Bassetlaw District Council has been awarded £3.2 million to help to reduce carbon emissions from Worksop and Retford Leisure Centres in what could be the single largest carbon reduction project carried out by the council.
The council has been successful in securing funding from the government's Public Sector Decarbonisation Scheme, which is contributing to the UK’s ambition to be ‘Net Zero’ by 2050.
The money will be spent on replacing the end-of-life space and pool gas heating system with heat pumps, alongside other smaller improvements such as solar panels, a draught lobby and LED lighting.
These improvements are projected to reduce carbon emissions by 448 tonnes CO2 per year. This equates to a 60% reduction per building or over 20% of all carbon emissions from the Council’s built estate.
Cllr Darrell Pulk, Cabinet Member for Environment and Energy said: “We welcome this funding which will help to decarbonise community resources such as Worksop and Retford Leisure Centres, which are large emitters of carbon.
“The work is vital as we look to make where we live and work the greenest and most sustainable and would be one of the council’s crowning indelible green marks on the district.”
The government grant is subject to 12% match funding with £320k being provided by Transform Schools Bassetlaw Ltd (TSBL) as the works will cover a range of their contractual obligations with the remaining £64k coming from the council budgets from its BPL profit share reserve.
Mick Daley, BPL Safety, Health, Environment and Quality Manager said: “The decarbonisation project strengthens the partnership approach towards achieving Net Zero that exists between Bassetlaw District Council and BPL who manage the leisure sites.
BPL has a commitment to reduce its emissions across all of the sites it operates and fully supports the ambitions of Bassetlaw District Council.”
The Public Sector Decarbonisation Scheme funding has previously been used to support work at Queens Buildings in 2023 and Kilton Forest Golf Course Clubhouse in 2021.
Pictured left to right: Cllr Darrell Pulk, Cabinet Member for Environment and Energy and Glyn Davies, Contracts Manager, BPL
Last Updated on Monday, March 24, 2025