Views sought on Warwickshire’s £1 Million Green Shoots Fund

Warwickshire County Council is seeking the views of community and voluntary groups around the county to help shape its £1 Million Green Shoots Fund

In October, Warwickshire County Council Cabinet approved the creation of a new £1 million community fund to help address the climate change emergency. This new fund will support initiatives from the voluntary and community sector, parish and town councils, schools and other organisations to deliver local climate change projects.

Projects that will be eligible for the fund are those that should reduce our carbon emissions and so lessen our impact on the environment and help adapt our local environment to ensure it is able to withstand the impacts of climate change. The fund offers a new approach which will embrace social value so that communities can deliver their own local solutions to climate change.

Any community group or voluntary organisation will be able to apply for money from the scheme for projects that meet set criteria. The Fund will run alongside the already established Community and Councillor Grant Schemes.

With approval given for this high-value and high-impact challenge fund, Warwickshire County Council is now seeking the views of groups or individuals that may be eligible for the monies from the fund to help shape various aspects of how it will operate as part of a special 2-week public engagement exercise.

Anyone interested is invited to complete an online questionnaire to share their views on the types of projects that need funding, the levels of financial support required and the process for applying for funding.

Since it declared a Climate Change Emergency in 2019, tackling climate change has been central to everything that Warwickshire County Council does and this has not been forgotten as the Council looks to future recovery from the Covid-19 pandemic. The Council’s key Recovery Plan (2020-21) makes it clear that sustainability and tackling climate change are central to its recovery so that we lay the foundations for a sustainable long-term future in Warwickshire.

Anyone wishing to respond to this engagement exercise, should visit: https://ask.warwickshire.gov.uk/insights-service/green-shoots

The online survey will be available from Monday 16 November 2020 until Monday 30 November. After the survey closes, responses will be used to help shape the launch of the fund application process which is planned for early 2021.

Cllr Heather Timms, Warwickshire County Council Portfolio holder for Environment and Heritage & Culture, said: “The Warwickshire Green Shoots 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 the Warwickshire Green Shoots Fund. I hope to see as many community groups as possible responding to this engagement exercise so that, together we can 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