Communities north of the border are being galvanised by £27.4m community funds.
Towns in Scotland are making use of Scottish money to decarbonise their communities and train construction professionals in greener building methods. The Perthshire town of Comrie is the latest to receive funds to make its community greener.
Its £300,000 grant will go towards a street-by-street home insulation project in partnership with Scottish and Southern Energy. It will also provide training for local tradesmen and architects in eco-design and construction.
Among other measures, the community is also investigating:
- renewable energy schemes for community buildings
- community composting
- a transport plan
- improved footpaths and cycling paths
- local food production and
- woodland planting.
The community bought 90 acres of land from a Cultybraggan Army Camp last year which will provide a place for some of these activities. Benchmarking and measurement are also included in the payment package. The community
Scottish Cabinet Secretary, Robert Lochhead, said the people of Comrie could be “proud." “This project is enormously wide-ranging,” he said. “I would urge communities across Scotland to look at what is happening in Comrie and to think about how they could follow suit.”
The towns of Letham in Perth and Alyth in Strathmore will also undergo mass-insulation.
Scottish green party MSP, Patrick Harvie, said: “Where Comrie leads, we believe the rest of Scotland will follow. Properly insulating our homes is the best way to tackle fuel poverty, improve health and beat climate change all at the same time.”
The Climate Challenge Fund amounts to a total of £27.4m over three years between 2008 and 2011.
