Find out about changes to our services and Christmas opening times on our Festive information page. To find out when your bin will be collected over the festive period, visit Changes to County Durham bin collections at Christmas.

Due to maintenance, the following systems will be unavailable from 11.45am on Tuesday 24 December until 8.00am on Thursday 2 January: our online Council Tax, business rates and housing benefit services, and our welfare assistance form. We apologise for any inconvenience this may cause.

Woodland Primary School project

Woodland Primary School is a small, rural school that has made significant strides toward sustainability.

In 2021, the school successfully secured funding through the Salix Public Sector Decarbonisation Scheme, which was used to provide energy efficiency improvements and aided their decarbonisation goals and journey to becoming a low-carbon school.

Timeline of their progress

August and September 2021: Main project work took place.
December 2021: Final air source heat pump, delayed in delivery, was installed.
Throughout the project, work was scheduled around school holidays to minimise disruption and delays.

The school has faced challenges as it is not connected to the gas network. The school had their heating provided with an old, oil fuelled boiler, which had suffered numerous breakdowns, causing school closures. The primary aim of the project was to decarbonise the heating of the school, and provide a reliable, low carbon heating system. The 68kW oil boiler was replaced with 44kW of air source heat pumps, made up of four individual units. Individual units were chosen to provide reliability for the school - if one heat pump were to break down, the other three could continue to operate, and allow the school to remain open.

Other improvements made to the school included the installation of 14.1kWp of ground mounted solar PV. Woodland Primary School was the first of our maintained schools to receive ground mounted solar PV, a model which has since been repeated. To further reduce the electrical demand of the school, LED lighting was installed throughout.

This approach has become a model for other schools in the region, demonstrating how small, rural institutions can lead the way in adopting clean, renewable energy solutions.

The decarbonisation of the school aligns with the broader goal of reducing carbon emissions across public sector buildings. The school's efforts can serve as a learning tool for students and the community, raising awareness about sustainability. The project contributes to long-term savings in energy costs and supports a reliable, sustainable source of power for the school.