Cambridgeshire County Council has now submitted its planning application for a community heating scheme for the East Cambridgeshire village of Swaffham Prior.

The application (20/01016/CCA) is for ‘Creation of an Energy Centre to serve the village of Swaffham Prior via a heat supply network. Centre will include a small visitors, education and exhibition space within an existing agricultural building. Erection of solar photovoltaic PV Panels, a borehole ground source heat collector with associated pumps and machinery, landscaping and associated works.’

Details of the project can be found here https://heatingswaffhamprior.co.uk/

This is a hugely exciting project which hopes to take the village off oil and onto a more sustainable energy supply, and county council officers and the village community have put in a huge amount of work to bring it to this stage.

There’s still a long way to go to make this a reality, but as a member of the County Council’s Environment & Sustainability Committee (and its Green Projects Investment Internal Advisory Group) I’ll be taking a close interest and wishing the scheme well.