- Area:
- Wales
- Programme:
- Sustainable Steps
- Release date:
- 27 3 2012
A project to help Welsh communities tackle the impact of climate change has today received £620,000.
Development Trust Association Wales (DTA Wales) will use the money for its Renew Wales project which aims to encourage sustainability countrywide.
Cash has been awarded through Sustainable Steps - a non-Lottery funding programme which is being delivered through the BIG Fund and is funded by money that has been dormant in bank and building society accounts across the UK for 15 years or more. How the money is being spent in Wales has been determined by policy directions issued to the Big Lottery Fund by the Welsh Government.
DTA Wales will help 200 communities respond to climate change through advice, training and mentoring support with particular focus on areas of fuel poverty, people not previously involved in climate change activity and areas with a high black minority ethnic population.
Activities targeted at groups like rugby clubs, Women’s Institutes, youth organisations and housing associations, will include developing community renewable energy resources, starting local food clubs, making sustainable use of land and buildings, establishing community owned enterprises and engaging schools and business in climate change action.
Ken Shaw, Head of Enterprise for DTA Wales, which will deliver the project in every local authority area in Wales with partners such as the Centre for Alternative Technology, Mentor Mon and Green Renewable Wales, said: “The project will tap into the wealth of sustainability knowledge in Wales - linking experienced, skilled and committed individuals with communities who have not previously been involved in the sustainability movement to develop climate change action plans, and to put their ideas into action. Focusing on mentoring and support, the project will inspire, engage and share with a new wave of communities the knowledge and experience won by pioneers in the field.”
Highlighting the importance of today’s funding, Big Lottery Fund Director for Wales, John Rose, said: “DTA Wales will help arm communities with better knowledge, skills and abilities to enable them to take action to address the causes of climate change, build resilience to climate change and live in a more sustainable way.
“We want to see more communities reducing their carbon footprint and adapting to the consequences of climate change. The learning from this programme will also be used to inform future climate change and sustainable development policies. Ultimately, this money has a significant long term impact and makes a big difference to the environment and the lives of people throughout Wales.”
Environment and Sustainable Development Minister John Griffiths added: “I am delighted that the successful project is one being delivered by a partnership of grassroots community groups who have led the way in enabling their own communities to take action on climate change. They will now be resourced so that they can inspire communities across Wales with their drive, enthusiasm and determination to make a difference.”
Launched last September, the Sustainable Steps programme aims to support communities throughout Wales to reduce carbon emissions by developing skills, changing people’s behaviour and promoting wider sustainable development. As a result, communities will gain the skills they need to take action to address the cause and consequences of climate change The Sustainable Steps programme is the first Dormant Accounts funding programme to be launched in Wales. A strand focusing on young people will be launched later this year.
Climate Change - The Facts for Wales:
- Across different parts of Wales the annual average temperatures are projected to rise between 2 and 4°C by the 2080s.
- The relative sea level rise around Wales (taking into account land level changes) is predicted to be 36cm by the 2080’s.
- Future sea level rise along Wales’ coast is likely to result in more severe coastal erosion, and inundation events more likely in low-lying coastal areas.
Source: Climate Change: its impacts for Wales
Further Information
Big Lottery Fund Press Office: 02920 678 227
Out of Hours Contact: 07760 171 431
Public Enquiries Line: 0300 123 0735
Textphone: 0845 6021 659
Full details of the Big Lottery Fund programmes and grant awards are available at: www.biglotteryfund.org.uk
Notes to Editors
- In Wales, the Big Lottery Fund is rolling out up to £100,000 a day in Lottery good cause money, which together with other Lottery distributors means that across Wales most people are within a few miles of a Lottery-funded project.
- The Big Lottery Fund is responsible for giving out 46 per cent of money raised by the National Lottery. Our mission is to bring real improvements to communities and the lives of people most in need.
- The National Lottery Act 2006 allows us to handle non-Lottery as well as Lottery Funding. We do this by operating as BIG Fund.
- The Sustainable Steps programme is funded by money that has been dormant in bank and building society accounts across the UK for 15 years or more. How we spend this money in Wales has been determined by Policy Directions issued to the Big Lottery Fund by the Welsh Government. This programme has been developed to meet the need identified in those directions.
- The Big Lottery Fund, the largest of the National Lottery good cause distributors, has been rolling out grants to health, education, environment and charitable causes across the UK since its inception in June 2004. It was 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 given out across the arts, sport, heritage, charities, health, education and the environment.
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