Frome Town Council, Edventure and Frome Medical Practice in partnership have been awarded £300,000 by the National Lottery Community Fund. The Green and Healthy Future project will develop community-led, practical initiatives that give people the opportunity to increase both their health & wellbeing and also reduce their climate impact.

A Green Health Connector and Green Community Connector programme run by the Medical Practice will help local people connect to green health opportunities across our town, and a Choosing Wisely campaign will help patients to make informed, green choices about prescriptions.

Edventure Frome CIC will focus on coordinating the partnership and organising weekly events across town, including both practical activities such as DIY secondary glazing and draft excluders as well as start-up support for residents, groups and organisations to develop climate and health projects.

And Frome Town Council will organise Healthy Homes and Cycling by Prescription projects, giving residents the opportunity to improve the energy efficiency of their homes and the chance to try out an electric bike for a month. The Town Council will also take the lead in evaluating the project.

Johannes Moeller from Edventure Frome CIC says: "Thanks to the Climate Action Fund and National Lottery players we will have the opportunity to explore practical things that we can do here in Frome to create a climate and health win-win. We are looking forward to working with people from all corners of our town to develop ideas and initiatives that enable healthy, low carbon lifestyles."

The grant from The National Lottery Community Fund is from the Climate Action Fund which is dedicated to bringing together community, health and the local environment in Frome. Across Frome there is growing interest in climate action, with the town committing to reducing their carbon footprint in order to become carbon neutral by 2030.

The Mayor of Frome, Anita Collier said: "As one of the first councils to declare a climate emergency we set a commitment to be zero carbon by 2030. We could never as a council meet this in isolation and that is why working in partnership with Edventure Frome and Frome Medical Practice, but also with residents in the town is so very important, and that the twin priorities of well-being and climate action are seen as one and the same. The award from the Climate Action Fund will enable us to move forward with real projects which will meet these aims and help us to really make a change in people's lives: Ensuring warmness and wellness, whilst really committing to a cleaner, greener, healthier future."

The two-year project encourages the local communities to take climate action for the health and everyday benefits that living more sustainably can offer. For example, the project will trial a climate-friendly social prescribing model, which includes, a cycling by prescription initiative that provides access to electric bikes and befriending activities such as community DIY training and home energy efficiency workshops.

Helen Kingston, at Frome Medical Centre, said: "We are really excited as a practice to continue working with Frome Town Council, Edventure Frome and our community. This grant will further support us working together and accelerate our work towards a healthy and sustainable future. Our long-term health and the wellbeing of our community relies on each one of us playing our part in supporting the health of our planet."

A particular focus of the project is to offer the diverse communities in Frome useful ways of becoming more socially connected and tackling climate change. This will not only help the physical health of local people, but will also see additional community benefits, including improving people's well-being, providing warmer and more energy efficient homes and bringing people together to reduce social isolation and loneliness.

A launch event is scheduled for March 4th. Sign up to find out more about the project and be part of the green and healthier future by clicking HERE the Eventbrite site

There are also three new roles being created:

- Project & Communications Manager

- Green Health Connector role

- Project Evaluator

This project is funded by the National Lottery Fund.