Two community projects in a Darlington village have been awarded grants totalling £14,000 from the benefits fund linked to OnPath Energy’s Lambs Hill Wind Farm.
The Bishopton Village Hall Association and Bishopton Parish Council have each been awarded a grant of £7,000, which has taken the total amount given to village projects and events over the past eight years past the £100,000 mark.
The Village Hall Association has used its grant to support its long-term refurbishment plans for the popular, wooden-framed building which are designed to improve energy efficiency and ensure its long-term sustainability.
The latest stage of the project includes providing new and additional insulation and the replacement of kitchen units and equipment in order to help enhance the internal environment and upgrade the facilities available to users.
The kitchen grant is the latest in a series made to the Association from the Lambs Hill fund, with grants totalling more than £30,000 funding a wide range of improvements to the building’s front elevation, the replacement of its heating system and the installation of a new energy efficient lighting system.
Bishopton Parish Council has installed two new lifesaving defibrillators in the village, including one at its western end which complements an existing machine in its eastern end that was paid for through a previous Lambs Hill fund grant and which means that residents are now no more than 300m from a defibrillator if they need one.
The second defibrillator has been installed at Bishopton Crossing, a busy road junction to the west of the village that is used by thousands of motorists every day, but which didn’t have any facility that could save lives in a heart emergency.
The Parish Council has also received a number of previous grants from the Lambs Hill fund, with traffic monitoring equipment, planters and benches on the village green, playground equipment and the village’s Christmas tree and lights all receiving support since the wind farm began generating green electricity in 2017.
Other local funding recipients include the Bishopton Playground Association and Bishopton Redmarshall CE Primary School, which last year used a £2,964 grant to install a 10m x 4m ‘living classroom’ made of willow in its grounds which is now being used during lessons on a range of environmental topics.
Tom Chaplin, partnership and community manager at OnPath Energy, adds: “The community benefits funds linked to all our wind farms are continuing to build long-term community value in the places in which they’re located and it’s brilliant to see how this objective has been realised in Bishopton with the help of some very dedicated local people.
“The Bishopton Village Hall Association has taken a far-sighted approach to safeguarding the sustainability of their invaluable community venue and has helped to improve what it offers to local people in lots of different ways.
“Bishopton Parish Council has acted on a growing need among both local residents and people passing through the area for urgent access to medical equipment which could save lives in an emergency that might otherwise be lost.
“We’re very pleased to be backing these latest Bishopton projects and thrilled to see the total value of our support for the village going past the £100,000 mark.”
Eligibility for the Lambs Hill Wind Farm community benefits fund is normally restricted to projects and activities within Stillington & Whitton, Bishopton, Foxton, Great Stainton, Little Stainton, Grindon and Bishopton Crossing, but projects outside these areas may also be eligible if they can be shown to benefit people living within them.
Environmental and community projects which are interested in applying to its community fund should first contact the fund manager via apply@onpathcommunityfund.co.uk or on 0191 378 6342 to confirm that their group or project is eligible.