Community groups get more than £140,000 for climate-friendly projects

Communities across the Vale will soon be benefitting from new insulation and low energy lighting at shared buildings, as well as electric vehicle chargers, a new electric bike scheme and a new repair café thanks to help from the Vale of White Horse District Council’s Climate Action Fund.

In total, 21 local organisations have been offered support with their climate-friendly projects. They included parish councils, community groups, two churches, a pre-school, a museum and a tennis club. They were collectively offered just over £141,000* to help with a wide variety of projects which aimed to save energy and resources, help nature recovery or educate residents on how they can help make sustainable choices.

Cllr Bethia Thomas, Leader and Cabinet member for Climate Action and the Environment, for Vale of White Horse District Council, said: “This is the fourth year we have offered the Climate Action Fund to groups across the Vale and word has obviously spread as the fund was heavily oversubscribed with applicants. Unfortunately, we cannot afford to say yes to everything but it’s encouraging that so many people are looking at ways to lower their – and their community’s – impact on our planet’s resources.

‘We’re delighted that we have been able to fund such a variety of projects from energy saving ideas such as insulation and lower energy LED lighting as well as several schemes which aim to help people repair and reuse items. These projects can help save money as well as reducing waste. We’ve also been able to fund nature recovery projects such as restoring woodland.

“We look forward to helping even more projects in the future and judging by the response this year there is no shortage of great ideas and collective enthusiasm for tackling the most important and urgent issue we face as a community.”

Notes to editors

*The council allocated £100,000 to the Climate Action Fund in 2024. To this was added a £41,915 underspend from the last round of the Climate Action Fund in 2023, making a total of £141,915 to give away this year.

Climate Action Fund awards – offered September 2024

Location	Organisation/group	Type of Project	Description
Littleworth	Littleworth Reading Room and Playing Field	Energy saving and carbon reduction	Second phase of funding to support the thermal insulation of the Reading Room – Littleworth’s village hall.
Fyfield	Parochial Church Council of Fyfield with Tubney	Energy saving and carbon reduction	Installation of insulation beneath an underfloor heating system, which will be powered by an air source heat pump.
Appleton	The Appleton with Eaton Tennis and Recreation Club	Energy saving and carbon reduction	Changing the club’s existing floodlights to LEDs (low energy lighting).
Wantage	Vale and Downland Museum	Energy saving and carbon reduction	Changing the museum’s lighting to LEDs, as part of a wider decarbonisation project.
Wantage	Vale Community Impact	Energy saving and carbon reduction	An energy audit of the rented building. The report will include practical recommendations together with projected costings and ongoing support.
Shrivenham	Viscountess Barrington’s Memorial Hall and Recreation Ground Trust	Energy saving and carbon reduction	Changing the hall’s existing lighting to LEDs.
Shrivenham and Uffington	West Vale Canal Group – Wilts & Berks Canal Trust	Energy saving and carbon reduction	Installation of solar panels, controller, batteries and an inverter at the works compound. Following this replace petrol powered machines and tools with battery powered versions, including a battery powered outboard motor on the group’s boat, in place of petrol-powered unit.
District wide	Low Carbon Hub	Energy saving and carbon reduction	Provide energy assessments for six community organisations in the Vale. Providing each with several bespoke energy reduction measures.
Harwell	Little Pippins Pre-school	Energy saving and carbon reduction	Changing the pre-school’s existing lighting to LEDs.
Harwell	St Matthews Church Harwell	Energy saving and carbon reduction	Energy audit of the Church Hall and changing existing lighting to LEDs.
Sutton Courtenay and surrounding areas. Faringdon and Wantage	Berkshire, Buckinghamshire and Oxfordshire Wildlife Trust (BBOWT)	Nature recovery – education and engagement	Delivery of nature education sessions at BBOWT’s Sutton Courtenay education centre and at two identified community hubs in Faringdon and Wantage.
Faringdon	Community First Oxfordshire	Nature recovery and access to nature	A project to support access to nature in Faringdon. Aiming to map assets, identify and work with existing community groups and run climate action myth busting training sessions.
Botley and North Hinksey	Hinksey Trail Regeneration	Nature recovery and access to nature	Extension of the boardwalk path by a further 225m through 12ha of rare calcareous fen. Assisting with future management of the fenland habitat, including the planned introduction of grazing in 2025.

South Hinksey	South Hinksey Parish Council	Nature recovery and access to nature	Regeneration of the South Hinksey Community Woodland.
Blewbury	Sustainable Blewbury	Nature recovery and access to nature	Restoration of Quaker Wood through site preparation and tree planting, providing an amenity for the community.
Appleton	Green Appleton	Climate action and education and engagement	Setting up a quarterly repair café to be held in the village hall, offering different types of repairs including garment repairs.
Abingdon	One Planet Abingdon	Climate action and education and engagement	A series of free and open to all sewing workshops, that will teach individuals how to use a sewing machine to mend, create, upcycle clothing and materials.
District wide	Fusion Arts	Education and engagement	Two climate events for the Vale’s creative arts community, to facilitate discussion on specific areas of climate action. Plus a Carbon Literacy accredited training session for those working in the arts sector.
District wide	Oxford Wood Recycling ltd	Climate action and education and engagement	A series of free wood craft events, inspiring people to rethink their relationship with natural resources (i.e., timber) in the home and beyond. Workshops are designed to be a starting point for challenging ‘throw-away-mentality’.
Faringdon	Faringdon Town Council	Sustainable Transport	An eBike hire scheme to give the community the opportunity to experience eBikes first hand and to realise their benefits.
Blewbury	Blewbury Parish Council	Sustainable Transport	Second phase of funding to support the installation of two EV charging points at the village hall.