Housing
The benefits that high quality, accessible green infrastructure brings to local communities have been well proven. Green spaces provide neighbourhoods with a place for social interaction, a space for physical activity, a sanctuary to support mental wellbeing to name but a few.
Oldham council won the local authority category at this year’s Community Energy England awards. The council’s deputy leader, Abdul Jabbar, talks to Environment Journal about the benefits and potential of local energy generation
What does it mean for the council to have won this Community Energy Award?
This is a really fantastic award for the local residents. The council has supported both Saddleworth Community Hydro and Oldham Community Power to deliver successful energy schemes. We’re a cooperative council and one of our aims is to work with the community, initiate projects like these and help people take ownership. In this case, it’s people taking ownership of generating power themselves, with a little bit of help from the council. By working together, we’ve managed to start something which hopefully will benefit the community for many, many years. Oldham Council also leads for the Greater Manchester Combined Authority on community energy and has secured funding from the EU for a project focused on boosting community energy.
