Lancaster City Council has been awarded up to £150,000 to find innovative solutions to reduce the carbon footprint of its buildings.

The council has pledged to reduce its direct CO2 emissions to net zero by 2030.

The council received the funding from the Public Sector Low Carbon Skills Fund, which provides grants to help develop heat decarbonisation plans.

The money will be used to commission a review of all the council’s key buildings and develop plans which will reduce their dependency on fossil fuels.

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It comes on the back of a project at Salt Ayre Leisure Centre, which is seeing the installation of air source heat pumps and a solar farm to eliminate onsite CO2 emissions.

This will see the leisure centre becoming one of the first such facilities in the UK to be net carbon zero.

Councillor Kevin Frea, deputy leader and cabinet member with responsibility for climate action, said: "Climate change is the most serious threat we face and bold action is needed if we are to meet our own target of being net zero carbon by 2030.

"We're making great strides towards that goal with projects such as the decarbonisation of Salt Ayre Leisure Centre.

"The challenge is how we tackle our other buildings, many of which are listed and will require creative and innovative solutions."