http://decc.gov.uk/en/content/cms/news/pn015/pn015.aspx

England
Hook Norton, near Banbury, Oxfordshire:
The 2500-strong community has been working on reducing its carbon footprint for a number of years. It will spend the money on installing a heat recovery system, solar panels, two community electric pool cars and a ground source heat pump at the local primary school (Hook Norton Church of England Primary School); provide interest free loans for a whole-house retro-fit of six homes; on top of this, it will insulate 40 homes and install solar thermal panels on a further 20; put a bio-diesel tank in the local brewery (Hook Norton Brewery) to supply bio-diesel fuel for the vehicles of 50 households. All these activities will provide income back in to a rolling low carbon fund so that the community can continue to take action for the next 10 years.

Ashton Hayes, near Chester, Cheshire:
Since 2005, Ashton Hayes has been working to become England’s first carbon neutral community and has already cut average household emissions of the 370 homes by 23% since May 2006. It will spend the money on a various renewable generation technologies which will power part of the community. This includes a renewable energy CHP plant and solar panel focused on the school. This will link with measures to encourage energy efficiency via real time displays and demand side management.

Easterside in Middlesbrough:
A mixed tenure estate of 3250 people, is among the top 20% of disadvantaged areas in England. The LCCC funded Eco-Easterside project will save residents money on household bills by reducing energy use. Two wind turbines will be installed in the grounds of Easterside and St Thomas More primary schools, which will in turn generate income for the community from the government’s clean energy cashback scheme. 600 homes will be fitted with energy monitors, and householders will be helped to make sure their homes have adequate insulation. Renewable energy systems – solar hot water and air-source heat pumps – will be fitted to 20 homes. Residents will also be encouraged to reduce carbon emissions by using sustainable modes of transport and growing more of their own food.

Halton, near Lancaster:
Halton is looking to install a hydro turbine into the River Lune, and three solar roofs; and incorporate carbon saving measures in the renovation of Halton Mill, which will provide office and workshop space for local businesses. The profits, generated from the Government’s clean energy cashback scheme, and from rents, will be ploughed back into further carbon reduction projects such as Halton Energy Network which will help households reduce their domestic carbon emissions.

Exmoor National Park in Somerset and Devon:
The LCCC funding will be used to help fund renewable energy projects such as wood pellet heating and solar installations in six communities that have been participating in community sustainable energy planning. One of those communities (Lynton and Lynmouth) is planning to install a community owned hydropower turbine that will generate an income for the community and the fund will help in raising awareness of the scheme amongst potential investors.

Whitehill-Bordon in East Hampshire:
Aims to build on it’s Eco town status by making the money available for people in the form of loans. Residents who take advantage of this will be able to install energy efficiency measures and renewable technologies, to save energy and save money.

Ladock and Grampound Road in mid-Cornwall:
Plan to upgrade homes, schools, community halls and businesses with a combination of energy efficiency measures and microgeneration technology. They will monitor their progress through smart meters to assess the impacts of behaviour change and renewable energy technologies among project participants and the wider community. Any income from clean energy will be fed back into a community fund for further low carbon investment. The project will also see the plantation of a nut grove carbon sequestration project and the installation of an electric vehicle charging point.

Northern Ireland
Ballymena:
Intends to build a district heating network based on deep geothermal, biomass and residual heat technologies. This will benefit public buildings, social housing as well as private residences and will reduce fossil fuel use and fuel poverty.

Camphill Community Glencraig:
Plans to install a biomass district heating system using locally sourced wood. This will help to reduce bills and dependence on fossil fuels.

Wales
Cwmclydach, nr Pontypridd, South Wales:
Blaenclydach is a former mining village and is one of the most deprived areas in Wales. The money from LCCC will help pay for two small hydro turbines in the nearby Cambrian Country Park which will power two community buildings and, under the government’s Clean Energy Cashback scheme, will generate an income for the community.

Awel Aman Tawe Community Wind Farm in Upper Amman and Swansea Valley, South Wales:
Fuel poverty is a major concern for the 13,500 people living in the 12 villages spread across Neath Port Talbot, Carmarthenshire and Powys. Planning consent has been secured to put two wind turbines with a capacity of 4MW on the Mynydd y Gwrhyd mountain, so the LCCC money will help towards the costs. This will generate enough electricity to supply the annual needs of about 2000 homes and generate an income for the community as a whole through the Government’s clean energy cashback scheme. The community also has plans to open a zero carbon cafe, allotments and a biodiesel pump in the headquarters car park which can be used by members of the public.

Glogue, Hermon and Llanfyrnach, nr Preselli Hills, Pembrokeshire:
The LCCC money will be used to fund two wind turbines which are calculated to generate around £300,000 per year to be ploughed back into further energy saving projects.

Phase 1 winners announced
Communities in Norfolk, Isle of Wight, London, Nottinghamshire, Pembrokeshire, Cheshire, Northumberland, Yorkshire, Oxfordshire and Devon are the first of twenty communities to benefit from a £10million fund as part of the Low Carbon Communities Challenge.

The winning phase 1 applicants are:

1. West Oxford Community Renewables, Oxford
To pilot a community renewables building society’ that will support the development of an integrated approach to low carbon living in West Oxford. The funding will be used by the West Oxford Community Renewables Industrial and Provident Society to develop a £1.6m pipeline of renewable energy projects. The income from these will be donated to the Low Carbon West Oxford charity to develop low carbon projects with the aim of achieving an 80% reduction in emissions in West Oxford by 2050.

2. Ellen MacArthur Foundation ,Chale Green, Isle of Wight
An integrated approach to reducing carbon and bringing an entire rural off grid community out of fuel poverty. Additionality is provided by the social landlord providing additional funding to ensure the properties are upgraded to Decent Homes + and Ellen MacArthur Foundation supporting the project management and behaviour change elements of the project. The entire village will benefit from the social improvements and a number of PV installations throughout the estate will feed a community managed funding initiative to ensure the project continues to support the village improvements for years to come.

3. Norfolk CC, Reepham, Norfolk
LCCC funding will allow Reepham to reduce its CO2 by 127 tonnes per year by using a community fund to deliver a comprehensive range of projects which target; energy efficient renovation, renewables, transport, behavioural change & food initiatives. The Norfolk County Council scheme is replicable and is well supported by partner organisations, committed community leaders and the wider community.

4. Lammas Low Impact Initiatives Ltd, Pembrokeshire, Wales
The outcome would be a replicable, integrated rural sustainable development model. The focus of the application is a community hub building which will become a hub for the village and a centre for education on low impact living for the wider world. The project will be delivered using a combination of green technologies, permaculture cultivation methods and natural building techniques.

5. Transition Town Totnes, Devon
The proposal will take the form of ‘Transition Streets’, whereby 12 streets across Totnes, chosen so as to represent the demographics and housing stock of Totnes, undertake a programme of behaviour change called ‘Transition Together’. Participants are then eligible to apply for subsidised retrofits and then to a rolling fund for low interest loans for domestic renewables, harnessing feed in tariffs to enable the repayment of the loans.

6. The Meadows Partnership, Nottingham
The Meadows Ozone Energy Services is a company formed by local people in the Meadows and has aspirations to change a inner city area with multiple deprivation levels to become a exemplar to other similar inner city communities. The Meadows has a housing stock of approx 4000 houses with a mixture of housing types including over 1000 Victorian terraced houses that are hard to insulate. The project seeks to demonstrate that low carbon savings can help reduce fuel poverty.

7. Kirklees Council, Huddersfield, Yorkshire
Greening the Gap will involve PV application to three main community centres and 30 domestic houses. This project presents a credible carbon reduction story in a deprived, ethnically diverse area, with a team that have been very successfully in communicating best practice widely.

8. Haringey Council and the Muswell Hill Low Carbon Zone, North London
An integrated application involving a diverse range of interventions and partner organisations. Muswell Hill sustainability group provides strong community leadership with Haringey Council providing support and resources. The application includes PV installations on four schools to be used as a learning tool and to encourage behaviour change, a mobile sustainable learning facility, cycle parking and a community renewable energy company will gain funding to generate income for carbon reduction measures in the community. Much action is already taking place within the Low Carbon Zone.

9. Berwick Core Ltd, Berwick upon Tweed
In conjunction with the Berwick Housing Trust, the funding would be spent on a retro-fit renewable programme which will see the installation of photovoltaic panels installed in 50 houses. The revenues due to the electricity generated would feed into a community fund that would be reinvested for further environmental and social programmes. The remaining £50k would go into the Low Carbon Berwick Programme which will see the implementation of a local action plan including behavioural change initiatives for domestic householders and wider environmental initiatives through Berwick that would be aided via a volunteer work force. It is the ultimate aim of the Low Carbon Programme to establish a Berwick Transition Town.

10. Sustainable Blacon, Chester
Blacon is a suburb of North West Chester adjoining the English/Welsh border. Blacon will champion energy efficiency and refurbish two local houses, so people can see what they can do to cut their bills and have access to advice and practical support for its 16,000 residents. They will also be bringing together local people from across the community installing some of the latest technology in their homes and enable local people to help one another to cut bills and spread good practice through their social networks.

Here are two others that I have found online:

The Meadows in Nottingham for the installation of solar panels on 55 houses, three primary schools and at a community garden. Meadows Ozone Energy Services Ltd (MOZES), in partnership with British Gas, will receive the grant.
http://www.thisisnottingham.co.uk/homenews/Meadows-wins-163-500-000-grant-solar-panels/article-1628963-detail/article.html

The Lammas project involving nine families living in eco smallholdings in the Preseli Hills, Pembrokeshire will receive £350,000 from the Government to pay for a “community hub” building. The building will launch its low-impact housing initiative and pioneering farming and land-use technologies, as well as promoting carbon-positive food and fuel.
http://www.walesonline.co.uk/news/wales-news/2009/12/21/low-carbon-community-wins-350-000-grant-for-building-91466-25436056/

Transition Chepstow is working with Monmouthshire County Council and South East Wales Energy Advice Centre in a Phase 2 bid, so we’ll be keeping everything crossed through January!