"This grant will help to move the council towards its net zero objective and ease the running costs of Witham Leisure Centre, while maintaining the same high level of provision for its users."
Braintree District Council has succeeded in a bid for grant funding from Sports England’s Capital Swimming Pools Support Fund in the amount of £375,350, to invest in LED lighting and solar array installation at Witham Leisure Centre.
The solar panels will be fitted to a canopy in the car park and to the roof of the leisure centre. Lighting will be converted to LED throughout the building, including in changing rooms, locker rooms, showers and toilets, gym, workout rooms and dance studios, two squash courts, staircases and all corridors.
Leisure centres require high energy usage and recent price rises have led to increased running costs. By switching to LED lighting, the leisure centre operator, Fusion, could see a reduction in its energy bills for the site by as much as £35,000 per year. Switching to LEDs is also better for the environment and will save the council 25.5 tonnes of CO2 emissions per year.
The solar array canopy will cover the central and top row area of the car park, so that there will be no loss of car parking space for leisure centre users. The infrastructure for the canopy will be funded by the council, which has allocated money from its climate change reserve.
The combined electricity offset from the two arrays could be as high as £56,000 per year, with a carbon reduction that will equate to 25 tonnes per year.
Councillor Diana Garrod, Lead Member for Climate Change and Sustainability, and Councillor Billy Taylor, Lead Member for Leisure Services and Environmental Health, said: “This grant will help to move the council towards its net zero objective and ease the running costs of Witham Leisure Centre, while maintaining the same high level of provision for its users. By investing in renewable energy, we hope also to encourage local businesses and organisations to embrace sustainable ways of working.
“Our leisure centres provide an invaluable service to residents and we are pleased to have played a role in delivering this support.”