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Work to start to make St George's Church green




A last minute fundraising push means work can start on England's first carbon neutral church tomorrow (Thursday)

WORK on England's first carbon neutral church starts tomorrow (Thursday) after the congregation made a last minute push to raise £42,000 to keep the project alive.

St George's Church in Andover Road, Newbury's £250,000 plan to become the first carbon neutral church in the UK was under threat of being shelved when quotes from contractors came in much higher than expected, but the congregation dug deep and raised the extra money within 12 hours.

On Sunday the Rev Paul Cowen told the congregation that the money for the project just wasn't there.

He said: “We thought it was all going to be shelved, because the quotations came in much higher than predicted.

“We were still £50,000 short of the amount we needed and unless we had the solar panels up by the end of February, we stood to lose a significant Government grant, which would have set us back even further.

“I told them on Sunday morning that we'd need to think again, but I think you could say that they told me to think again.

“Within 12 hours, we had a further £42,000 in donations from the congregation.

“It was an amazing response, I didn't even ask for the money.”

The church then managed to secure a further £7,000 in discounts from the contractors which left them within touching distance of their target.

The final go-ahead was then given at an emergency meeting of the parochial church council on Monday.

The first stage of the project will see the church installing 129 solar panels on the roof, which will produce just under 25 kilowatt peak output and will mean that not only will the church be producing enough electricity to cover its own needs, but there will be enough left over to sell back to the grid.

The ceiling will also be insulated to reduce heat loss and the roof strengthened to carry the weight.

About half the money came from the congregation and the rest came from grants from the government and charitable organisations.

Once this stage is completed, the church will still be short of being completely carbon neutral, because it will still rely on gas for its heating.

Mr Cowen said: “We will have to look at innovative ways to heat the church, such as from ground heat, but we will wait until the dust has settled on this part of the project before we make a decision on that.”



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