Rose Hill and Iffley Low Carbon

Working to make Rose Hill the first zero-carbon estate in the country

Rose Hill and Iffley Low Carbon (RHILC) is a community action group in south-east Oxford. It promotes renewable energy, energy saving, waste reduction and tree planting across Rose Hill and Iffley.

The group has planted over 600 trees on the recreation ground. It also organised the planting of the Rose Hill community orchard, which brought together representatives from 16 local community groups. A £500 small grant from Low Carbon Hub’s community grants fund paid for a film of the project.

Renewable energy and partnerships are central to the group’s work. RHILC persuaded Oxford City Council to fit 190 solar panels on the roof of Rose Hill Community Centre, which power the electric vehicles in the shared car club. It also worked with Low Carbon Hub to install 109 solar panels on Rose Hill Primary School. A large share of Rose Hill’s electricity now comes from solar power.

RHILC runs popular repair cafés and swap shops at Rose Hill Community Centre, where all sorts of gadgets are fixed for free. Broken Spoke runs a bike repair workshop at the events.