- Area:
- South East England
- Programme:
- Communities Living Sustainably
- Release date:
- 6 3 2012
Communities in Brighton and the Isle of Sheppey are today receiving funding from the Big Lottery Fund (BIG) to jump start detailed planning for more sustainable living.
Fuel poverty, rising food prices and scarce resources are just some of the issues in the sights of BIG’s Communities Living Sustainably programme, which aims to inspire people to adapt the way they live, work and connect together to reap financial, environmental and health gains.
The two projects are part of a group of 
30 across the country
- 52KB receiving up to £10,000 to work in partnership with local people, councils, schools, businesses and voluntary groups to draw up detailed plans on how their community can be greener.
Later in the year, ten of the schemes will be chosen to receive up to £1 million to deliver their ideas. The learning gained from the ten funded projects over a five year period will be shared with other communities in England to inform and influence others on how communities can become more sustainable.
The Friends Centre in Brighton will be working with a range of partners and will use its grant of £9,912 to show how they will support the City’s Sustainability Strategy for tackling climate change. The project’s plans include helping people to ‘green’ their homes and businesses by reducing fuel use and cost, establishing community gardens for local food growing as well as developing ‘neighbour networks’ to provide support during extreme weather conditions and flooding. It also aims to build sustainable energy solutions within communities such as wind turbines and solar power as well as developing green skills, jobs and enterprises within the community.
In the Isle of Sheppey, Eastchurch Village Hall is working with partners across the island to develop plans that include local food initiatives, food bank schemes using surplus produce, renewable energy and supporting better water efficiency and sustainable drainage systems.
Fiona Dempsie, Big Lottery Fund Head of Region for the south east, said: “We want to support local communities to make greener choices to improve their quality of life and help them to become resilient to the changing environment. The small steps being taken by these projects will have a big impact and will hopefully spark a change in behaviour that makes sustainable living second nature to us all.”
To help them achieve their goals, a partnership led by Groundwork UK and including BRE, Federation of City Farms, Energy Savings Trust and nef has been appointed to deliver support, advice and guidance to the community partnerships. They will also establish a learning support network to capture and share learning with other communities and to inform the future development of investments in BIG’s Sustainable and Resilient Communities strategy. (www.communitieslivingsustainably.org.uk)
Communities Living Sustainably is part of the Big Lottery Fund’s £50m Sustainable and Resilient Communities strategy, which aims to encourage behaviour change amongst 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 and heat waves or severe cold weather.
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 46% 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 £27 billion has now been raised and more than 370,000 grants awarded across arts, sport, heritage, charities, health, education and the environment.
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