Winners for Sustainable Routes grants

24th November 2011

How did your area do?
We all know that businesses have gained by being involved with the scheme – but some areas did better than others.

The chart above shows how the grants to the end of October 2011 were distributed.  The grants were available only to the Thames Valley at first, so they would do better than other counties, but Surrey, Kent, Hampshire and Sussex still managed to get over 25% of all grants provided.

Since the scheme started, 1084 Travel Efficiency plans have been generated from the Sustainable Routes website in response to businesses wanting to save CO₂ and save money.

From these travel efficiency plans, we have received over 400 applications for grants and to date over 330 of these have been approved as eligible to receive a grant.

What has this meant to companies?
We have paid out over £240,000 to 310 companies.  133 companies received the maximum £1,000 grant.  The smallest grant was for just over £100 – but it still made a big difference to this company!

Companies have been quick to see that the grant could make a large difference to the way they do business, and they have spent over £400,000 of their own money in financing schemes to help them save CO₂.

So have we saved the planet yet?
Not quite. But of the 62 companies who had their grants over 6 months ago, savings have been achieved of over 450,000 miles and CO₂ emissions have been reduced by nearly 900 tonnes.

Of the same 62 companies, 43 say they have made 10% savings on their CO₂ emissions and 10 companies have increased their turnover by 5%. No mean feat in this harsh economic climate!

For those companies who had their grant recently, please remember we will be contacting you after 6 months to see what savings you too have been able to make.

How about safeguarding jobs?
We all know how tricky it is to protect jobs and 27 companies have maintained staffing levels. Unfortunately, 4 companies have lost staff – but the good news is that 7 companies have managed to create new jobs!  We are in contact with those successful companies to get verification of the 14 new jobs they have created between them.

How can you continue to make savings?
Not only is there information on the Sustainable Routes blog, but we also have an active LinkedIn Group  which we are trying to get everyone who has been involved in Sustainable Routes signed up to.

There are good discussions within the group and companies are now providing energy-saving tips to each other. Have you signed up yet?  It’s easy to register and means that we will be able to keep in touch with all the businesses that have had grants.  If we hear about other sustainable grant schemes we will be able to let you know quickly and easily about the ones we become aware of. We are hoping that this group will grow to about 100 people exchanging useful sustainability tips.