Community centres in Tydd St Giles, Guyhirn, Gorefield and Wimblington to get environmentally-friendly upgrades

Community centres in four Fenland villages are to get environmentally-friendly upgrades that will help secure their futures through cost and energy saving.

Centres in Tydd St Giles and Guyhirn, the community hall and sports pavilion at Gorefield playing field and the parish hall at Wimblington will benefit.

The upgrades are being supported with Net Zero Villages grants awarded by Fenland District Council with funds from Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Combined Authority (CPCA).

Cllr Steve Tierney, of Fenland District Council, said: “We’re delighted to see these funds supporting vital community facilities in Fenland.

“We know day-to-day running costs are a huge challenge for facilities like this up and down the country, and the planned works will help offset those costs.

“We look forward to seeing the schemes rolled out and this funding going to good use.”

The Net Zero Villages grants scheme saw Fenland parish councils and village and rurally-based community groups offered grant funding for projects that would improve energy efficiency of public buildings or increase access to public or low-carbon transport.

Schemes awarded funding are:

Tydd St Giles Community Centre and Recreation Ground committee has been awarded £10,000 for a lighting replacement and associated rewiring of the centre, in Broad Drove East, which is estimated will save it more than £2,500 annually in energy costs;

Wisbech St Mary Parish Council has been awarded £9,000 for a solar power scheme for Guyhirn Community Centre, in High Road;

Gorefield Playing Field Association secured £25,000 towards a project to install a solar energy system for the community hall and sports pavilion, in Wolf Lane;

Wimblington Parish Council was awarded £17,000 towards a replacement of the roof on the parish hall, in Addison Road, with a green (vegetation covered) roof.

Malcolm Carter, chairman of Tydd St Giles Community Centre & Recreation Ground Charity, was delighted to receive the news about the awarding of the grant.

He said: “The replacement of all 85 lights in the building will reduce our energy costs significantly and lessen our impact on the environment.

“The centre was built at a time when energy was cheap, but our electricity bills have become a burden on our finances in recent years.

“The community centre is the heart of our community and reducing our operating costs will enable us to provide more events and activities to support our local residents.”

Cllr Charles Allen, Wisbech St Mary Parish Council chairman, said: “We are absolutely delighted to have secured this grant through the Net Zero Villages programme.

“This funding will enable us to install solar panels on the Guyhirn Community Centre, reducing energy costs and supporting our commitment to sustainability.

“Without this grant, delivering such an important project would have been extremely difficult, but thanks to this support, we can now make the centre more affordable to run and more environmentally friendly, benefitting the whole community for years to come.”

Kevin Burton, trustee of Gorefield Playing Field Association, which runs the community hall and sports pavilion, said: “After opening in 2013 Gorefield Community Hall rapidly became the social centre for the community and is now heavily used.

“It is estimated the installation of the Solar Energy System will reduce electricity costs by at least half, helping the community hall to operate in a more financially sustainable manner in the future.”

Cllr Maureen Davis, chairman of Wimblington Parish Council, said: “We’re delighted to receive this funding for replacement of the flat part of the roof on our parish hall.

“The funding also covers strengthening for that part of the roof to be a green roof in keeping with our biodiversity programme.

“This welcome funding also means we have completed our energy efficiency programme for the parish hall which will now have a more energy efficient roof together with the existing solar panels and battery storage.”

Fenland District Council has resolved to:

Promote measures which alleviate the anticipated effects in Fenland of future global climate change, that are affordable and financially viable, and which it believes have a good chance of achieving their proposed end results.

Meet all climate change targets which are legally required by the UK Government.

Measure accumulatively the CO2 emission reductions achieved by the council's actions, both through its own activities and through the funding of schemes directed by or channelled via the council to third parties in the district, using 2018 as the base year.

Details of other grants available to support Fenland projects can be found at: www.fenland.gov.uk/grants