Dorset Council wins £19M to help go greener

Government funding of £19million has been won by Dorset Council to help the authority reduce its carbon footprint.

The amounts were announced by Climate brief holder Cllr Ray Bryan at this week’s Cabinet meeting.

He said he had few details at the moment but would be giving more information when it became available.

The funding, he said, included £18.7million, to pay for work which would help the council achieve its aim of reducing its carbon footprint, and £298,000 from the low carbon skills fund which would also help the council towards its zero carbon objective by 2040.

Cllr Bryan has previously said that the council would need to gain at least £30m in grant funding if it was to meet its climate targets.

He said that as soon as lockdown was relaxed he would meet with Ministers in London to ask for further funding for the county.

Cllr Bryan also revealed that around 1,700 people had taken part in the council’s climate and ecological emergency consultation which closes this week.

“Our communications team has done a fantastic job in keeping this to the forefront of people’s minds,” he said.

Portland councillor congratulated the council on the award of the grant funding which he described as “fantastic news.”