On Thursday 3 December 2020, the 1000 Tyres Project was announced as overall winner of The Plymouth Climate Challenge, at the virtual final streamed live on YouTube.
The winning 1000 Tyres Project, from local maritime non-profit organisation The SHIPS Project, will set out to remove discarded tyres from Plymouth Sound and surrounding rivers saw off stiff competition from runners-up Projects Polonize and Moths to a Flame.
The judging panel, who deliberated over the finalists were Cllr Sue Dann, Cabinet Member for Environment and Street Scene, Harry Barton, Chief Executive of Devon Wildlife Trust and Plymothian swimmer Sharron Davies MBE, who has represented Great Britain in the Olympics and Commonwealth Games.
The Council’s ‘challenge’ in partnership with CrowdfunderUK, is all about building on the partnership with the community through the City Change Fund and helping to raise awareness of the climate emergency.
A total of seven shortlisted community projects had competed over the past month to be shortlisted to the final event, and residents were encouraged to play their part, by supporting and sharing their favourite crowdfunding project.
The shortlisted projects that took part in The Plymouth Climate Challenge received a £250 starting pledge, the three finalists received £2,500 and the winner received the additional prize of £5,000, all funded through the Cities of Service ‘Engaged Cities Award’ won by Plymouth Council last year.
Councillor Sue Dann, said; “A huge congratulations to The 1000 Tyres Project and the other finalists who captured our resident’s imagination with their wonderfully creative projects. The Plymouth Climate Challenge is a great way of getting people in our communities involved with greening activities that help tackle climate change and build future legacy.
“I am sure this will inspire future greening projects of this kind, and I look forward to all projects having a positive impact in Plymouth.
“Thanks to everyone who took part, our communities for supporting the entries, and our partner CrowdfunderUK for helping realise our ambitions.”
Sharron Davies MBE, said; "It was truly inspiring to see what people in Plymouth are doing to tackle climate changes and environmental challenges in the City. I was impressed that all the ideas are replicable and could be used across the world.
“As a Plymothian I was really interested in being involved and pleased to be part of making a difference. Go Plymouth."
The Council will continue to pledge to the crowdfunding projects via the City Change Fund, with up to 50 per cent of a projects target (to a maximum of £30,000 plus a potential £15,000 from the Climate Emergency Bonus) being made available in addition to the challenge funding.
The City Change Fund supports local projects for local people. It's a pioneering and award-winning project in which the Council has chosen to distribute some of the city's Community Infrastructure Levy to support local projects through a partnership with CrowdfunderUK.
In its first five years, Plymouth City Council pledged £475,010 to 93 projects through Crowdfund Plymouth. For every £1 spent by the city, residents have donated more than double – that’s an additional £1million in support for communities.
Councillor Chris Penberthy, Cabinet Member for Housing and Co-operative Development, said: “The intention of the City Change Fund was to support these types of fantastic community led programmes that really can make a difference.
“Since its inception five years ago, the fund has made a huge contribution to a vast number of projects and it’s always positive to see Plymouth collectively achieving great things.
“The judges had a really tough job selecting an overall winner among a great set of finalists, I’m proud that we have seen the community really play their part throughout this massively engaging crowdfunding challenge.”
Crowdfund Plymouth has been operational since March 2015, it is an online platform where the Council has chosen to distribute the City Change Fund (the ‘neighbourhood portion’ of the Community Infrastructure Levy) on projects which meet a set criteria and sign up to the Council’s terms and conditions.
In its first five years, the Council pledged £475,010 on 93 projects. These projects had 9,730 backers with a final total raised by projects of £1,599,806. This is a multiplier of 237 per cent, meaning that for every £1 pledged by the Council, £2.37 was pledged by other organisations and the local community to enable projects to happen.
In 2019, the City Change Fund won the Royal Town Planning Institute Silver Jubilee Cup for planning excellence and later that year it also won the Engaged Cities award from Cities of Service alongside Flint, Michigan and San Francisco, California.
To see all Plymouth Climate Challenge entries, please visit: https://www.crowdfunder.co.uk/plymouth-climate-challenge