Solar panels are to be installed on a barn roof, to power an inner-city farm in Islington. <br><br>Freightliners Farm, N7, is home to more than a hundred animals including chickens, ducks, geese, goats and sheep. <br><br>It will soon be run on green electricity – after Islington Council helped pay for new solar panels through its £3million Climate Change Fund. <br><br>Liz McAllister, manager of Freightliners Farm, said: "We'll be using this green electricity for incubators and heat lamps for our newborn chicks, ducklings and guinea pigs. <br><br>"It will also power a water pump, and propagators so we can grow local salad for longer – which means fewer food miles for everyone. <br><br>"This farm is an education centre, so it's great we're sending out the right message about climate change."<br><br>Councillor Lucy Watt, Islington Council's Executive Member for Environment, said: "Freightliners Farm is visited by hundreds of school groups every year, and we know that young people are particularly concerned about the future of our environment. <br><br>"So, after listening to our residents, we know this is one of the best places we can start generating green electricity. <br><br>"Our Climate Change Fund was set up to help everyone in Islington 'go green' – and there are many more schemes like this in the pipeline." <br><br>The farm's visitors' café, which is already made out of bales of straw and sustainable wood, is also expected to become carbon neutral, thanks to the green power.<br><br>Other projects to get the green light at the council's recent Executive Meeting include a wind turbine to power changing rooms at the Market Road football pitches, and a solar panel on Archway Methodist Church which is used by community groups.<br><br>A total of thirteen schemes have been approved in the latest round of applications. <br><br>ENDS <br><br>For more information please call Chris Weeks on 020 7527 3032 <br>
Page Last Updated: 17 December 2009