Plans to reduce environmental impact while boosting both business and leisure opportunities are gathering pace across North Yorkshire.
North Yorkshire Councillor Greg White said: “We have been ambitious in our pursuit of becoming carbon neutral and are taking a leading role in encouraging others to follow suit. While we recognise that adopting new and innovative measures takes time and money to implement, we are confident people will see the long-term benefits of doing so.”
In Boroughbridge, LTC Healthcare has been helped to obtain a £13,460 Business Sustainability Grant from the Government’s UK Shared Prosperity Fund to help with the installation of solar panels at its premises.
The company has been making condoms and lubricants for more than 25 years, supplying the NHS among others, and was keen to reduce their carbon footprint.
Company spokesman Craig Mawer said: “We’ve had LED lights put in and have an electric car charger in the car park for colleagues to use. We saw that there was an opportunity to apply for a grant from North Yorkshire Council, so that’s what we did. It was all very straightforward and now the solar panels are in place we should start to see the benefits.”
Craig said working with the council allowed the company to move faster than it might otherwise have been able to.
“We did the maths on this and without the grant it would have delayed us by about five years because we just didn’t have the cash flow to be able to do that,” he said. “We’re a small business and to be able to invest that amount was not feasible. The grant enabled us to bring those plans forward and get it done now.”
Meanwhile the council is currently installing solar PV panels and battery storage units at 21 business units at Pickering Park and Westgate Carr Road industrial estate in Pickering, as well as at the nearby Sheriff Hutton industrial estate.
The venture has been made possible thanks to a grant of more than £230,000 from York and North Yorkshire Combined Authority’s Net Zero Fund. The fund, allocated by the UK Government following devolution, is currently enabling decarbonisation projects throughout the region as York and North Yorkshire aims to achieve net-zero by 2034.
Alongside carbon reduction, the scheme aims to create a pipeline of net zero projects that will drive economic growth, create jobs, reduce energy costs for businesses and realise further investment for the region.
A further £124,000 of funds have been allocated to the Pickering and Sheriff Hutton projects.
Working in conjunction with our multi-disciplinary building design consultancy, Align Property Partners, the energy efficient technologies were installed at the locations after officers identified a gap in the local market.
There are currently no business units in Ryedale with green energy generation, so the introduction of solar PV and battery storage will not only boost local energy security but offer competitive and sustainable business space to support local economic growth.“In the case of Pickering Park, the technology enhances the already energy efficient units and cuts bills further for local businesses, but also serves as an example to other industrial premises looking for more sustainable sources of energy.”
