NEARLY half a million pounds will be invested into a leisure centre in South Oxfordshire.

Faringdon leisure centre is to get a £400,000 refurbishment with the potential to reduce its carbon footprint by 500,000 kwh over a year.

This is the equivalent of the annual energy use of 135 houses.

The Vale of White Horse District Council was awarded a £361,746 grant from the Government’s Public Sector Decarbonisation Scheme, while the rest of the funding comes from developers.

The refurbishment will allow the centre to use low carbon and renewable energy by replacing gas boilers with air source heat pumps powered with new solar panels.

ALSO READ: Covid test sites open for public-facing workers without symptoms

In February 2019 the council joined a growing number of local authorities and other organisations in declaring a climate emergency. The council is calling on the government to support action on climate change locally.

All councils in Oxfordshire are signed up to carbon reduction targets through the Oxfordshire Energy Strategy and are committed to a 50 per cent reduction in carbon emission between 2008 and 2030.

The Climate Emergency Advisory Committee recommended that the Vale council reduce carbon emissions by 75 per cent by 2030.

Vale councillor Catherine Webber said: "This funding is going to make a real difference to the work we are doing on tackling the climate emergency.

"Hopefully, this refurbishment is just the start of what we can do in our drive to reduce our carbon footprint."