The document proposes a "Sustainable Stadia in Sustainable Communities" project that would partner sports clubs with local communities to improve home energy efficiency, reduce fuel poverty, and promote renewable energy and job training. Sports clubs could help engage communities facing fuel poverty and health issues from inefficient housing. The project aims to strengthen communities and clubs through more sustainable energy outcomes.

1. Sustainable Stadia in
Sustainable Communities
for
BASIS conference
November 2013

2. Who are CSE?
•A Registered Charity established in Bristol in 1979, 52 staff
‘We help people and organisations from the public, private and voluntary
sectors meet the twin challenges of rising energy costs and climate change’
•Community-energy projects – fuel poverty, community owned renewables
•National policy analysis, tools, resources and research work

3. CSE outputs
•The National Heat Map

4. CSE outputs
•PlanLoCaL – Planning for Low Carbon Living

5. CSE outputs
•The Fuel Poverty Indicator for England

6. Fuel poverty
A serious issue
affecting millions - a
number set to grow as
energy prices increase
Multiple health impacts e.g.
stroke and heart attack
amongst older people.
Asthma amongst younger
people . Mental health and
wellbeing also severely
impacted
Energy efficiency policies
to tackle it under threat

7. Causes of fuel poverty
Cost of fuel
Low incomes
Inefficient, leaky homes that are hard to heat and keep comfortable
The third of these is probably the easiest to tackle via lowcost energy efficiency measures and behaviour change..
..delivering multiple co-benefits such as:
• reducing carbon emissions
• making homes better adapted to climate change (e.g. heatwave)
• creating opportunities for skills creation and local employment
• putting more money into local economy rather than the coffers of
multinational energy suppliers

8. So where are the fuel poor?
Ans: Anywhere where poor quality housing and low income coincide – its
everywhere but there are concentrations in some parts of the country

9. So what can we do about it?
• Identify areas at risk of fuel poverty
• Organise area wide schemes which deliver:
1. Energy efficiency and renewable energy retrofit
2. Energy advice so that people don’t waste energy and they get
the best out of their systems
3. Advice on benefits and switching tariff to the best rates to
boost income and reduce the cost of fuel.
Easy peasy?

10. So what can we do about it?
Tackling fuel poverty is complex:
a) it’s often difficult to identify fuel poor groups and
b) it’s very hard to engage with them – get them to sign up to
schemes/implement advice/ take free or subsidised
measures..
Trust, embarrassment, stiff upper lip, ‘that’s just the way things
are’, hopelessness against the ‘Big Six’.

11. Which is where the sustainable sports
community comes in...
Using that passion to develop trust, understanding, and change…

12. Which is where the sustainable sports
community comes in...
…in the locations where it could have most impact
Position
Club
Parliamentary Constituency
Position of Constituency
in the UK
1
Everton
Walton
1
1
Liverpool
Walton
1
3
Bradford City
Bradford West
3
4
Aston Villa
Ladywood
6
4
Birmingham City
Ladywood
6
6
Tranmere Rovers
Birkenhead
7
7
Manchester City
Manchester Central
9
8
Blackburn
Blackburn
12
9
Newcastle United
Tyne Bridge
15
10
Burnley
Burnley
16

13. Our proposal: Sustainable Stadia in
Sustainable Communities (SSSC)
“building health and sustainability in the local communities of
sports clubs through catalysing energy efficient and low carbon
refurbishment”
Proposal based on 4 observations:
• Sport clubs often embedded within, and draw fanbases from, most the
economically deprived communities
• Poor housing and low income leads to poor health esp. via fuel poverty
• Sports clubs influential – beacon status – offer new mode of engagement
with hard to treat and hard to meet groups
• There is a read across between the values of sport and community activity
to build (energy) resilience – community spirit, teamwork, planetary health,
personal health

14. Energy use and health
Sport is partly about physical
and mental health..
Links to wise fuel and energy
use because...
Marmot Review (2012)is
explicit on the linkages
between cold homes and
poor health:

15. Sports clubs are highly influential
Sports clubs frequently have “beacon” status, often acting as a
very influential focus for community life and themselves engage
in a diverse range of community outreach activity.
The influence of sports clubs is recognised and has been
studied academically to explore its policy significance...

16. So what kinds of activity could be
possible
Local community engagement with the project via outreach
activities from the sports club

17. So what kinds of activity could be
possible
Energy advice and referral schemes and schemes for physically
improving the energy efficiency of homes for example, through
provision of:
•subsidised insulation
•new heating systems
•household renewable energy systems.

18. So what kinds of activity could be
possible
Development of community empowerment and capacity
building through, for example:
•training of local energy champions
•short courses for young people in energy efficient refurbishment as a
precursor to apprenticeships and eventual employment in this sector

19. So what kinds of activity could be
possible
Development of formal 2-way linkages between the clubs and
local community that harness respective resources to build
sustainable energy outcomes. For example:
•local community buildings providing complementary heat loads to stadium
facilities to make highly efficient and cost effective technologies such as
combined heat and power systems viable.
•Stadia leasing roof space to local community groups for solar electricity
arrays benefitting from government Feed-in-Tariffs.

20. Possible outcomes - communities
•Enjoy improved housing, capable of being affordably heated and powered,
thereby directly tackling a range of health, financial and other social issues
•Have opportunities for revenue raising schemes through deployment of
community scale renewable energy systems such as large solar arrays,
hydro or Energy from Waste
•Have strengthened local economies with increased opportunities for
training and employment in the expanding green economy - particularly
targeted at younger people.

21. Possible outcomes - clubs
•Build and enhance their standing in their local communities,
amongst their fan bases and further afield
•Reduce their energy costs and carbon emissions and develop
opportunities for offsetting unavoidable emissions by creating
carbon savings in the communities in which they are embedded.
•Create more resilient local communities, both economically and
physically better able to support their local clubs and to
participate in club activities.

22. Next steps...
A European project under Horizon
2020?
•First calls to be announced Jan – Feb 2014.
•Community energy solutions will feature strongly as call
priorities.
•75-100% funding depending on organisational status
•Fuel poverty statistics worst in UK, France, Belgium, Italy
and Spain – partner with sports clubs in those countries?

23. Contacts
Rachel Coxcoon
Head of Local & Community Empowerment.
0117 934 1426, rachel.coxcoon@cse.org.uk
Dr Nick Banks
Senior Development Manager
0117 934 1418, nick.banks@cse.org.uk