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The Peak District National Park Authority are seeking to promote a greener future.  The Authority announced today a round of grants supporting greener energy projects in the Park, as well as recently approving for circulation their draft Action Plan on Climate Change.

PR 554 – 9 December 2008
Grants power green technologies in Peak District

The battle against climate change has been boosted in the Peak District National Park with grants to a renewable-energy village hall, a proposed hydro-electric plant and a schools action project.

The Peak District Sustainable Development Fund allocates £200,000 a year to help business or community projects that strengthen the environment and communities for the future. Its latest round of grant allocations included:

£32,500 toward a new village hall for Over Haddon including a ground source heat pump (generating energy from the earth), rainwater collection system, photovoltaic tiles to supply heat, light and electricity, and environmentally-friendly surface drainage

£25,000 toward a proposed Cromford Corn Mill hydro-electric project – a water-powered turbine on Bonsall Brook to generate electricity for the Venture Centre, Cromford, and sell to the national grid

£15,000 to help Derbyshire Wildlife Trust’s Climate Challenge Project – offering schools activities on energy use, alternative technologies, and the impact of climate change on wildlife and the environment.

They will all be demonstration projects as one of the Sustainable Development Fund’s main aims is to spread skills and awareness so that other people can follow.

The Fund is administered by the Peak District National Park Authority, with grants allocated quarterly by an independent panel including businesspeople, environmentalists, community representatives and young people. Other grants went to:

Grindleford Allotment Association bee-keepers project – to help boost the hard-hit UK honeybee population, pollinate plants, pass on bee-keeping skills and keep alive a traditional cottage industry – £3,350

Friends of Hartington Village Hall – for a Hartington Through the Ages semi-permanent exhibition showing village life, helping generate funds for the hall’s renovation – £1,000

Sustainable Bakewell Feasibility Study – to raise awareness and participation in “green” issues including recycling and renewable energy – £1,000

North Sheffield Conservation Group – to launch a series of cycle festivals introducing people to cycling in the national park, free skills lessons – £1,000

Moorland Discovery Centre, Longshaw – to provide interactive information on the centre’s eco-friendly features, recycling, linking it to the ecology of the moors – £1,000.

The Panel’s chair Anne Ashe said:

These projects are inspiring – especially as the Government’s new Climate Change Act has just come into force to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and promote renewable energy.

They demonstrate that Peak District communities are environmentally-aware and want to help others achieve ‘green’ schemes. We are glad to be able to support projects that will help tackle climate change and ensure a vibrant future our area.

The funding is made available by Defra (the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs). National park sustainable development officer Richard Godley deals with applications. More details online at http://www.peakdistrict.gov.uk/sdf or phone 01629 816312.

PR 552 – 8 December 2008
Climate change action plan on way for national park

A Climate Change Action Plan is on the way to co-ordinate the fight against global warming across the Peak District National Park.

The National Park Authority unanimously approved (Dec 5) a draft action plan to be sent to local councils, environmental and community organisations for responses in the New Year, ready for launch in the Spring.

The plan is in the forefront of a drive by all UK national park authorities to help achieve the Government’s target of an 80 per cent cut in greenhouse gas emissions by 2050.

Its aims are to:

• co-ordinate the climate change work of organisations, communities, researchers and land-managers across the national park, so that they complement each other
• identify areas where new actions are needed or existing actions strengthened.

Climate change action and adaptation are already high on the Authority’s agenda. Its current work ranges from the grassroots – such as grants for community energy schemes – to large landscape-scale projects working with bodies such as the National Trust and Natural England, right up to influence at Government level.

Authority chair Narendra Bajaria said:

Climate change action should not be an ‘add-on,’ it needs to be part of everything we do. National park authorities have a special role to protect the environment across a huge area, and we are in prime position to co-ordinate the climate change actions of all our communities and organisations. By working together we strengthen our own local resilience and contribute to the national and international effort.

Local councils, community and environmental organisations have already highlighted the way their own programmes could contribute to the action plan through a one-day workshop in the summer.

Measures in the draft plan include helping wildlife and habitats adapt to climate change; protecting heritage; continuing moorland research and restoration for greenhouse gas storage; alleviating the impact of weather extremes such as floods and drought, and ensuring that climate change features in the Authority’s own planning policies.

The Authority will continue supporting “green” community initiatives, eco-friendly transport, energy efficiency and renewable energy schemes such as hydro-power and ground-source heat pumps that do not harm protected landscapes.

The action plan is taking shape in the framework of a regional, national and international drive to address global warming, with the Government’s new Climate Change Act launched this month and the United Nations Climate Change Conference going on in Poland (Dec 1-12).