The Caerphilly Miners Centre for the Community will receive a share of more than £600,000 awarded to two local organisations under the Welsh Government’s Ynni Cymru programme, the government announced on Monday. The funding forms part of a wider £8.27 million package allocated to 24 organisations across Wales in the scheme’s third round.
Local hub to get support for energy and community resilience
Based in a former hospital building more than a century old, the Caerphilly Miners Centre welcomes roughly 500 people each week and provides activities ranging from therapies and exercise classes to arts sessions, play activities, volunteering opportunities and support for micro-businesses. The centre’s trustees say reductions in energy spend will free up resources to sustain and expand those services for people of all ages in the town.
The Welsh Government said the funding will help local organisations "reduce energy costs, lower carbon emissions and direct more resources towards supporting local people." For Caerphilly, that means the Miners Centre can prioritise community activities while seeking to make its large, older building more economical to run.
One scheme among many across Wales
Ynni Cymru is designed to back community-owned and charity projects that can deliver renewable energy, energy efficiency and storage. The Monmouthshire project named in this round — Wye Gymnastics and Galaxy Cheerleading in Caldicot — is planning to use its award for a package of measures including solar panels, battery storage, heat pumps, electric vehicle charging points and smart energy controls. As a charity, the organisation said every pound saved on energy will be redirected to community provision.
- Programme total: £8.27 million to 24 organisations
- Local share: More than £600,000 awarded to two organisations in Monmouthshire and Caerphilly
- Caerphilly impact: Support for the Miners Centre, which serves around 500 weekly visitors
| Item | Figure |
|---|---|
| Total Ynni Cymru round 3 funding | £8.27 million |
| Local awards (Monmouthshire & Caerphilly) | More than £600,000 |
"Helping them reduce energy costs, lower carbon emissions and direct more resources towards supporting local people."
Community leaders and voluntary-sector managers in Caerphilly have increasingly highlighted energy costs as a pressure on frontline provision. Older buildings, in particular, can be costly to heat and maintain — a burden that often falls on charities and community groups operating on tight budgets. Funding from programmes such as Ynni Cymru is intended to tackle that structural problem by reducing running costs and emissions simultaneously.
For residents who use the Miners Centre’s services, any fall in overheads could translate into more stable opening hours, affordable classes and additional support for vulnerable people. The centre already hosts a broad mix of provision, from therapeutic services to support for small local enterprises, and trustees say the ability to divert energy savings into programmes could help protect those activities against future financial pressures.
While the precise measures planned for the Caerphilly Miners Centre were not set out in detail in the government announcement, the award places the centre among a national cohort of community organisations seeking to move towards cleaner, cheaper energy. Local groups and councillors will be watching the project closely as an example of how targeted capital investment can sustain community services while advancing Wales’s net-zero goals.
The Ynni Cymru programme has previously supported a range of community-led initiatives to deploy renewables and efficiency measures; this latest round underlines the continuing focus on helping grassroots organisations manage costs and carbon as economic and environmental challenges persist.
