A WARWICKSHIRE hospice charity will be able to adopt more environmentally-friendly technology thanks to the Warwickshire County Council (WCC) Green Shoots Community Climate Change Fund.
Green Shoots is a £1million fund, allocated from WCC to help small, community-powered initiatives across Warwickshire address climate change.
The Green Shoots allocation of £4,700 will enable Myton Hospice to install two electric vehicle car charging points at the Warwick Myton Hospice site, and upgrade to energy efficient, LED lighting at the Wood Street charity shop in Stratford.
The Myton Hospice was recently successful in a bid to secure three new all-electric vehicles for use by their Myton at Home staff, who provide end-of-life care to patients in their own homes, as well as an adapted community transport vehicle.
The Green Shoots funded EV charging points will serve these new vehicles and also be available for staff and local community use.
There will be a small charge for staff and visitors to the Hospice site in Warwick to use the EV charging point and a slightly increased charge if it is used by members of the community.
These charges will be used to cover the costs of the charity charging its own vehicles and provide a potential income stream for the charity, enabling it to continue its work providing palliative and end-of-life care.
Use by local residents will be restricted to overnight and non-peak times, but with plans to increase the number of charging points, they will be able to assess and adjust capacity for wider community use.
At the Stratford charity shop, a recent internal inspection found the existing lighting was not energy efficient, produced too much heat, and was insufficient for the size of the shop. The new efficient LED technology will help the charity increase lighting levels while reducing its carbon footprint.
Anna-Marie Varnham, Trusts Officer at The Myton Hospices, said: “We are delighted to have been awarded £4,700 from the Warwickshire County Council Green Shoots Community Climate Change Fund and would like to say a huge thank you to the council.
“This money will help us with our commitment to continuously improve the environmental performance of our buildings, equipment and processes, and the electric vehicle charging points will also provide a valuable service for the local community.”
WCC environment and climate spokeswoman Coun Heather Timms said: “If we are to successfully face the challenges of the climate emergency and our planet’s rapidly changing climate, this cannot be done by governments, local or national, alone.
“The solutions must come from everyone – private individuals, businesses, the third and health sectors looking at what they currently do and asking: ‘how can we do this in a better, more environmentally-conscious way that reduces our impact on the planet and its climate.’ At its core, this is what the Green Shoots Fund is about, helping Warwickshire’s Community and Voluntary Sectors to find the answers that work for them to this question.
“Although the money provided to The Myton Hospices is one of the smaller grants within the scheme, the environmental return on that investment is huge. We know one of the biggest barriers to electric vehicle ownership is a perceived, and often actual, lack of charging infrastructure.
“This is something that we, as a council, have been investing in and will be spending much more on over the coming years, so it’s always heartening when other organisations step forward and make a commitment to doing their bit to improving the provision of electric vehicle charging points, allowing us to move a step closer to a best Warwickshire that is sustainable now and for future generations.”
Visit https://www.mytonhospice.org for more information about The Myton Hospices.
Visit www.warwickshire.gov.uk/greenshootsfund for more information about the Green Shoots Community Climate Change Fund.
