- Area:
- South West England
- Programme:
- Communities Living Sustainably
- Release date:
- 6 3 2012
Communities in West Dorset, Somerset, West Somerset, Stroud, Cornwall and North Devon 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 six areas 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.
Working in partnership with local groups, the West Somerset Advice Bureau will use its £10,000 grant to work up plans to address the area’s carbon footprint and fuel poverty levels, which are the highest in the South West. The organisation is looking at encouraging better land management such as tree planting, better soils and grassland, so the risk of flooding is reduced and water storage is increased. The organisation is also exploring other positive measures such as using woodlands to provide low cost fuel in off-gas areas, and farms becoming key local renewable energy generators by exploiting wind, hydropower and solar power.
Frome Cheese and Grain Ltd aims to address the concern that climate change is affecting what farms are able to produce. In May 2011 the flow of the river Frome was the lowest on record, coinciding with the driest spring on record effecting crops and livestock. The organisation’s proposed projects would address heat waves, droughts and flooding, looking at encouraging behaviour change and renewable energy solutions.
Tag for Sustainability hopes to address issues such as fuel poverty, poor house insulation and the importation of food in North Devon. There are many older houses with cultural features of Devon (cob, thatch and stone) which are energy inefficient. The development grant will be used to plan five events, the publication of a ‘green book’ and a survey of the needs of community enterprises.
Three other South West groups receiving £10,000 grants today are Dorset Community Action, Wood U Waste Ltd working in Stroud and Community Energy Plus covering Cornwall.
Mark Cotton, Big Lottery Fund’s Head of the South West region, 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 that 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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