Flood prevention focus for resilience grant
SSEN provide funding for support in emergencies
Coupar Angus and Bendochy Community Council is delighted to have received funding from Scottish and Southern Electricity Networks’ (SSEN) Resilient Communities Fund.
The community council, which runs the east Perthshire town’s recently-established resilience group, will receive £1,890 for 300 floodsax bags - an alternative to sandbags.
The SSEN fund was established to support community groups, charities and non-profit making organisations in the company’s distribution network area, offering grants of up to £20,000 to successful applications.
The fund is particularly focused on projects helping vulnerable or isolated people living in SSEN’s network areas to ensure they are supported during significant emergency events.
Wendy McCombes, chair of Coupar Angus and Bendochy Community Council, welcomed the news.
She said: “The community council was really pleased to find out we were eligible to enter the bidding system fro SSE money.
“We decided to apply for funding for 300 floodsax in case there is a repeat of the flooding in George Street and other houses in the area.
“Last time there was severe flooding PKC provided us with 300 sandbags which had to be delivered by lorries and were really heavy to move about.
“The floodsax are lightweight, can be stored in town and can be delivered very easily. They are also biodegradable and can go through the PKC brown bin system or composted at one of the community gardens.
“We are delighted to be awarded almost £2000 from SSE as it will make the town more resilient and less dependent on help from outside in times of emergency.”
Graeme Stewart, head of region for south Caledonia at SSEN, said: “Our Resilient Communities Fund is vital to help our communities better prepare and improve their own resilience plans to respond to whatever mother nature throws our way.
“As a responsible operator, by proactively supporting local resilience projects we can truly make a difference to the communities we serve and this collaborative approach is essential to support our customers during network outages.”
SSEN’s Resilient Communities Fund will re-open for applications this year.
To find out more about the fund, and for future announcements on the opening date of the next round, please visit ssen.co.uk/ Resiliencefund.