by James Rush T&A Reporter A new community interest company aims to follow in the footsteps of Saltaire’s illustrious founder to help make the village a sustainable success.

Organisers behind Sustainable Saltaire say they hope to take the lead of Sir Titus Salt and look to transform the village into a sustainable community.

The group has been looking at a variety of ways to realise this ambition – including discussions with local companies looking to install solar panels, ways to generate electricity from the river and harnessing the power of the community to bid for cheaper electricity rates.

Chairman Andy Brown, a resident of the village, said the group formed just before Christmas following discussions with digital TV technology group Pace plc about installing solar panels at its base in Salts Mill.

Mr Brown said: “Sir Titus moved out of Bradford because of the environmental issues, so he built Saltaire from scratch to improve conditions and create arguably a sustainable community.

“We want to carry on in his footsteps – I think this is an opportunity to reinvigorate the sustainable community idea with the support of the council and others and build upon the forward-thinking ideas the village was founded on and look to the future.”

Mr Brown, director of Leeds-based architects Architecture 519, began talks with Pace six months ago about installing solar panels on the mill roof.

The plan was for the company to use the free power from the panels, while a community group could have a guaranteed income for 25 years from the feed-in tariff offered at the time.

He said “We were talking before it was reduced – even with the reduction it is still a viable idea.”

Since the group was formalised in late 2011 it has also been awarded £47,000 funding from the Local Energy Assessment Fund to develop a ten-year carbon reduction blueprint in the village – and now has ambitious plans to develop a hydro-electric scheme at the weir at the bottom of Victoria Road.

Mr Brown said he also hoped the community group – which also hopes to train five community energy champions – would be able to contact energy providers on behalf of the village’s residents to discuss reduced rates in return for a guaranteed number signing up.

He said: “We are very keen to promote sustainability in a wider sense, so environmental sustainability is one part of it, but we also want to promote community sustainability and social sustainability.”

To get involved, or for more details, contact andy@sustainablesaltaire.org.