Pentland Housing Success In Carbon Challenge Award �101,767

5th October 2012

Council Leader encourages communities to apply for Climate Challenge Fund.

Five communities in the Highlands have between them received over �420,000 from the 11th round of the Climate Challenge Fund and the Leader of The Highland Council hopes more community groups will be encouraged to come forward with projects that tackle climate change.

Councillor Drew Hendry said: "I want to congratulate the communities on their success and I look forward to seeing the results of their projects as they develop over the coming months. I am sure their achievement will inspire and give a boost to other groups to come forward, develop creative ideas and apply for funding.

"Since implementing our own Carbon Management Plan, over the last five years we have managed to cut carbon emissions by 13%. However we know we need to do more so we are now looking at what new actions we can take so we can meet the Scottish Governments target of 42% overall savings by 2020.

"Climate change is one of the biggest challenges facing the world today and here in Highland we want to play our part. There are lots of things we can do as individuals but by working together we can make a real and lasting difference."

The Highland community groups to benefit from the latest round of the Climate Challenge are Pentland Housing Association, The Melness and Tongue Community Development Trust, Ullapool Coimmunity Trust, the Lochaber Environmental Group and Urray and Kilchrist Church of Scotland.

Pentland Housing Association has been awarded �101,767 for the Caithness Carbon Challenge Project which will employ an energy adviser to visit people in their homes.

The Melness and Tongue Community Development Trust have received �105,162 to provide energy advice to householders and to run a food waste reduction programme called Kitchen Canny.

�63,370 has gone to the Ullapool Community Trust to enhance awareness, knowledge and uptake of renewable energy technologies. The project will also promote the sustainable use of local biomass such as wood.

The Lochaber Environmental Group have received �115,130 for The Lochaber Initiative on Fuel Energy (LIFE) project which will promote fuel and energy issues to householders, provide support to local businesses and visit schools to raise environmental issues among the young people.

The final award of �30,660 has been given to the Urray and Kilchrist Church of Scotland to reduce emissions through installing modern insulation and energy efficient heating in their community hall.

Information on how to apply for funding and the full list of successful projects can be found by visiting http://ccf.keepscotlandbeautiful.org/howToApply.aspx

Information and advice is also available on The Highland Council's website - www.highland.gov.uk/climatechange