Dorset Council has secured additional funding of more than £5m from the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF), which will extend the Council’s existing three-year Low Carbon Dorset programme by a further two years until 2023.

Organisations across the county have been able to access free technical advice and grant funding for energy efficiency and renewable energy measures since the programme launched. 91 grants worth more than £2m have been awarded, while over 100 Dorset based businesses, community groups and publicly funded organisations have been given free advice. The result is a saving of just under 4,000 tonnes of CO2 a year – the equivalent of taking around 800 cars off the road.

Antony Littlechild, Dorset Council’s sustainability team manager, has been leading the bid for additional funding. He said, “Uptake of this support over the past three years has been phenomenal with over 350 applications received. It has been especially encouraging to see the appetite from Dorset businesses to be more environmentally conscious. We are thrilled to be able to extend the support to even more organisations and projects.”

Dorset Council will continue to work in partnership with Dorset AONB to deliver the programme. Together, they hope to reduce Dorset’s emissions by a further 5k tonnes and help fund the installation of another 5MW of renewable energy in Dorset over the next two years.

Dorset Council’s portfolio holder for Highways, Travel and Environment, Councillor Ray Bryan, said, ‘The Low Carbon Dorset programme has been hugely successful over the past three years, and we are over the moon that our bid for funds to secure its extension has been approved. The programme has, and will continue to be, a core component of the council’s response to the climate and ecological emergency. And these additional funds offer an exciting opportunity to support Dorset in its move towards a low-carbon future.”

Organisations interested in seeking support from the programme can apply through the Low Carbon Dorset website.