Key facts
Area: South West
Grant recipient: Dorset Community Action
Project: Dorset Communities Living Sustainably
Programme: Communities Living Sustainably
Date of award: August 2012
Amount awarded: £960,523
DCA works to engage and support action within the area to improve quality of life through information, advice, networks and support to VCO. This project aims to improve resilience to climate change across Dorset by delivering a range of activities that will address the greatest needs.
The project, part of Communities Living Sustainably, will be delivered in Bridport, Dorchester and surrounding areas, with a population of 61,000. The area contains a mix of rural communities, including high levels of farmland and coastal fisheries, a number of stone walled homes not connected to mainline gas supplies, and a high level of isolated communities. Within the area there are a range of existing, isolated climate change initiatives.
Vulnerable and at risk communities are identified as farming and fishing communities affected by lack of support and sustainable resources, and isolated older people at risk of increasing fuel poverty and deprivation. This project contains specific strands of activities directly targeted at identifying and addressing the needs of these beneficiaries.