Herefordshire Council is running a village hall energy challenge where four parish councils get the chance to win £5,000 each to spend on energy efficiency measures.

Councillor John Jarvis, Herefordshire Council’s cabinet member for the environment and strategic housing, said: “The aim of the challenge is to raise awareness of the impact individuals have on climate change and the positive impact we can all make towards tackling it.

“The challenge involves parishes encouraging as many residents as possible to calculate their own carbon footprint, using the community carbon calculator on www.myherefordshire.com

“After people have calculated their carbon footprint, they will then be given a number of recommendations which, as well as being beneficial to the environment, may help households make financial savings.

“We want to encourage as many households as possible to be aware of what they can do to reduce the impact their activities have on the environment and I would urge as many parishes as possible to join in.

“Winners will be the parishes who get the highest number of individual carbon footprints and they are divided into four categories based on the size of the parish.

“Each of the winners gets £5,000 which must be spent on improving the energy efficiency of their village hall, installing a renewable energy technology or for communal cycle parking facilities or pool bicycles.

“I would urge as many parishes as possible to take up this challenge because if everyone does their own bit to reduce their carbon emissions, then we can make a huge impact across the county,” he added. 

The challenge, which starts on March 5, is open to all Herefordshire parish councils except Hereford City, Leominster Town, Ross-on-Wye Town, Ledbury Town, Bromyard Town and Kington Town.

Any residents who would like their community to enter the challenge are urged to contact their parish council.