Energy Secretary Ed Miliband is keen to show Brits their communities will be better off under the government’s clean energy plans – with millions in funding going directly to community projects and services
Energy firms will pay millions of pounds to improve communities where they’re building solar and wind farms, Ed Miliband is set to announce.
The Energy Secretary will this week reveal how locals will directly benefit from living near offshore wind or solar farms – with a cash boost for projects to upgrade football pitches, training programmes and transport links.
It comes as Mr Miliband vowed to the Sunday Mirror that Net Zero policies would make Brits better off.
Clean energy developers will be required by law to pay into a community fund, channelled into projects that can have a real impact – with local families in the area deciding where the money should be spent.
Projects that could be funded through the scheme include new community centres, funding for education bursaries and apprenticeships, grants to small businesses and energy efficiency work for local homes.
Community arts projects and sports and recreation facilities could also receive funding.
The level of payments will range depending on the size of the infrastructure project – from tens of thousands a year for small farms up to millions for larger developments.
“If you live near an offshore wind or solar farm, your local community should benefit from supporting this nationally critical mission,” Mr Miliband told the Sunday Mirror.
“The Prime Minister’s mission to become a clean energy superpower is creating good well-paid jobs in these areas, building the infrastructure we need to get energy bills down for working people.”
Speaking to the Sunday Mirror during a visit to a solar farm in Hull, which entirely powers a local hospital during the summer, saving the NHS up to £200,000 a month, Mr Miliband said the government’s plan isn’t just about fighting climate change – it’s about cutting bills.
“Here’s the way I think about this,” he said. “The public are with if you can combine action to create clean energy with tackling the cost of living crisis – and that is absolutely at the heart of our mission.
“Our mission is about cutting bills for people, cutting costs for people and transitioning to clean energy – not about raising people’s bills.”
READ MORE: Join our Mirror politics WhatsApp group to get the latest updates from Westminster
He added: “We want this to work for people economically. This only works if it works for people economically. That’s our guarantee.”
Mr Miliband said the government’s clean energy mission was about “so much more” than climate change.
“It’s about creating good jobs for people, it’s about lower bills, it’s about energy security,” he said. “It’s about avoiding the absolute disaster of what happened when Russia invaded Ukraine and people’s bills went through the roof.”