What would you like the Parish Council to be involved in:
“It is the strategy of CPC to ensure that all reasonable efforts are made to allow for a sustainable future. With this intention CPC will encourage individuals, organisations and businesses within the Parish to be mindful of their environmental impact.
The Council will actively seek to work with those who are embracing positive strategies which will enable our community to achieve a more sustainable future.”
Casterton Village Self Energy Project
"Many of us in rural areas are finding energy costs a real challenge. Heating oil is back to a merely exorbitant price for the time being but 65p per litre really brought home our vulnerability to world oil prices. Wood burning stoves are an obvious answer, until you are no longer young and fit enough to go wood collecting.
A community approach to the problem is a super idea. Wood, water and wind are in plentiful supply. Add in the various ground source schemes along with energy preservation (i.e. draughtproofing and insulation) and a vibrant community can begin to tackle these problems.
I wish the Casterton community every success in this project and I look forward to seeing the first results!"
Peter Thornton SLDC Cabinet member for “Communities and Well Being”
The Story So Far
Our proposal for an Energy Audit.
The results of the Audit for the village
Our initial application to British Gas and Green Streets
Presentation given to the residents and Parish Council on September 29th.
Casterton Village Energy Project
At the Parish Forum held at the end of September, there was a public discussion of some of the general issues surrounding future energy utilisation and production within this community: also, of the British Gas ‘Green Streets’ initiative which offered limited financial support to selected housing associations/communities/
organisations for improving their energy usage and developing new ideas for energy generation. The Forum advised the Parish Council that it supported these concepts, that the village should pursue its bid for British Gas funding, and the Council itself agreed similarly.
On Monday 5th October, a team of three from this village presented their bid for funding to an adjudication panel at the Tickled Trout Hotel, Preston; a rugby club from Bolton and a group from South Manchester attended also to support their respective bids. Over 100 applications were submitted initially. The team is delighted to report that this village has been successful in this bid.
The team behind this successful bid are aware that all residents and businesses within the Parish should now know precisely their involvement and commitment to this project, and what actions are proposed. For their part, British Gas must now state the size of the grant, the terms of the contract and the scope of their expert input. To ensure transparency and allow everybody in the village to participate, a public meeting will be called as soon as possible to discuss the way forward. These are some of the ideas generated so far:
- the project will be run by a not-for-profit company whose decisions will be influenced by a steering committee comprising village representatives of all beneficiaries of the grant.
- the project will have a bank account and seek advice from professional financial advisers. Legal advice and support will be sought from a highly regarded firm of Solicitors based in Manchester, regarding formation of the company and its articles of association.
- everybody on the Casterton electoral roll and businesses within the parish will be invited to participate.
- grants to improve home and business energy utilisation will be offered for a range of conforming and non-conforming properties that will include tenant as well as owner occupiers.
The team who presented the bid are aware of some misgivings you may have: involvement of British Gas as the only present source of funds, the publicity that this project may arouse, the guaranteed effectiveness of the measures that might be implemented to improve energy use and generation. These and any other issues that you feel are important must be considered publicly, and an agreed position adopted by us all, for this project to succeed.
No one single person has been responsible for the stage this project has reached currently. It has been successful through the enthusiasm, diversity and knowledge of its proponents: they include a local businessman with extensive contacts throughout the UK, a battle-hardened and knowledgeable local politician, two ordinary villagers with experience in obtaining grants and managing related projects, current district and county councillors, our Member of Parliament, Lancaster University, and other charitable organisations.
Notices will be placed around the village regarding the time and place of the next public meeting. Please come and contribute to the discussion, for the benefit of this community. Everybody is welcome.
