- Area:
- London
- Programme:
- Communities Living Sustainably
- Release date:
- 3 9 2012
Some of London’s most vulnerable residents are to get help to reduce their energy bills so they can avoid fuel poverty this winter as part of a multi million pound Big Lottery Fund (BIG) initiative.
People struggling to heat their homes in the Manor House area will be targeted by the Manor House Development Trust PACT project, today receiving nearly £1m from BIG’s Communities Living Sustainably programme – which is awarding £12m to 12 projects across England.
The initiative aims to inspire people to adapt the way they live to reap financial, health and environmental benefits.
Manor House Development Trust’s PACT project is awarded £999,049 to bring individuals and communities across Brownswood and New River in the London Borough of Hackney and Seven Sisters and Finsbury Park in the London Borough of Haringey together to tackle fuel poverty, improve local air quality, create job and training opportunities and make good use of underused local green spaces.
Simon Donovan, Director of MHDT said: “The Manor House community is one of the most deprived areas in London. For years residents have been blighted by unemployment and worklessness, poor health and educational attainment and lack of social amenities and green space. Fuel poverty is amongst London’s worse - the percentage of fuel poor households as high as 22.1 per cent compared with the London average of 13.3 per cent -yet the area is made up of under-utilized but beautiful green spaces.
“But Manor House is changing. This £1 million investment will enable the community to self-organise to collectively tackle these issues creating jobs, investing in future green and environmental skills, creating volunteer and community organisation opportunities.
“Thanks to the Big Lottery Fund, the Manor House communities will have the opportunity to completely re-invent the way they and those looking in from the outside perceive the area as it becomes a green, sustainable and truly desirable place in which to live and work”.
PACT aims to benefit the 20,000 residents in the area by encouraging everyone to reap the health benefits of enjoying the area’s green spaces, such as the 110 acre Finsbury Park. And the whole community will be encouraged to get involved in local decision making on environmental issues, such as how to lower air pollution and reduce waste.
But PACT will specifically target vulnerable people most at risk of fuel poverty by recruiting green champions to make home visits and carry out home assessments to see where energy savings can be made so that people’s bills are reduced.
And through partnership working, the project will offer jobs, training and apprenticeships to young people and people not in education, training or employment. This will include opportunities to train in practical conservation and how to carry out building assessments or set up green businesses. A new grounds maintenance social enterprise will be established offering an estimated 12 jobs to people interested in looking after local green spaces.
Alison Rowe, Big Lottery Fund Head of Region for London, said: “The PACT project gets to the very heart of the ambition of Communities Living Sustainably, which is about encouraging the development of creative ideas to make sustainable living simple, easy and feel like second nature – as well as enabling the most vulnerable to reduce their costs and live healthier, happier lives.
“With adverse weather affecting crops globally - which is likely to cause an increase in food prices in UK supermarkets*- and with fuel bills predicted to rise this winter, the PACT project shows what's possible when local communities are encouraged to take small steps, use their own resources and make the most of opportunities on their door step to make sustainable living real whilst helping people cope with these added pressures during the recession.”
Communities Living Sustainably is part of the Big Lottery Fund’s £50m Sustainable and Resilient Communities strategy, which aims to encourage behaviour change among individuals and communities so they can cope better with the environmental, economic and social impacts of a changing climate. Vulnerable people, including those on low-incomes or older people, are less likely to cope with the negative effects of climate change such as floods, heat waves or severe cold weather.
Supporting groups awarded funding today is a partnership led by Groundwork UK and including BRE, Federation of City Farms, Energy Savings Trust and nef. It will offer advice and guidance and also establish a learning support network to capture and share learning with other communities and inform the future development of investments of BIG’s Sustainable and Resilient Communities strategy. (www.communitieslivingsustainably.org.uk)
Further Information
Big Lottery Fund Press Office: 020 7211 1888
Out of hours media contact: 07867 500 572
Full details of the Big Lottery Fund programmes and grant awards are available on the website: www.biglotteryfund.org.uk
Ask BIG a question here: https://ask.biglotteryfund.org.uk
Follow BIG on Twitter: www.twitter.com/BigLotteryFund #BIGlf
Find BIG on facebook: www.facebook.com/BigLotteryFund
Notes to Editors
- The Big Lottery Fund (BIG), the largest distributor of National Lottery good cause funding, is responsible for giving out 40% of the money raised for good causes by the National Lottery.
- BIG is committed to bringing real improvements to communities and the lives of people most in need and has been rolling out grants to health, education, environment and charitable causes across the UK. Since June 2004 BIG has awarded over £4.4bn.
- The Fund was formally established by Parliament on 1 December 2006.
- Since the National Lottery began in 1994, 28p from every pound spent by the public has gone to good causes. As a result, over £28 billion has now been raised and more than 383,000 grants awarded across arts, sport, heritage, charities, health, education and the environment.
- * British Retail Consortium http://www.brc.org.uk/brc_news_detail.asp?id=2269
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