Chris
10/17/2024 12:57:44 PM
4 mins read
North East Lincolnshire Council, in partnership with Equans, has secured a grant of £62,332.50 from the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero, through the Phase 5 Public Sector Low Carbon Skills Fund, furthering its ambition to be a sustainable and carbon neutral organisation by 2030.
The Low Carbon Skills Fund, delivered by Salix, provides grants for public sector organisations to engage the specialist and expert advice and skills needed to create robust heat decarbonisation plans to prepare for heat decarbonisation and energy efficiency works on buildings.
The buildings included in this latest scheme are: Bradley Development Centre; 3 Town Hall Square; Doughty Learning Centre; Grimsby Town Hall; Cleethorpes Business Centre; South Quay Business Units; Cleethorpes Leisure Centre and Immingham Business Units.
The Council is one of 118 public sector organisations that have been successful in achieving grant funding for decarbonisation in this latest round, including the iconic Kew Gardens, the British Film Institute, and the National Portrait Gallery.
Earlier this year, NELC secured £4,821,879 of Government funding through the Public Sector Decarbonisation Scheme Phase 3c, also delivered by Salix, to help deliver low carbon alternative technologies to nine of its buildings. This involves replacing ageing fossil fuel reliant systems with low carbon alternatives.
NELC adopted its Net Zero Carbon Roadmap in 2021, which set out delivery plans to achieve its carbon neutral ambitions by 2040. Low carbon estate is one of these milestones. In December 2022, a Motion was approved by Full Council to accelerate NELC’s strategic priority with a view to achieving net zero by the Council and its assets by 2030.
This latest funding will be used to access skills and resources to further develop the Council’s heat decarbonisation plan and develop stand-alone detailed designs from its pre-existing plan. This is essential to ensure the Council is focusing the right resources in the right areas to have the biggest carbon reduction impact.
Net Zero means reducing carbon emissions as much as possible and balancing the remainder through investing in programmes that increase carbon storage, such as planting more trees or artificial storage solutions.
Cllr Phillip Jackson, Leader of the Council, said: “We’ve set an ambitious target to be a carbon-neutral council by 2030. Meeting this target is one of the biggest projects the council has undertaken and is vital in mitigating the damage done by polluting carbon emissions.
“This latest Salix grant funding will enable us to continue to move forward by accessing the specialist skills and advice needed to help us with our plans to reduce the energy consumption in our buildings, which benefits the environment and lowers running costs, and ultimately helps keep council tax down.
“One of the biggest contributors to our carbon emissions is the energy we use to heat our buildings. We can reduce these emissions by increasing the energy-efficiency of our buildings, using our buildings to generate power and by switching to renewable sources of energy.”
Salix programme manager Christopher Masters said: “The Low Carbon Skills Fund enables public sector organisations to commission an effective heat decarbonisation plan.
“This is important because it can help in the very first step of their journey towards net zero and it puts them in a strong position when planning their capital works.
“Congratulations to North East Lincolnshire Council and we look forward to seeing how they plan their net zero future.”
