Edinburgh University's climate change group receives knockback

A climate change group at Edinburgh University will have to make cutbacks after its bid for more funding was deemed "too ambitious".

The group, Transition Edinburgh University, had been granted over £350,000 from the Scottish Government's Climate Challenge Fund over the last 18 months, but were unsuccessful in their bid for another year of funding.

The original £27 million, to be distributed through Keep Scotland Beautiful, was set up to last three years. But after lobbying from community groups, the government granted an extra £10.2 million for this year.

Transition is a community-based project consisting of six full-time paid staff, students and dozens of volunteers who are working to create a low-carbon university. The project is committed to a number of different issues, such as climate change and oil resources.

Transition's spokesperson David Somervell said the organisation will have to streamline its work as a result of the decision.

Speaking to The Journal last week Mr Somervell said: "We had six almost full-time staff, and were able to pay nearly 20 student undergraduate interns. Inevitably, not having that extension of full-time paid commitment means that these activities will be diminished. They'll be reduced.”

Speaking on the project’s website, events and outreach worker Ric Lander believes that "it is up to the volunteers to shape the future of the project”.

He continued: "What we're doing is we're looking at those parts that can be continued on a voluntary basis and these include the Big Green Makeover."

Mr Somervell said he was "particularly disappointed" to lose out on the money.

He added: "It's quite difficult to read the minds of the organisation that is dispersing the funds. We felt we complied with their requirements, so I was being ironic when I said they were just spreading the money around, and not to necessarily continue funding a successful project.

"It is particularly disappointing, but a significant number of other projects have not been extended, and a substantial number of new projects, 140 in fact, have been funded."

Despite the cutbacks, Mr Somervell remains optimistic: ”In some ways you have to just celebrate that central Government funding - public money - has been allocated to furthering other initiatives."