Somerset County Council Climate Emergency Community Fund 2020 – 2021
Following the extremely positive response from City, Town and Parish Councils and the overall number of applications, the Leader of the Council, Cllr David Fothergill has announced additional funding of £500,000 to the Climate Emergency Community Fund. These extra monies will be used to:
- Deliver Carbon Literacy Training for two members from each of the City, Town and Parish Councils who submitted a bid, to help enable local councils to gain a greater insight and understanding of climate change and where best to direct efforts in tackling the climate emergency. Update: Further Carbon Literacy Training Events, open to all Somerset City, Town and Parish Councils, have now been scheduled for the new year. Information on the course dates and details on how to book have been emailed to Council Clerks.
- Provide an energy audit to those City, Town and Parish Councils who submitted technical bids (i.e. ones that include solar panels, heating initiatives, etc) with the provision of expert advice to determine the most effective energy efficiency measures to be taken within community buildings. The energy audits will be carried out by an industry expert. who will review the submitted applications, conduct site visits, evaluate existing energy usage data and recommendations will then be made to the applicants to prioritise the required actions to deliver the biggest carbon savings. After each audit, the City, Town and Parish Councils will be provided with a detailed report of what the next steps should be to improve energy efficiency on audited buildings and sign-posting to other funding streams where appropriate, as no funding is guaranteed through the existing climate emergency funds to deliver the potential projects identified
- Review and consider all existing non-technical applications to determine their suitability for this additional grant funding subject to Panel approval
The additional monies being made available will enable a further review of the existing and previously unsuccessful applications to the Climate Emergency Community Fund. There is however no guarantee that any further grant awards will be made, as projects will be re-evaluated against the set criteria and will still be subject to approval of the Funding Review Panel.
There will be no further opportunity to submit new applications to the Climate Emergency Community Fund at this time.
23 March 2021 – List of Climate Emergency Community Fund successful projects
A new grant scheme is now available to help local communities take positive action to help Somerset become carbon neutral and mitigate the impacts of Climate Change.
From 1 October, city, town and parish councils and community organisations in unparished areas across Somerset are invited to bid for between £5,000 and £75,000 for innovative projects that can make a real difference in reducing carbon emissions and can contribute to making Somerset resilient to the effects of Climate Change.