Work is happening to assess ways we can reduce Carterton Leisure Centre’s carbon footprint.
West Oxfordshire District Council is looking into replacing Carterton Leisure Centre’s gas boilers with low carbon heating, such as air source heat pumps, and installing solar PV to significantly reduce carbon emissions
Councillor Andrew Prosser, Executive Member for Climate Change, said: “By their very nature, leisure centres are energy intensive buildings and we have been conscious of the need to investigate measures to lessen their impact on the environment and make them more climate resilient and cost effective for residents.”
“We are currently looking at possible technical solutions and costs, to enable decisions to be made on any changes to the leisure centre. Any disruption to the leisure centres’ services will be kept to a minimum and are unlikely to affect the facilities available to customers.”
“We want to reduce our carbon emissions and provide a high quality leisure service to our residents for many years to come.”
As one of the Council’s largest leisure sites, Carterton Leisure Centre was responsible for 33% of the council’s natural gas emissions in 2022. This project aims to significantly reduce carbon emissions to help the Council reach its 2030 carbon neutral target – balancing the amount of carbon emitted with that being absorbed from the atmosphere in carbon sinks, such as woodland and soil.
Replacing existing gas boilers with new air source heat pumps would heat the building, supply hot water, and heat the swimming pool and lead to reduced carbon emissions.
Solar panels would also supply clean electricity to the leisure centre; and efficient new ventilation systems, using smart technology, would improve airflow throughout the building for improved customer comfort.
Partial funding for the project has been awarded through the government’s Public Sector Decarbonisation Scheme.
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