New funding pot to fire up green recovery
A £2 MILLION funding pot is being proposed by Derbyshire County Council to help support green economic recovery across the county.
Cabinet members are set to consider proposals for a grant scheme to help local businesses to develop and invest in green energy and carbon reduction schemes at a meeting tomorrow, as part of the Government’s drive for a green industrial revolution.
Under the proposals – which have been drawn-up in collaboration with the University of Derby as part of the council’s Covid-19 Economic Strategy and climate change commitments – small and medium sized businesses with up to 250 staff and microbusiness with up to 10 staff would be eligible to apply for grants designed to kick-start the county’s carbon reduction and alternative energy agenda and boost local businesses in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic.
Councillor Tony King, cabinet member for Clean Growth and Regeneration, said: “The pandemic has made us all take a step back and do things differently. This is a prime opportunity to build back better and shrink our carbon footprint with a scheme that will power the economy.
“If the plans are approved, this funding will give businesses a much-needed leg up to invest in alternative energy, clean fuel and carbon reduction projects setting an example for others to follow. It will open up more opportunity to develop low-carbon community energy schemes to heat and power homes, businesses and public buildings across the county.
“And it will offer local people the chance to equip themselves with the skills needed to gain employment in an emerging and fast-growing sector – which in turn would mean we had the skills available in Derbyshire to roll out and utilise green technology and alternative energy more widely in the future.”
REGARDING last week’s comments from Stephen Liverman, I feel they were blinkered, promoting misguided emotion on the subject of the Black’s Head.
Such as a blind faith in a misappropriated petition, the description of grotesque in reference to the effigy of the black’s head, the ridicule of historians’ efforts to find reason in this matter, a reference to a ‘put it back brigade’ and mention to the council of ‘potential odium.’
These remarks are emotive and only serve to entrench views on a very delicate and contentious issue. Supporters of this rhetoric have made their minds up about what is right but have no right to categorically pre-judge.
Consider just two alarming misconceptions being vented by this so called anti-racial campaign. First and foremost they describe the black’s head as a ‘grotesque caricature.’ It is not a caricature, never mind grotesque. It is an effigy (just as the Queen’s head is on our coins) it has no accentuated details, being maybe 200 years old its naivety must be taken into consideration. Secondly, my point about the petition being misappropriated. Through the website change.org, it targets a massive group who are not even connected to this locality. It targets a specific age group and the wider criteria of worldwide racism – not the real issue of Ashbourne, its history and its people. It is therefore loaded.
May I again suggest caution and serious in-depth, unbiased consideration of this very important matter – please keep hyped emotion out of it.
K Haywood Ashbourne