A NEW partnership is aiming to help expand ‘warm spaces’ across the Wellington and West Somerset areas.

National Grid Electricity Distribution and Warm Welcome has launched a ‘Warm Welcome for All’ pledge, a commitment toward a vision of everybody having free access to warm, welcoming community spaces.

Since the cost of living crisis emerged two years ago, churches and other volunteers have organised a number of local ‘warm spaces’ in Wellington, Milverton, Minehead, Watchet, Williton, and other small communities across West Somerset and Exmoor.

The news came as the partnership hosted a roundtable at National Grid’s headquarters chaired by former Prime Minister Gordon Brown to discuss the role businesses can play in supporting community spaces in Somerset which tackle fuel poverty and create a more connected society.

It was attended by senior national business leaders and helped to identify opportunities for collaboration with Warm Welcome, and with each other, to build a collective, positive impact on communities.

Warm Welcome has developed a network of 4,000 community warm welcome spaces of all kinds, faith groups, libraries, community centres, sports clubs, theatres, cafes, and more.

They have received more than 4.5 million visits over the past two winters, with 62 per cent of the population now within a 30-minute walk of a registered space.

Warm Welcome has been a key recipient of National Grid’s Community Matters Fund with more than 400 ‘warm spaces’ receiving £2.7 million funding last year.

Since launching in 2021, the fund has awarded £10.5 million to local groups, charities, and not-for-profit organisations.

The new partnership will create opportunities for National Grid employees to volunteer in local Warm Welcome spaces through the winter and ensure more spaces in Somerset are given the support they require to thrive as a community hub for those in need.

The aim is to create a co-ordinated ecosystem of support for vulnerable consumers, with signposting and referrals between local Warm Welcome spaces, home energy advice, and other sources of support such as National Grid’s priority services register (PSR).

The PSR provides extra help and additional support during a power cut for elderly, very ill, or disabled people, or those who rely on power for medical equipment.

Warm Welcome’s new five-year strategy aims to give 100 per cent of the population good access to thriving, sustainable, and inclusive community spaces.

Gordon Brown said: “Warm Welcome is starting to change the culture of our country, beginning to turn the tide on both poverty and isolation and connecting individuals and communities.

“With the support of corporate partnerships, foundations, and donors, Warm Welcome is a model for the kind of partnerships that will endure because they bring people together and ensure the whole is greater than the sum of its parts.

“It will serve as a catalyst for change, encouraging more and more businesses to come forward in support of the ‘Warm Welcome for All’ pledge.

“By working together, we can unlock the power of community and create a more deeply connected society in community spaces made by, and for, everybody.”