Hub climate change boost

Work to tackle climate change in West Lothian is secure for a further year thanks to £160,000 funding for the region’s hub.

The company that runs West Lothian Climate Action Network won funding from the Scottish Government to help grassroots groups in a wide variety of projects spanning food growing, energy efficiency measures, environmental training and conservation.

WLCAN Hub Ltd will continue to support local groups, including those who benefited from its earlier Eco Fund awards. With the new funding for 2024-25, the Hub will consolidate its work with these and the rest of the network, whose members now stand at 53.

Seventeen community organisations were awarded grants after the Hub launched in January.

These include Easter Breich Wood Community Group, which has trained five volunteers in using scythes. The equipment means they can reduce use of machinery when maintaining path verges and grass areas, allowing them to manage these to promote biodiversity and a greater variety of wildflowers.

The group said the training was hugely enjoyable and inspiring, as well as being an effective and eco-friendly way of maintaining the woodland.

Further benefits were that the scything group brings people together socially.

The total awarded to the 17 groups in the Eco Fund was £49,450 and other projects include paying for a shared garden and waterbutts collaboration, environmental training, starting vegetable gardens and planting trees.

The Hub is planning events to support communities across West Lothian to develop greater awareness of climate change. These will include training in carbon literacy and the team delivered an education session to children from Bankton Primary in Livingston who attended West Lothian College’s Eco Week in March.

Neil Barnes, WLCAN’s senior development worker, said: “We are delighted to have secured the funding for our team to support our network and local climate action to benefit local people and our environment in many different ways.

“The WLCAN Hub team are really looking forward to a packed year ahead. We’ll be working closely with local community groups, businesses, statutory bodies and local residents to help move our region forward to a more sustainable path – one that takes more time to think about and does far more for our future generations.”

To find out about joining WLCAN and for further information please contact info@ wlcan.scot.

We are delighted to have secured the funding for our team to support our network and local climate action Neil Barnes