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Schools tempted with £1.7M bait to go green

Katie Hopton
7/11/2006

GO green is the message to Rochdale Council with the offer of a grant of £1.7M in government funding to spend on energy and water efficiency in its schools.

The 'cash carrot' is aimed at encouraging headteachers to cut utility bills by investing in energy-saving initiatives such as lagging pipes, energy efficient lighting, upgrading heating controls and installing renewable energy systems such as wind turbines and solar heating.

Schools across the UK have come under the spotlight because they pump five million tons of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere each year from gas and electricity use.

Another five million tons is released from transport to and from school and the manufacture of school equipment.

The £1.7M earmarked for Rochdale means the authority can invest in ongoing building schemes and spend it on long-planned programmes for the future sooner than hoped.

Yvonne Williams of Rochdale schools service explained: "This money is drawn from our capital funding programme from the government, which we would not usually receive until April.

"This advance funding is a one-off initiative, which dictates a sum that we can draw to invest in energy and water saving technology.

"This is to encourage local authorities to be more energy efficient.

"We could spend it on initiatives such as improvements to double glazing, which is a big contributor to energy efficiency."

She added: "This early advance is very much welcome because it enables us to buy things three months earlier at this year's prices."

Rochdale Council, which received the offer on Monday, has until the end of this month to accept the advance funding.

Ms Williams says it is likely that the offer will be accepted and talks will be held about how the money would be spent.