Schools will be renovated with modern boiler systems and over a hundred county council buildings will have solar panels installed as Hertfordshire County Council secures £23.5m to combat climate change.

The county council secured a further £8.5m of funding, with £15m secured back in January, from the Public Sector Decarbonisation Scheme to deliver energy efficient schemes.

This funding means the county council can now deliver several sustainability led projects at a number of Hertfordshire sites including its school estate, fire stations, libraries and main office buildings.

Solar panels will be installed across 128 council owned buildings, while 15 Hertfordshire schools will have improved insulation – and many schools will have modernised and energy efficient boiler systems.

Teresa Heritage, Deputy Leader for Hertfordshire County Council said: “This is great news, we’re really pleased with how successful our applications have been in securing £23.5m of funding. This additional funding is another positive step for us in achieving our countywide sustainability goals, enabling us to continue to lead in our efforts to fight climate change as an organisation.

“We have committed, through our recently approved Sustainable Hertfordshire Strategy and Action Plan, that the management of all our operations will have an exemplary sustainability focus.”

This is the first of many projects the county council plans to deliver to reach its goals for their Sustainable Hertfordshire Strategy.