A Shipley social enterprise for people with learning difficulties receives charity funding

Northcliffe Nurseries receives grant funding

Northcliffe Environmental Enterprises Team (N.E.E.T) has received a significant boost in funding to enhance energy resilience during critical times and improve everyday energy efficiency.

N.E.E.T, a remarkable social enterprise based at Northcliffe Nurseries in Shipley, is dedicated to supporting people with learning disabilities. This organisation is a beacon of hope and growth for the local community. N.E.E.T doesn't just cultivate plants; it nurtures and empowers individuals who might otherwise be overlooked, helping them reach their full potential.

The core mission of N.E.E.T is to advance education and promote the growth and welfare of people with learning disabilities, enabling them to lead inclusive and fulfilling lives. During a recent visit, it was inspiring to witness their hands-on approach to education in horticulture, cookery, and woodwork within a working environment. It's heartening to see N.E.E.T partner with a vendor that shares these values, allowing the community to actively participate in installing solar panels. This collaboration provides invaluable opportunities for developing physical, intellectual, emotional, and social skills. The vendor's generous donation of batteries to connect to the solar panels, funded by the Foundation, means that more of the Foundation's resources can be allocated to installing panels across a greater number of outbuildings.

N.E.E.T has been awarded £20,000 for solar panels and battery storage, ensuring that the nursery where the social enterprise operates can provide resilience and support to those that use the nursey and can also support local residents of Shipley, West Yorkshire, during power interruptions.

During the visit, it was evident that N.E.E.T embodies sustainability in every aspect, from growing their own produce to repurposing goods. Now, with a renewable energy source, their electricity will be both sustainable and cost-efficient, providing resilience against power cuts. The chosen technology ensures that vital services can continue to develop for the local community during power interruptions. Additionally, the anticipated cost savings will allow funds to be reinvested into further services offered to the community.

Suzanne Longley, Business Manager said "At N.E.E.T we are extremely grateful to Northern Powergrid Foundation for the opportunity to develop our site with a renewable energy source, incorporating our sustainability goals. The support from Northern Powergrid Foundation through the application process and afterwards has been excellent and their commitment to understanding and engaging with communities facing real energy challenges is genuine and makes a difference."

The Northern Powergrid Foundation, the charitable arm of Northern Powergrid, the company responsible for the electricity distribution network that powers the lives of 8 million people in the North East, Yorkshire and northern Lincolnshire, is passionate about being able to support innovative organisations and community projects addressing energy-related challenges including fuel poverty, energy resilience and the net zero transition.

Over the course of its lifetime, Northern Powergrid Foundation has empowered over 70 organisations and community projects working to overcome energy-related challenges such as resilience, fuel poverty innovation and net zero networks. These include a wide range of initiatives, from funding programmes producing free energy efficiency measures to fuel poor households, to installing solar panels and battery storage at community hubs to improve resilience and cost efficiency. With severe weather, the cost-of-living crisis increasing the number of households in fuel poverty, and the net zero transition transforming the energy system, communities are adapting to a changing energy landscape.

David Wilkin, Northern Powergrid Foundation Trusteesaid: "Northern Powergrid Foundation is proud to support N.E.E.T in its bid to improve the resilience and to provide stability to a community group that really needs it. For the Foundation, supporting this project was more than just resilience. It was about empowering a community that can be left in the dark, not always from a power cut sense, but from a sense that their needs have not been met or that they have been left to fend for themselves. With so many challenges facing communities across our diverse region, the Foundation is looking forward to empowering communities even more so than ever".

More about Northern Powergrid Foundation

Northern Powergrid Foundation has awarded funds to communities across the North East, Yorkshire and northern Lincolnshire served by Northern Powergrid. The Foundation's mission, complementing Northern Powergrid's ambition to be a force for good in the communities it serves, is to support communities most affected by changes in the economy, environment, and society because of the shifting energy landscape. This will be achieved by supporting projects and empowering communities focused on helping to tackle energy resilience during emergency events, vulnerability, fuel poverty, levelling the rural divide, innovation, social support, and community collaboration. The Foundation will work with community partners to identify the best ways to create a positive and enduring impact for communities located within Northern Powergrid's region. The Foundation is proud to have funded over 70 projects totalling approximately £1m across all the charity's priorities located within Northern Powergrid's regions. Project supported have largely been for the creation of, or the expansion of community hubs with energy resilience pieces of kit such as: generators, solar panels and heat pumps.

How to apply for future funding

Following successful grant rounds across its community resilience funding pillar, Northern Powergrid Foundation is looking to further support community resilience project and also fuel poverty innovation and net zero networks projects this year and into future years.

The Foundation encourages organisations who are addressing these specific issues across the North East, Yorkshire and northern Lincolnshire to visit its website to learn more about eligibility and grants available ahead of the next funding window in late 2024.Community groups interested in finding out more about the Foundation should visit www.northernpowergridfoundation.comto find out more.

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