All Saints’ Church in Leek Wootton will soon have a replacement for its 100-year-old heating system thanks to Warwickshire County Council’s Green Shoots Community Climate Change Fund.
Green Shoots is a £1m fund, allocated from Warwickshire County Council, to support a wide array of small, community-powered initiatives across Warwickshire in addressing the climate change emergency. All Saints’ Church at Leek Wootton has received £10,000 in funding.
The Green Shoots funding will enable the church to replace its highly inefficient, 100-year-old heating system with a more modern and effective alternative. The money will be used towards the following:
- Replacing the cast iron pipework and old electric boiler, which requires long time periods to create heat sufficient heat. The proposal is to fit new energy-efficient infra-red panels, suspended from the main ceiling and aligned with the current lighting as this will be more sympathetic visually. Additionally, new heating panels will be fitted to the vestry, kitchen, toilet and meeting room, and the pew heaters will be upgraded.
The cost of this work is in the region of £25k but the Church is seeking to explore alternative means of funding to make up the difference.
The Church’s commitment to achieving carbon neutrality does not end at the replacement of its antiquated heating system. It is currently in the process of replacing all its lighting with highly energy-efficient LED lighting and has even bolder plans for the future.
In the longer term, All Saints’ Church hopes to balance its energy usage with solar panels on its south-facing roof. Early exploration has indicated that it could accommodate13kW of panelling on the roof which would put it in a position to return renewable energy to the National Grid over the summer months.
The vision is that it may be possible to run small fixed electric heaters with solar energy during the day during the winter months, to help keep the building at a more comfortable level, with the infra-red system providing the extra boost as required on a Sunday. The Church is waiting upon detailed costs on this part of the scheme along with structural surveys on the south roof to assess its feasibility.
Jonathan Kingston, Church Warden at Leek Wootton’s All Saints Church, said: “The award of this grant will allow us to reduce our carbon footprint and hence our impact on the environment. It gives us the opportunity to put in a diverse solution to the problem of satisfactorily heating an old village Church.”
Cllr Heather Timms, Portfolio Holder for Environment, Climate and Culture, said: “We all know that more needs to be done about climate change, and we can all make changes to our lives to reduce our carbon footprint. Maybe you recycle more, choose active travel instead of using the car or buy your electricity from an energy company that provides 100% renewable energy.
“These are all great things to do, but one of the biggest contributors to our carbon footprint is something we often don’t think about as being very polluting. Our homes, our business premises, and our places of worship.
“We are very fortunate to have a variety of very old churches of all shapes and sizes dotted across the Warwickshire landscape in our towns and villages. It is likely many of these churches will have heating systems as antiquated and inefficient as the one that is to be replaced in All Saints’ Church, Leek Wootton.
“I hope this case study can serve as inspiration to other places of worship in a similar position to show what can be done to play their part in making a county that is sustainable now and for future generations.”
Further information about All Saints’ Church, Leek Wootton, can be found here: https://www.leekwoottonchurch.co.uk/
A full list of projects that will receive Green Shoots Community Climate Change funding can be found here: https://www.warwickshire.gov.uk/news/article/2324/green-shoots-will-soon-be-springing-up-across-warwickshire-as-projects-set-to-receive-a-share-of-wcc-s-1-million-community-climate-change-fund-are-announced
For more information about the Fund, visit: www.warwickshire.gov.uk/greenshootsfund
For more information about how Warwickshire is facing the challenges of the climate change emergency, visit: https://www.warwickshireclimateemergency.org.uk/
Get the latest news about how Warwickshire County Council and partners are facing the challenge of the climate emergency and how you can get involved: http://eepurl.com/hrk-zf