Merton Green Doctors celebrated their 200th household visit to residents in the Wandle Valley Low Carbon Zone (WVLCZ) last week.
The Wandle Valley Low Carbon Zone (WVLCZ) focuses on energy saving within the Phipps Bridge and Cherry Tree Estate areas. It’s funded and organised through a partnership which includes Merton Council, the Mayor of London, Sustainable Merton and environmental regeneration charity Groundwork London.
The Green Doctor visits, provided by environmental regeneration charity Groundwork London, offer tailored energy saving advice as well as installation of energy saving measures to residents living within the WVLCZ. To date, the Green Doctor energy saving measures adopted by residents in the WVLZ will result in an annual reduction of 37 tonnes in carbon emissions, £8,560 in total money saved on bills and 1,961,346 litres saved in each household.
Merton Council cabinet member for environmental sustainability and regeneration, Councillor Andrew Judge, accompanied Green Doctor Gillian Clegg on her 200th visit since the initiative started in July 2010. Phipps Bridge estate resident, Mr Martin Holloway, had radiator panels installed on the external walls of his house to help reflect heat back into the home, had his front door draft proofed and was given a power down plug for his television.
As part of the free Green Doctor service, Mr Holloway is set to save up to £30 on energy bills a year and will reduce his carbon footprint by 116 kg. These energy-saving measures have made his home more environmentally friendly and cheaper to run.
Councillor Andrew Judge said: “Our goal is to reduce carbon emissions in the Wandle Valley Low Carbon Zone area by a total of 930 tonnes. It’s an ambitious target, but every small reduction in every home makes a difference. The Green Doctors are doing some invaluable work and it’s great to see the residents getting involved and seeing how easy going green can be
Merton’s Low Carbon Zone is there to demonstrate that people can go green by making small changes which will leave the environment and their bank balance better off. I’m calling on more residents in the area to get on board and sign-up for their free Green Doctor visit today.”
Residents living in the Wandle Valley Low Carbon Zone can book a free Green Doctor visit and start saving money on their bills by calling 020 8687 4050 or emailing SWL@groundwork.org.uk
Visit http://www.merton.gov.uk/wvlcz for more information about the Wandle Valley Low Carbon Zone in Merton.
Notes to editors:
Wandle Valley Low Carbon Zone is made up of 1,000 properties, including three schools, six shops and a church.
The Wandle Valley Low Carbon Zone was launched in March 2010. It is funded by Merton Council, the Mayor of London, C-Change, Groundwork London and Sustainable Merton.
The Green Doctor service is provided by Wandle Valley Low Carbon Zone partner and environmental regeneration charity Groundwork London. The visits are free and offer tailored energy saving advice to residents.
In total, all the 10 Low Carbon Zones across the capital will, on average, save over 20% CO2 by 2012. The zones will cover over 13,000 residential properties, around 1,000 shops and businesses, 20 schools as well as a hospital, places of worship and community centres. The Mayor of London has pledged to cut emissions in London by 60% by 2025 and these zones will showcase how this can be achieved using existing and new technologies, helping to establish the capital as a leading low carbon city.
Groundwork London http://www.groundwork.org.uk/london helps people and organisations make changes in order to create better neighbourhoods, to build skills and job prospects, and to live and work in a greener way.
Sustainable Merton is a community led initiative giving local residents, groups, organisations and businesses the opportunity to stimulate practical action to make Merton a more sustainable community.
The Groundwork London Green Doctor service is part funded by C-Change. The European wide C-Change initiative, funded by the European Regional Development Fund through European funding body Interreg IVB, aims to engage with and involve local communities, as well as other stakeholders, in projects which demonstrate how changes to our day-to-day behaviour and open spaces can help our cities cope better with the negative effects of climate change. The programme builds best practice networks and facilitates knowledge sharing between nine European partners and to a wider audience.