Grants help in move to be carbon neutral
The Council has been successful in bidding for money from the Government’s Public Sector Decarbonisation Scheme which provides grants for public sector bodies to fund heat decarbonisation and energy efficiency measures.
Grants of more than £1.4 million, together with some additional Council funding, will be used to deliver three projects before April 2023:
- to develop decarbonisation plans for the Council’s least energy efficient buildings
- to install air source heat pumps replacing the existing boilers alongside other upgrades including better insulation, LED lighting and solar panels at the Weald Leisure Centre, Cranbrook
- to install air source heat pumps replacing the existing boilers and associated upgrades at the Council’s Depot on North Farm Lane.
Councillor Jane March, Cabinet Member for Environment, Culture and Leisure said: ‘The funding is a very welcome boost for the work the Council is doing to reduce its carbon emissions and become net zero by 2030. We are working hard to becoming carbon neutral and these projects take us another step further on that journey. I am sure the improvements at the Weald Leisure Centre will also be welcomed by residents who use the centre.’
The decarbonisation plans will be completed by the end of the current financial year, March 2022. The Depot and the leisure centre projects will be completed before April 2023.
The Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) launched the Public Sector Decarbonisation Scheme, which is delivered by Salix Finance. The Scheme is for capital energy efficiency and heat decarbonisation projects within public sector non-domestic buildings.
