Earlier this year, the Government published a new National Bus Strategy which sets out a framework for how bus services can recover from the Covid-19 pandemic, with a vision for future improvements to bus provision.

To meet this challenge, Oxfordshire County Council is collecting views of the general public and from local Stakeholders to create a Bus Service Improvement Plan. This will involve developing bold plans for improving Oxfordshire’s bus services and encouraging more people to use them.  Government has pledged £3 billion in funding across the country to help deliver these plans, and Oxfordshire is aiming to secure as much as it can of that funding.

You can offer feedback here: https://letstalk.oxfordshire.gov.uk/oxfordshire-bus-improvement-plan-2021.  The Council would welcome any personal views through the General Public survey, and very much welcome any publicity of this survey, for example on local websites or newsletters.

In addition, the County Council is also asking all Oxfordshire Towns and Parishes to provide a single overall response for their Council.  Please get in touch with your Town or Parish clerk (or equivalent) to work with them on providing the response for your Council and send your responses to: [email protected]

The closing date for responses for both the Town / Parish and the General Public engagement is Monday 13^th September.

In July 2021 the Low Carbon Hub gave a presentation at the CFO Community Halls Networking meeting on Zoom on Solar panels and other energy solutions for halls.

The presenters were James Ochiltree, Project Manager for the Low Carbon Hub and contract manager for Energy Solutions Oxfordshire, and Alison Grunewald, Business Relationships Manager for the Low Carbon Hub and CEO of Energy Solutions Oxfordshire.

The focus was how the Low Carbon Hub provide low carbon solutions by supporting community buildings to provide alternative power solutions, ‘power down’, and use less energy.  Examples were given of local halls who have had solar panels installed, including Kirtlington, Watchfield, Wolvercote and Eynsham, as well as Eynsham Church.

We heard details of how members of the Low Carbon Hub can help fund projects in their communities – for instance, Sustainable Kirtlington are members of the Hub and were able to apply for funding for the storage batteries needed to go with the solar panels at Kirtlington Village Hall.

If you want to contact James Ochiltree about any technical subjects that came up in this presentation, email [email protected] or contact [email protected]. For questions about funding contact Alison: [email protected].

All community halls can have a free energy audit through the Low Carbon Hub, funded by Westmill Solar. These audits provide halls with a list of what is possible for their building in terms of using less energy. If you would like an energy audit for your hall (and you have not had one through the TOE2 scheme of a few years ago), please contact Saskya Huggins: [email protected]

In addition, OxFutures has EU funding (until March 2023) for free energy audits and other funding – however, the programme only supports SMEs such as charitable trusts. If you are an SME and are interested in the ‘OxFutures’ energy audit and funding for your project, contact Alison (email above).

Energy Solutions Oxfordshire can work with halls on their projects and help assess them for viability – they work with 23 approved contractors – but your project needs to be a large one (around £40,000 or above). They also work with loan finance companies. If your hall committee would like help from Energy Solutions Oxfordshire, please contact Richard Dorey [email protected].

Action with Communities in Rural England also offer loans for work of this kind for halls.  For more information email Tessa Hall.