Proposals for Renewable Energy Supply at Blencathra Centre

Lake District National Park Authority Agenda Item: 10
Authority: 17 December 2010 Annex 3 Page 1
ANNEX 3:
THE RURAL CARBON CHALLENGE FUND
What is the Rural Carbon
Challenge Fund?
Who is it delivered by?
In March 2010 the Rural Carbon Challenge
Fund (RCCF) opened its doors to applications.
It is a £4 million programme which will help
rural communities make their renewable
energy projects become a reality. These
projects will demonstrate to other aspiring
communities what can be done at a local level,
highlighting that renewable energy can create
jobs, encourage training and information
sharing and reduce reliance on fossil fuels
such as coal, oil and gas.
The RCCF was open to organisations across
the North West of England, in particular aimed
at small businesses (microenterprises), social
enterprises, cooperatives, charities and
community groups, with grants between
£200,000 and £500,000 available.
The RCCF is being delivered in
partnership by Envirolink Northwest and
the Energy Saving Trust on behalf of
the Northwest Regional Development
Agency (NWDA).
How did organisations find out about
the Fund?
Even before the fund officially opened
towards the end of March, enquiries
were regularly being made, asking for
more information and to hear about the
support on offer.
To ensure the target audience had been
reached, the RCCF team commissioned
a media marketing campaign that
identified and approached media with a
strong rural reach. A second phase was
subsequently undertaken to ensure that
a spread of applications were received
from across the North West.
RCCF stages were as follows:
Activity Date
• June 2010 - Expressions of interest submitted
• June 2010 - Expressions of interest scored and a selection of projects asked to
submit a full application form
• August 2010 - Full application form submitted
• September 2010 - Decision made on who will be awarded the grants
• December 2010 - Projects commence
• Projects fully operational March 2013
For more information see: www.envirolinknorthwest.co.uk
The full bid document submitted by the FSC is available on request.