Council given £3.8m to reduce carbon footprint

The Corby International Pool is one of the sites that will benefit from the work

A council has been awarded £3.8m of government money to reduce the carbon footprint of three key facilities.

North Northamptonshire Council will also contribute £600,000 towards the decarbonisation project.

The work will be carried out on the Corby Cube, Corby Swimming Pool and Desborough Leisure Centre.

Leader of the council Jason Smithers said the three buildings "produce a huge amount of carbon and it is vital that we look at ways to mitigate this".

Energy efficiency measures will be put in place at the Corby Cube

The council said the decarbonisation project would lead to a 3% reduction of the council's carbon footprint.

Under the plan fossil fuel boilers will be replaced with air source heat pumps and solar panels will be installed, alongside other energy efficiency measures.

The funding comes from the previous government's Public Services Decarbonisation Scheme (PSDS) and it is hoped the work will be completed by March 2026.

Conservative Mr Smithers said the project was "not just for residents now, but for future generations".

Harriet Pentland, the council's executive member for climate and the green environment, said the work "will make a considerable contribution to reducing our annual carbon emissions".