PEOPLE and businesses looking to go green can access support and funding.

Worcestershire County Council is helping residents go green by helping them to access funding through its clean growth team.

This allows people and organisations to apply for grants to go green and cut costs.

Measures include changing to LED lighting, which can help businesses save on their utility bills.

It also helps to lower carbon emissions.

Over the last four years, Worcestershire County Council and its partners have supported around 800 businesses and provided over £3.3million worth of funding to help them become greener.

Councillor Tony Miller, cabinet member with responsibility for environment, said: “Our clean growth programmes have helped a lot of our county businesses to take their first steps in terms of growing greener, and a lot of funding has been invested to make this happen.

"I’m really proud of the teams, the programmes and the businesses for the work they do and the part they play in helping our environment.

"Our schemes have really helped businesses, by providing essential advice and grants to help them make the necessary changes to improve energy efficiency and sustainability whilst keeping costs down.

"If this is something your business is looking to do in the future, then I would highly recommend contacting the team."

Both the Business Energy Efficiency Programme (BEEP) and the Low Carbon Opportunities Programme (LOCOP) offer free assessments and grants to eligible local businesses to support clean growth and help Worcestershire businesses save money.

BEEP offers free energy efficiency assessments and grants of up to £20,000 for eligible businesses who wish to reduce costs and improve their environmental impact.

For businesses interested in investing in solar or other renewable technologies, LOCOP offers renewable energy assessments and grants of up to £100,000 to businesses in eligible sectors.

Advice and grants are also available through LOCOP to help businesses develop and commercialise innovative ideas, that help others to be green.

Both programmes are part-funded by the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF).

For more information about eligibility, please visit the Clean Growth pages of the Worcestershire Business Central or email sustainability@worcestershire.gov.uk