Over 100 volunteers gathered in Seahouses, Northumberland in June to celebrate 10 years of Warm Hubs and their subsequent spread across the country.

Initiated in 2014 by Community Action Northumberland (CAN), Warm Hubs provide safe, warm, and friendly community spaces where residents can enjoy refreshments, social activities, advice, and company. Each Warm Hub undergoes an assessment to meet service standards, receiving training, funding, advice, and networking opportunities. In 2023, 55 Warm Hubs in Northumberland received 435,000 visits across all activities.

This year, CAN is enhancing Warm Hubs as emergency resilience centres, in partnership with Northern PowerGrid, equipping them with transportable mobile phone masts and generators, and developing them as sustainable buildings with renewable energy measures.

Due to the energy crisis, there was significant interest nationwide in replicating the model, leading CAN to create the Warm Hubs Toolkit, an online resource for establishing and managing Warm Hub schemes.
Warm Hubs Toolkit: www.warmhubs.com

Northumberland is one of England's most sparsely populated counties with just 63 people per square kilometre. 97% is classed as rural, and 40% of Northumberland’s population lives in rural areas (defined as small towns & fringes, villages, hamlets and isolated dwellings). Of these more than 20% are over the age of 65, 15,075 people report themselves as having a limiting long-term illness and 17,550 people are income-deprived.

CAN has a long history of working with rural communities and has a strong network of links with community anchors such as parish councils and village halls. 

In September 2023, CAN and its partners launched Northumberland Community Energy Ltd., a cooperative installing solar PV panels and battery storage on 100 community buildings, reducing carbon emissions, operational costs, and enhancing power outage resilience. This pioneering project is the first of its kind in the UK at this scale.

More on Northumberland Community Energy Ltd:
http://ca-north.org.uk/empowering-organisations/village-halls-community-buildings/solar-powered-community-buildings