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WCC Cabinet has today approved the launch of a new £1 million community fund which will fund local schemes that will have an impact on Carbon emissions and help address the climate change emergency.

As part of the 2020/21 budget, Council approved the creation of four internal Revenue Investment Funds, with a total allocation of £20m, to provide opportunities to run initiatives to meet objectives of tackling climate change, investing in commercialism, sustaining prevention of demand within communities and investment in place shaping including scoping capital and development opportunities for better value service provision. The indicative allocation of the resources between the funds was then updated by Cabinet in June to reflect the increased need to invest in economic recovery post Covid-19.

The breakdown of these funds is below:

  • Sustaining Prevention Fund
  • Climate Change Fund
  • Commercial Fund
  • Place Shaping and Capital Investment Fund

The new fund – The Climate Change Community Investment Fund – will come from the Climate Change Fund and allow the Council to formally invest in initiatives proposed by community organisations to enhance local climate change agendas.

The core aims of the fund are:

  • To take action to progress the Council’s objectives on climate change mitigation included in its adopted Council Plan 2025, in response to declaring a climate emergency in July 2019.
  • To take action to progress the Climate Change priority set out in the Council’s adopted COVID-19 Recovery Plan
  • To progress the Council’s climate change agenda by enabling and recognising the role of local action through the support of and in partnership with the voluntary and community sector, parish and town councils and climate change organisations to deliver local climate change mitigation projects.
  • To support local action to deliver climate change mitigation and thereby promote creative funding approaches and embracing social value so that communities can deliver their own solutions

Any community group or voluntary organisation will be able to apply for money from the scheme for projects that meet the set criteria above. The scheme will run alongside Community and Councillor Grant Schemes and share a similar application process.

More details on the exact application channels and a full list of criteria for applications will be made available as part of the Fund’s promotion over the coming months.

Cllr Heather Timms, Warwickshire County Council Portfolio holder for Environment and Heritage & Culture, said: “The Climate Change Community Investment Fund is an important step forward in our response to the Climate Change Emergency that this Council declared in 2019

“There is already lots of fantastic work going on within Warwickshire County Council and our communities across the County to help reduce carbon footprints and minimise the effects we all have on our fast-changing climate.

“There can be few better demonstrations of our commitment to address this emergency than the sizeable sum of money made available to our communities as part of this grant scheme. As soon as the scheme launches, I hope to see as many community groups as possible applying for funding to make Warwickshire the best it can be, sustainable now and for the future.”

For more information about how Warwickshire County Council is facing the challenges of the climate change emergency, visit: www.Warwickshire.gov.uk/theclimateemergency

Published: 8th October 2020

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