A NEW ENERGY scheme has launched in Stroud.

Dr Simon Opher, Labour Party candidate fro the Stroud constituency, has today announced the launch of a campaign to develop a community energy scheme for the Stroud district.

The project is being launched at an open meeting at the Old Town Hall in Stroud’s Shambles tomorrow, Thursday, September 28.

 Speakers will include Dr Opher, Dr Peter Boait, Chair of Gloucester Community Energy Co-op, Cllr. Adrian Oldman, Stroud Town Council, and Director of Transition Stroud, and Rob Jones, Volunteer Director, Big Solar Co-Op .

The meeting is open to everybody interested in how the district can generate renewable electricity through local solar PV, wind or water turbine installations, owned and used by Stroud residents and organisations. 

The Labour Party has pledged, if elected, to make it easier for local communities to set up their own energy generation schemes as part of their commitment to make the UK a green energy superpower.

Launching his campaign, Dr Simon Opher said: “We’ve seen people’s energy bills sky rocket over the last year, causing real hardship for countless families across Stroud struggling to heat their homes.

"Meanwhile, the energy giants are raking in vast profits at their customers’ expense.

“It’s time for the people of Stroud to take back control of their energy with a community energy scheme that they design, they own and they control.“

Dr Peter Boait, Chair of Gloucester Community Energy Co-op, added: ”This is an opportunity for Stroud communities to have a say in how and where they want their energy to be created, and to own it for themselves”