The Climate Challenge Fund exemplar projects
Four Climate Challenge Fund projects have been selected to act as exemplar projects for knowledge transfer, and to offer communities an opportunity to visit them and learn from their experiences. These projects illustrate the type of activities and community engagement which applications to the Climate Challenge Fund should demonstrate.
Going Carbon Neutral Stirling
On June 12, 2008 Environment Secretary Richard Lochhead MSP launched Going Carbon Neutral Stirling. Grant of £800,000 in 2008-09, 2009-10 and 2010-11 offered to Keep Scotland Beautiful for the Going Carbon Neutral Stirling project is for work with local communities in Stirlingshire to reduce their carbon footprint, engaging with the public, businesses and communities across the Stirling area (with a population of around 90,000) to make a real difference in reducing carbon dioxide emissions; and with the aim of becoming the UK's first carbon neutral city. There is funding also from the Big Lottery Fund of £500,000 for this project, with which Stirling Council will work in partnership.
The aim is to bring about significant change in the behaviour of 54 per cent of targeted Stirlingshire residents, eventually with local action in 520 identified communities, securing community participation, and ensuring that all see where they can play their part in tackling climate change. The Going Carbon Neutral Stirling website shows how communities and others can reduce their carbon footprint.
Local community groups in Stirling may be able to develop their own projects and apply individually to the Climate Challenge Fund.
Barra and Vatersay Northbay Garden Project ( Garadh Bhagh a Tuagh)
Grant of £61,671 in 2008-09 and 2009-10 has been offered to Barra and Vatersay Community Ltd to implement the Northbay Garden Project (Garadh Bhagh a Tuagh) producing fresh food for local consumption and reducing the import of food to the 1150 residents of the Western Isles islands of Barra and Vatersay. Most food is shipped to the island from Oban, a five-hour journey.
This will expand the Northbay community garden to enable it to increase vegetable production, with direct sales to hotels, businesses and householders; to provide vegetable seedlings to enable members of the community to provide a significant proportion of the food eaten on the island; to extend the growing season through the use of a heated greenhouse based on renewable energy; and to reduce waste and packaging and cut carbon emissions.
Barra and Vatersay Community Ltd hope to take forward other work to reduce the islands' impact on climate change while offering real benefits to the community.
On August 26, 2008, when Environment Secretary Richard Lochhead visited Barra to announce the grant, communities from remote areas of Scotland gathered in North Bay in Barra to share ideas and discuss ways to reduce their carbon footprint. Over 40 individuals from remote communities with an interest in carbon reduction took part in the workshops and discussions. The event was an early and successful implementation of knowledge transfer and information sharing action under the Climate Challenge Fund.
Transition Towns
PEDAL - Portobello Energy Descent and Land Reform Group - has been offered a grant of £569,465 over 2008-09, 2009-10 and 2010-11 to expand the network of Transition Town communities in Scotland from the existing five places in 2008 with Transition Initiative status - Portobello, Biggar, Dunbar, North Howe and Forres. A Transition Town is a community working to mitigate the effects of peak oil and drastically reduce carbon emissions to mitigate the effects of climate change. A co-ordinated range of projects leads to a collectively-designed energy descent pathway.
The Climate Challenge Fund grant allows for employing a co-ordinator and two development workers to deliver assistance and training so that there will be over 40 Transition communities in Scotland by 2011 - reflecting local peoples' wishes, needs and resources, and helping them access funding - and focus especially on "hard to reach" communities, to find innovative ways of enthusing and resourcing them, with over 10 of the Transition communities by 2011 being - either in urban or in rural areas - where there are high levels of poverty and social deprivation.
There is the intention of holding an international Transition Conference in July 2010.
Comrie Carbon Challenge
A grant of £299,650 for 2008-09, 2009-10 and 2010-11 offered to Comrie Development Trust is for the Comrie Carbon Challenge project - to develop activities to reduce the community's carbon footprint, promote best practice and measure progress.
The project includes a street-by-street insulation programme; planning renewable energy production for community buildings; a local transport plan; community composting; and the sustainable development of 90 acres of community-owned land at the former Cultybraggan Army Camp - purchased under the Land Reform (Scotland) Act in 2007 - with buildings for local workspace and manufacturing, allotments for local food production and leisure and recreation opportunities.
Richard Lochhead announced this project on November 11, 2008 saying this wide-ranging project is a superb example of what can be done with the funds available from the Climate Challenge Fund. He said that the street-by-street home insulation plan is particularly striking and commended Scottish and Southern Energy's foresight in assisting the community to reduce carbon emissions.
Energy audit and home insulation work has extended to Letham in Perth with grant of £17,612 for work in 2008-09 and to Alyth in Strathmore with grant of £78,056 for work in 2008-09 and 2009-10.