Cotswold District Council wants residents to invest half a million in its climate change journey.

The council has launched a scheme for local people to put up anything between £5 and £20,000 towards projects to increase electric vehicle charging points and reduce the carbon footprint of the council offices.

The project named Cotswold Climate Investment is part of the council's vision for a net zero Cotswold District. It is also Gloucestershire's first Community Municipal Investment.

It has been launched in partnership with London-based company Abundance Investment, the UK's first and biggest regulated green investment platform.

Investment can earn 2.1 per cent interest per year fixed, before tax, with interest and capital repayments every six months across the investment term. The money will also be eligible to be held in an Innovative Finance ISA, which means that people will be able to get tax free investment returns.

Jenny Poole, Cotswold District Council deputy chief executive and chief finance officer, said: "This is a really exciting opportunity for Cotswolds residents to actually buy into our climate change journey."

The council wants to raise £500,00 in total but residents won't have a choice of which project their money is spent on or which companies are used to carry out the work.

The plan is to use £200,000 to install publicly available off-street electric vehicle charging points around the District to encourage electric vehicle take-up.

The council is aiming to have the first 10 installed by March 2023 with one at the Beeches car park in Cirencester, four at the Council Offices in Cirencester, four at the Rissington Road car park in Bourton-on-the-Water and one at Old Market Way in Moreton-in-Marsh. Two of these charging points are already in place but will be replaced with the latest technology.

The remaining £300,000 will be used to improve the energy and carbon performance of the council's Cirencester offices. They will install solar panels on the roof, update lights to LEDs to reduce energy consumption, improve insulation to reduce heat loss and make alterations to the building to enable more efficient use of space and energy.

If they fail to raise the money the council said it would fund the projects from its budget or go to the public works loan board. But Ms Poole said raising the money this way was less expensive.

Joe Harris, Cotswold District Council leader, said if successful they would "extend and diversify" the project.

He added: "Residents can put their money to work to make a real difference towards delivering the Council's 2030 vision to cut emissions and create safer, cleaner streets across the District."

It declared a climate emergency in July 2019, and since then has adopted its Climate Emergency Strategy. In September last year, it became one of the first in the UK to commit to issuing a climate bond, signing the Green Finance Institute's Local Climate Bond Pledge.

Mr Harris said the project was also prompted by the issues with local government finance.

"It's very tight and doesn't look like it's going to get any better in the next few years. Cotswolds District Council has had core funding reduced by 60 per cent since 2010. This is a way of not relying on central government finances or getting a loan.

"The ultimate aim in 10-15 years time is to be free of government handouts so we are autonomous and have sustainable funding streams. At the moment it can be a bit of a hand to mouth existence. This isn't the solution to our financial woes but is one piece in a bigger armoury."

Bruce Davis, co-founder and joint managing director of Abundance Investment, said residents have invested with local councils in this way as far back as 150 years ago but the practice died out in the 90s.

"We picked up that idea and looked at how we could reinvent it for the 21st century. We very much saw there was an opportunity there with the climate emergency and local councils wanting to finance projects for us to provide a mechanism for that."

Abundance launched in 2012 and its first ever project was a wind turbine in St Briavels in the Forest of Dean. Today has a staff of 20 and more than 7,600 people have invested over £127million via its platform, with more than £39million paid in return.

Rodmarton resident Mr Davis said: "As a local resident, it is doubly pleasing to have the opportunity to invest alongside my own local community to fund projects which will help put the District on the path towards NetZero.

"We created these climate investments to allow ordinary people to access a lower risk way to make a green investment and Cotswold are blazing a trail we hope other local authorities in the South West will follow."

Chris Crookall-Fallon, head of climate action for Cotswold District Council, said: "While we are pioneering in Gloucestershire and being supported by the Green Finance Institute, it's not pioneering in the sense it's never been done. There are examples of it being done very successfully and we are building on the back of that."

When asked if the council would use local suppliers for the projects he said: "Everyone here would love to be placing work only with local suppliers. We're governed by public procurement sector rules which sometimes makes it harder than you would want to achieve exactly that."

"He acknowledged that Blue Electric, from outside the area, had been awarded the contract."

Ms Poole added: "We're reviewing our own contract rules and procedures and looking at whether we can introduce some measures that look at social value and let jobs locally. It is work we're doing."

Find out more at cotswold.gov.uk/CCI 

As with any investment, there are risks when investing on Abundance.