Harlow Council secures £418,297 in grant funding to help support the town’s climate change pledges

In summer 2019 the council declared a climate emergency and made a number of pledges to tackle climate change in the town including reducing the council’s carbon use.

The funding from Salix via the Public Sector Decarbonisation Scheme will be used for the following:

·         £334,000 for the installation of Solar PV Panels across council public buildings

·         £66,900 for the installation of LED Lighting at the Civic Centre

·         £16,797 for the installation of replacement energy efficient hand dryers

The council is looking installing Solar PV Panels at the following public buildings:  Harlow Museum (subject to planning permission due to listed building status), Civic Centre, Latton Bush, Playhouse, Mead Park Depot, Leah Manning Centre, Bus Station and Nexus at Harlow Innovation Park. Overall, the council is anticipating that the panels will reduce carbon emissions by 103 tonnes per annum across all of the sites. Hand dryers will be installed at Latton Bush, Pets’ Corner and Museum and expect to reduce carbon emissions by 5 tonnes of CO2 per year.

Councillor Mark Ingall, Leader of Harlow Council, said: “I would like to congratulate council staff for securing this funding. Despite the challenges of the pandemic and our priorities having to change, we still have big ambitions to tackle climate change in Harlow. In July 2019 we declared a climate emergency and made a number of pledges to tackle climate change. We have already met a number of these pledges early including reducing our carbon use by 25 percent and this funding will help us reduce our carbon use further in future. Not only will these projects benefit the environment for all, but they will help with our financial stability by reducing the future running costs for council buildings, so more money can be allocated to what is important for Harlow’s recovery from the pandemic.”