EFFORTS to reduce carbon emissions will be damaged by a council proposal to axe all funding for county environmental groups, it has been warned.

A boss of Community Action Groups (CAG) spoke out over Oxfordshire County Council plans to cut £90,000 annual funding by 2017/18.

It uses the cash to run events, projects and activities like bike recycling workshop Broken Spoke in Pembroke Street. It also employs two full-time workers.

Each of the 58 groups which are a member of CAG receive a £200 grant as well as money to cover the costs of insuring events.

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Other projects included Rose Hill and Iffley Low Carbon volunteers using a thermal imaging camera to show residents how much heat their homes lose.

A senior councillor said the proposal – to reduce funding each year by an unspecified amount – was “not a big issue”.

CAG project officer Peter Lefort said the cut would hit the council’s ambition to reduce county carbon emissions by 50 per cent by 2030.

He said: “There will be a detrimental impact in our attempts to cut carbon emissions and stop climate change.

“We need to show communities how they can cut emissions and how they can recycle. The volunteers are there and they are passionate and dedicated people.

“We need to give them the money and the resources.

“We believe that cutting funding for the CAG project would have a negative reputational effect for Oxfordshire as the country is known for its leadership on carbon reduction.

“CAG is far and away the biggest network of its kind in the United Kingdom.”

A public consultation on the proposal closed on Friday.

Councillors will now consider views and vote on the proposals and the council’s entire budget on February 17.

Rose Hill and Iffley Low Carbon chairwoman Eleanor Watts said: “Our group would not exist without the support of the permanent staff members of CAG.

“They gave us advice on how to draft our constitution and set up the group.

“I doubt that we could continue if their jobs are axed.”

County council cabinet member for the environment David Nimmo Smith said: “We are talking about £90,000 of cuts over a three year period.

“In the grand scheme of things it is not a big issue.

“There are lots of other organisations in the county which are doing a green agenda and we have a limited amount of money available.

“We have to cut back on some things and this is one of the things I have chosen to cut back on.”

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