• Gold Awards for Green Tourism Business for all three Northumberland National Park visitor centres

• 400% reduction in carbon emissions with new visitor centre heating system

Northumberland National Park staff were celebrating this week as they learned that two more of their award-winning visitor centres, at Rothbury and Ingram in the Breamish Valley, had achieved the Gold Green Tourism Business Scheme standard for the sustainable way they operate. They join the National Park Centre at Once Brewed that achieved Gold last year.

The awards bring the National Park a step closer to becoming the low carbon role model for businesses, community facilities and domestic premises in the area that it has committed to in its recent Management Plan, launched in October.  The National Park Authority is modifying its buildings, staff working practices and operations in a bid to reduce its own carbon footprint by 20 per cent in the next three years.  It will also take an active role in encouraging others to improve their carbon consciousness and aims to make renewables the dominant form of energy use in the National Park.

As well as the rigorous changes in behaviour and continuous improvement demanded by the Green Tourism Business Scheme, such as energy saving, eco-friendliness and local purchasing, the Authority is also trying out new energy saving techniques and testing renewable technologies so that it can better advise the communities and businesses that it supports with grants.

This year, two of the visitor centres have had old night-storage heating units replaced with modern, state-of-the-art air source heat pump heating systems (CoP efficiency rating of 3.7) – a low wattage air conditioning system which works like a fridge in reverse – which will reduce the carbon emissions associated with heating these buildings by 400% and save over £3,000 in energy costs!  The heat pumps have been funded by the Regional Improvement and Efficiency Partnership through its Climate Change Best Practice Project, one of the aims of which is to spread climate change innovation and best practice between north east local authorities and the region’s Fire and Rescue Services.

Robert Mayhew, the National Park Authority’s Programmes Manager, who is heading its drive towards a low carbon future, said: “We’re extremely proud of our visitor centre staff in demonstrating a high standard of energy saving and sustainable working. We will be actively encouraging the benefits of this good practice and of renewable technologies such as air source heat pumps and LED lighting to local schools, other Tourist Information Centres, the communities in and around the Park as well as the 1.5 million people that visit the Park each year.”

Bill Kirkup, Sustainability Project Manager at the North East Improvement and Efficiency Partnership said:  “As we are all aware, the UK is living through very challenging times. Two key issues the public sector must address are how to reduce costs and how to reduce its carbon footprint.  Projects such as this demonstrate that low carbon technology can help us to deliver against both of these objectives.”

National Park Visitor Centre Manager, Alison Blair, added: “All three of our visitor centres are benchmarks in the region and the country for customer service.  What better service can we give than setting a good example?”