Local Community

The guests of honour at the Lambrigg Wind Farm. 

To find out more about our work with communities visit our Community webpages.

RWE npower renewables offers a range of community benefit packages at our operating onshore and offshore wind farms, these usually benefit those communities living closest to the site. There are a number of ways of designing and operating these packages which are negotiated locally to meet the specific needs of individual areas. Packages vary, depending on the size, type and geographical make up of local communities.

Community benefit packages have been used to fund a wide variety of activities including community building refurbishments, environmental education programmes, energy efficiency schemes and supporting local groups and organisations.

In association with the Lambrigg Wind Farm, a community fund has been set up to assist local community projects in the vicinity of the wind farm. The annual fund started at a base level of £6,000 and is index linked each year in line with inflation. It will be available throughout the operational life of the wind farm.

The Lambrigg Wind Farm Community Fund is administered by New Hutton Parish Council, Grayrigg Parish Meeting, Docker Parish Meeting and Lambrigg Parish Meeting, this means that decisions about how the fund is allocated are made by local people.

In 2008 grants included:

• Miles Tarn Community Group
  £1,370 to create a low maintenance, upgraded playground facility for community use.
• New Hutton Village Institute
  £1,300 towards re-sealing building floor, upgrading entrance porch.
• Grayrigg Community Newsletter
  £200 to cover next three years of production.
• Mary Rowland Almshouse
  £500 towards the cost of refurbishment

The wind farm was officially opened by local winners of a school drawing competition organised by RWE npower renewables with the four winners from Old Hutton primary School and Grayrigg Primary School each having one of the wind turbines named after them. The children also started the last of the wind turbines to officially open the wind farm.

A public open day was also held on 23 September 2000.