Learn how 'crucial' Low Carbon Skills Fund grant kick-started a council's green plans

A man wearing a yellow high-vis jacket works on a roof covered with solar panels.

Make a heat decarbonisation plan, apply for funding, modernise buildings and see your gas and electricity use fall.

It sounds so simple - and those of us working in the sector know it can be much more complicated and require significant time, resource and effort.  

However, that’s just what one local authority in the North West of England did after successfully applying to the Low Carbon Skills Fund.  

For the second part of our series celebrating some of the fund’s many successes – which saw £78.3 million in grants awarded to more than 1,100 decarbonisation projects across England – we’ve been hearing from Knowsley Council.  

Like other public bodies, it received grant funding from the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero – delivered by us at Salix – which became a springboard for its green ambitions, helping it make energy efficiency savings from libraries to leisure centres.  

“The Low Carbon Skills Fund has been crucial in securing external grant funding to install decarbonisation measures in council buildings across the borough,” said Councillor Shelley Powell, cabinet member for communities and neighbourhoods.  

Main image: Huyton Library.  Credit: Knowsley Council.   

Three images. Above: a man and woman wearing yellow, high-viz jackets hold up a solar panel on a roof. Below: a large green owl outside a brown building with solar panels on its roof. A man putting solar panels on the roof of a building.

Top image:  Councillor Shelley Powell on the roof of Huyton Library.  Below: Court Hey Park, Knowsley and the roof of Kirkby Leisure Centre.  Image credit: Knowsley Council.  

How they did it - a timeline

Knowsley Council declared a Climate Emergency in January 2020, setting a target of 2040 to achieve net zero with an aim of cutting gas and electricity use, while generating sustainable energy.  

In 2021, having successfully applied for around £86,000 in Phase 2 of the Low Carbon Skills Fund, the authority put together a heat decarbonisation plan, which focused on 18 of its buildings that represented the largest share of their estate’s gas and electricity use.   

With it, they were able to carry out a site-by-site analysis of what new low carbon technologies could be added, coupled with existing energy efficiency measures, such as double-glazing and insulation.  

Thanks to those plans, Knowsley Council went on to successfully apply for a grant of £206,000 from Phase 4 of the Low Carbon Skills Fund to create detailed designs for several of the buildings, which in turn helped them apply for other funding, including from the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero’s Public Sector Decarbonisation Scheme – again administered by us at Salix.  

Decarbonisation projects which grew out of the initial plant in 2021 included:  

  • Securing £4.2 million to deliver decarbonisation works across four buildings: Huyton Library and Kirkby Leisure Centre, River Alt Resource Centre and Court Hey Park
  • Securing £208,000 to create detailed feasibility studies for seven council buildings: Knowsley Leisure and Culture Park, Stockbridge Village Leisure Centre, Stockbridge Disability Resource Centre, Bewley Drive Resource Centre, the Kirkby Centre, Stretton Way Depot and the Pride Centre
  • Successful award of £256,000 for the decarbonisation of Prescot Soccer Centre as part of a joint bid, led and managed by the Liverpool City Region Combined Authority
  • Successful award of £504,000 from the Public Sector Decarbonisation Scheme (Phase 4) as part of a joint bid led and managed by the Liverpool City Region Combined Authority to decarbonise Bewley Drive Resource Centre and Stockbridge Disability Resource Centre

The Heat Decarbonisation Plan, created through the Low Carbon Skills Fund, has allowed the climate team to install sustainable, low-carbon energy generation systems, contributing to a dramatic drop in the council’s carbon emissions.

Councillor Shelley Powell cabinet member for communities and neighbourhoods Knowsley Council

Thanks to these improvements, Knowsley Council says it has found that emissions from electricity usage have decreased by 86 per cent in 2024/25 compared 2009/10, while gas emissions have reduced by 61 per cent over the same period.  

Councillor Powell added: “The Heat Decarbonisation Plan created through the Low Carbon Skills Fund has allowed the climate team to target high carbon-emitting buildings and install sustainable, low-carbon energy generation systems, contributing to a dramatic drop in the council’s carbon emissions.  

“The council is proud of the progress made so far in its journey to net zero and will continue to look at innovative funding opportunities to further decarbonise public sector buildings.”  

Knowsley Council isn’t finished yet, either.  The council has decarbonisation works planned at Halewood Leisure Centre in the next financial year using £4 million from the government’s Levelling Up Fund.  

The authority’s Climate Emergency Team is also exploring innovative options to decarbonise its estates and services.  

For instance, it's exploring a partnership with Liverpool John Moores University to install smart technology that could identify energy saving opportunities at Knowsley Leisure and Culture Park.  

Their decarbonisation work doesn’t stop – and it started with help from the Low Carbon Skills Fund.  

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