheaston.
- £4,600 to Fairfield House for the Fairfield House “zero to hero” energy sustainability assessment, to appraise the potential for energy saving, carbon and cost reduction and use of renewables at Fairfield House, a multi-cultural and multi-faith place of welcome in Bath.
- £3,000 to Bath Share & Repair for the ‘How To Reduce Your Carbon Footprint’ project which will seek to provide practical ways that people can reduce their carbon emissions to make a positive impact on their environment.
- £4,976 to Youth Connect South West for the ‘Grow it cook it!’ project that will work with the local community to support the provision of low cost, good quality local food and encourage local people to grow and cook their own food.
- £4,827 to Julian House toward the running costs of the Bath Bike Workshop which enables and encourages local residents to take up cycling, and/or make it their chief form of transport, by providing free or affordable cycling products, services, and initiatives.
