SLDC commits to further green business support

South Lakeland District Council has increased its commitment to supporting small businesses better manage their environmental impacts and reap the benefits of going green.

SLDC has increased its contribution to its partnership with Green Small Business (GSB) to offer a heavily subsidised deal for firms to get environmental advice and certification.

GSB provides streamlined environmental management systems and net zero support for small businesses. Their environmental action planning and certification package, which includes 12 months Green Small Business certification, usually costs from £299. SLDC is paying 50 per cent of these costs for businesses in South Lakeland.

Tim Maiden from GSB said “Green Small Business provides a straightforward, low-hassle, low-cost way for you to manage the environmental impacts of your small business with tailored environmental policies and plans, green certification and support for becoming a net zero business.”

“We enable you to take practical and meaningful steps to improve the carbon and environmental performance of your business.

“Green Small Business certification can enhance the reputation of your business among customers and staff, increase the markets you can access and save you money.”

The package of support includes:

• A high-level but systematic review of the environmental impacts of the business (via video-call or phone);

• A draft environmental action plan and policy for the business, for you to adjust as necessary;

• 12 months Green Small Business certification.

The benefits to a small business of becoming Green Small Business certified include:

• Providing evidence of environmentally-friendly practices which can help secure contracts with government, public or private sector bodies;

• Saving money by understanding and managing how you use energy and water, where your raw materials come from and how you dispose of waste;

• Enhancing reputation by demonstrating commitment to the environment to clients, customers and potential customers;

• Improving your environmental performance by reducing resource use, energy use and waste.

Councillor Dyan Jones, SLDC’s Portfolio Holder for Climate Action and Biodiversity, said: “It is great to see so many businesses in South Lakeland taking their environmental impacts seriously and taking steps to reduce them. We at SLDC are delighted to be able to extend our offer, through Green Small Business, of expert support which will see more enterprises become increasingly energy efficient and environmentally aware.”

Councillor Robin Ashcroft, Portfolio Holder for Economy, Culture and Leisure, said: “Working with the environment in mind should not be seen as a blocker to success in business. Becoming Green Small Business certified can enhance a business’s viability, profitability and attraction to customers, clients and partners, and I would encourage any small business which hasn’t already done so to consider SLDC’s subsidised offer of help.”

If you are a business based in South Lakeland, email info@greensmallbusiness.com to receive your discount code.

To find out more, go to https://greensmallbusiness.com/south-lakeland-business-support.

Case studies

GSB has supported many small businesses in South Lakeland in recent years. Here some of them tell their own stories about how having Green Small Business certification has benefitted their business.

Tracey Robinson, co-owner of Broad Oaks Country House hotel, near Troutbeck Bridge:

As owners of Broadoaks Country House we recognise that saving the environment around us is not only important to ourselves and our business but also to our customers and our staff. We have owned Broadoaks now for over 15 years and in that short time we know that some of the changes we have made to our business are already having a positive effect on the environment .

Eg. Each one of the chandeliers in our main restaurant and hallway had 20 x 60w bulbs in them when we started looking at how we could go green . In the early days the energy saving bulbs that where available gave out a horrible light and could not be dimmed, but nowadays the technology in bulbs has changed so much that the light is much better and everything is now dimmable .

And how easy is it now to have bathrooms with lights that automatically switch on when you walk in and the switch off again when the room is empty? Although we did have a bit of fun setting the timers in the early days so some of our poor guests ended up in the dark when they went to the loo for a sit down!

We took the decision a few years ago to get some further assistance in helping us understand what other things we could do on a short term and long-term basis to manage impact that we have on the local environment.

This is when we found Green Small Business and met its owner Tim Maiden. Tim is very knowledgeable about all things green and helped us put some structure into looking at what things we could do ASAP, and also what projects we could look at working on in the future.

After our first meeting, Tim put together an environmental policy with us that is now on our web site, and also created a live action plan document for us to work through that covers all different aspects of our business.

We meet with Green Small Business every year now to give them an update on what we have achieved and to get new and updated advice from him regarding any new schemes or technologies that we may wish to consider.

Picture caption: Staff at Broadoaks Country House. Credit: David Goodier Photography

Cathy Casey, director of Hooked On Granite Ltd, which operates The Climbers Shop in Ambleside, as well as the Joe Brown Outdoor Academy:

As a business, we have found South Lakeland District Council’s Green Small Business offer a tremendous help during the two turbulent years we have all endured. Signing up at the discounted rate has allowed us to access a much broader range of knowledge which has inspired us to continually think outside of the box when it comes to assessing the broader impact of our business.

Green Small Business swiftly helped us put our Environmental Policy into place and pull together all of the great work we were already doing into a clear and concise document creating a simple structure for us to include in all of our business decision making and, more importantly, for us to communicate with our customers.

Our Environmental Action Plan now sits in my top tray so that I can add changes and refer back to is as the year progresses, simply typing it all up at the end of the year to chat through and turn into our annual Sustainability Report. It really works for me, fitting in with the many jobs all small business owners have to fulfil on a daily basis. Our report is published on our website annually and we have had a great response from staff, customers and trade alike.