Derbyshire Dales District Council has been shortlisted for Local Authority of the Year at the National Energy Efficiency Awards in October.
The nomination for the prestigious awards came from Leisure Energy, which has worked as a partner on energy efficiency installations at the District Council’s leisure facilities across the district. Leisure Energy helps operators to reduce their energy costs.
The Derbyshire Dales is up against 14 other local authorities, including larger upper tier councils such as Nottingham City, Portsmouth City and Cornwall Council.
Judges will consider the nature, scale and scope of the work carried out, and a special emphasis will be placed on any successful integration of any Local or National Government Energy Efficiency schemes in the nominee’s projects.
Pictured above are new solar panels at Ashbourne Leisure Centre.
District Council Leader Councillor Garry Purdy said:
“We are proud of the progress we continue to make in achieving our declared target of being carbon neutral by 2030 – and this nomination underlines the great work that is taking place thanks in no small part to several successful applications for external funding.
“Energy efficiency work is ongoing across our key facilities and when the latest upgrades are complete we should see a 31% reduction in carbon emissions from our buildings.”
More good news for the District Council is that it has just received confirmation of a Low Carbon Skills Fund grant of £123,275 towards putting together decarbonisation plans for Derbyshire Dales leisure centres.
The District Council’s Climate Change Officer Jo Hill said:
“This is important new funding as it will enable us to find out what we need to do and what it will cost us to further reduce carbon emissions at our centres in Bakewell, Matlock and Wirksworth.
“Leisure centres have very high energy use and therefore carbon footprints, so this is a key piece of work.”
Freedom Leisure operate the four Dales leisure centres on the District Council’s behalf. Ivan Horsfallturner, Freedom Leisure’s CEO, said:
“We are committed to supporting Derbyshire Dales District Council in their path to net zero by continuing to work alongside the council to build on the past successes and further reduce the emissions from the leisure centres which account for a significant portion of the council’s carbon footprint.
“While this work is vitally important it does not materially impact the huge escalation in energy costs that we and all sectors are currently facing and further interventions and support will be necessary to make the important community leisure services financially sustainable.”
The Low Carbon Skills Fund, delivered by Salix Finance, draws on up to £14 million of funding from the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) for public sector organisations to engage the specialist and expert advice and skills required to put in place or improve an existing heat decarbonisation plan.
