Warwick Myton Hospice will be able to further adopt environmentally-friendly technology for its operations thanks to the Warwickshire County Council Green Shoots Community Climate Change Fund.
Green Shoots is a £1m fund, allocated from Warwickshire County Council to support a wide array of small, community-powered initiatives across Warwickshire in addressing climate change.
The Green Shoots allocation of £4,700 will enable Myton Hspice to:
- Install two twin-head electric vehicle (EV) car charging points at the Warwick Myton Hospice site; and
- An upgrade to energy-efficient, LED lighting at the Hospice’s Wood Street charity shop in Stratford-upon-Avon.
The Myton Hospice is keen to adapt its operations to help in facing the challenge of the climate emergency. It was recently successful in a bid to secure three new all-electric vehicles for use by their Myton at Home staff who provide end-of-life care to patients in their own homes as well as an adapted community transport vehicle.
The Green Shoots funded EV charging points will serve these new vehicles and also be available for staff and local community use.
There will be a small charge for staff and visitors to the Hospice site in Warwick to use the EV charging point and a slightly increased charge if it is used by members of the local community.
These charges will be used to cover the costs of the charity charging its own vehicles and provide a potential income stream for the charity, enabling it to continue its important work providing palliative and end-of-life care.
Use by local residents will be restricted to overnight and non-peak times, but with plans to increase the number of charging points, they will be able to assess and adjust capacity for wider community use.
In terms of the Wood Street charity shop in Stratford, a recent internal inspection found that the existing lighting in the shop was not energy-efficient, produced too much heat and was insufficient for the size of the shop. The new highly efficient LED technology will help the charity to increase lighting levels while reducing its carbon footprint.
Anna-Marie Varnham, Trusts Officer at The Myton Hospices, said: “We are delighted to have been awarded £4,700 from the Warwickshire County Council Green Shoots Community Climate Change Fund and would like to say a huge thank you to the Council.
“This money will help us with our commitment to continuously improve the environmental performance of our buildings, equipment and processes, and the electric vehicle charging points will also provide a valuable service for the local community.”
Cllr Heather Timms, Portfolio Holder for Environment, Climate and Culture, said: “If we are to successfully face the challenges of the climate emergency and our planet’s rapidly changing climate, this cannot be done by Governments, local or national, alone.
“The solutions must come from everyone, private individuals, businesses, the third and health sectors looking at what they currently do and asking: ‘how can we do this in a better, more environmentally-conscious way that reduces our impact on the planet and its climate.’ At its core, this is what the Green Shoots Fund is about, helping Warwickshire’s Community and Voluntary Sectors to find the answers that work for them to this question.”
“Although the money provided to The Myton Hospices is one of the smaller grants within the scheme, the environmental return on that investment is huge. We know one of the biggest barriers to electric vehicle ownership is a perceived (and often actual) lack of charging infrastructure.
“This is something that we, as a council, have been investing in and will be spending much more on over the coming years, so it’s always heartening when other organisations step forward and make a commitment to doing their bit to improving the provision of electric vehicle charging points, allowing us to move a step closer to a best Warwickshire that is sustainable now and for future generations.”
Further information about The Myton Hospices can be found here: https://www.mytonhospice.org/
A full list of projects that will receive Green Shoots Community Climate Change funding can be found here: https://www.warwickshire.gov.uk/news/article/2324/green-shoots-will-soon-be-springing-up-across-warwickshire-as-projects-set-to-receive-a-share-of-wcc-s-1-million-community-climate-change-fund-are-announced
For more information about the Fund, visit: www.warwickshire.gov.uk/greenshootsfund
For more information about how Warwickshire County Council is facing the challenges of the climate change emergency, visit: https://www.warwickshire.gov.uk/strategies-policies-legislation/facing-challenge-climate-change-warwickshire
Get the latest news about how Warwickshire County Council and partners are facing the challenge of the climate emergency and how you can get involved: http://eepurl.com/hrk-zf