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The Secretary's report to the Derrington Way Head AGM
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Welcome to ‘Derrington – Way Ahead’!
“We’re currently spending the Earth’s resources like there’s no tomorrow…”
WWF’s Living Planet Report
Derrington – Way Ahead!
Stafford Borough Council has worked hard to promote sustainable development for many years and has helped to instigate many successful projects.
At the end of 2008 Council was keen to work to establish a pilot low carbon community to look at ways to help whole communities become more sustainable and to identify ways to cut carbon, minimise our environmental footprint and help to tackle climate change.
This was also in part to look at ways to deliver on NI 186 - CO2 emissions per head in the local authority area.
So Derrington was proposed as a pilot and funding initially accessed from the Learning to Deliver programme and support through officer time and some seed funding from SBC.
Derrington – Way Ahead!
Subsequently a keen Steering Group was formed, including enthusiastic reps from the Village Hall Committee and many other village groups, plus support from external agencies such as Sustainability Matters, Beat the Cold and Stafford and Rural Homes
The group named itself 'Derrington - Way Ahead‘!
It then undertook a community consultation exercise to indicate projects the community was keen to be involved with - and through this many projects have since been successfully undertaken. From the start of the project, improving energy efficiency at the Village Hall was understood to be an important objective!
Derrington – Way Ahead!
Our AimOur aim was to improve energy efficiency at the Village Hall and
to ensure the Hall continues to provide a valued and diverse community facility for all local residents, and for visitors,
far into the future.
Problems! • Energy systems at the Hall were aged and inefficient• Electricity and oil consumption rates were high resulting in
excessive fuel costs • The building lacked effective heating control • Flat roof areas were un-insulated, allowing significant heat loss
- and were also discoloured and unsightly
• These issues effected the quality of the Village Hall as a community facility and resulted in the need to pass costs on to users – they would also just get worse over time …
Village Hall – energy makeover!
A bid for funding to cover the cost of an Energy Audit was put together by John Watkins and submitted to the Building Research Establishment (BRE).
This was successful and with a contribution from the RE:think project administered by SCC, we commissioned Marches Energy Agency to undertake the audit.
The report indicated works to do and has guided us in the subsequent practical work/improvements, including the three major projects.
Then – we got very busy applying for the necessary grant funding - from many different pots of money!
The audit was undertaken in October 2009 and the main energy measures undertaken in Oct 2010, with a grant launch and celebration event on February 16th!
Village Hall – energy makeover!
The BenefitsImprovement of the Village Hall as a facility for the local community and others users ie comfort and quality
Improved energy efficiency, reduced energy consumption, lower running costs, in particularelectricity and oil bills
Passing on savings to help keep hire costs lower – or rent free for specific community uses and groups
Reduction in fossil fuel consumption and therefore environmental benefits, including helping to address climate change
Village Hall – energy makeover!
Long term community benefit - ensuring the Village Hall remains viable, far into the future, for the village community, village children and eventually their families and friends too
We agreed to share our knowledge and tell others what we’d done, in as an imaginative way as possible!
Derrington – Way Ahead!
Derrington – Way Ahead!
The Village Hall project has been a central project, but we have we have achieved much more too!
Through Beat the Cold, 54 household energy visits have been undertaken - that’s 15% of all homes - helping families save money, improve their energy efficiency and lead more sustainable lifestyles. There have been some notable success stories!
Energy Saving …
Beat the Cold supported many energy saving measures:
Loft insulation (9 homes), Cavity wall insulation (4 homes), Light bulbs (hundreds replaced), Energy monitors (30 households), TV Power-downs, Computer Power-downs, Tank Jackets, Installation of a new boiler
Energy Monitors helped the following types of behaviour changes: Timing showers to 4 minutes; Turning down the thermostat; Changing the breakfast routine so the kettle is only put on once not twice; Shutting down the PC when not in use; Turning off unused lights; 1 person has fixed the lid on a freezer so it shuts properly - with the intention of buying a new one as soon as possible, when they saw how much it was costing them; purchase of 'A' rated fridge and freezer, and a new kettle with a water gauge; many residents stated that statedthat the Energy Monitors made them extremely aware of their electricity usage!
Practical Action!
We asked people a number of other questions about a year after the project began and found that, as well as energy saving, a wide range of other practical actions had been undertaken by individual citizens eg:
Walking and cycling more; eating more local food; using the cycle track; growing my own veg; installing a new boiler; installing a water meter; placing a water saver in the cistern; planting a fruit tree; putting up a solar panel; more recycling; reducing energy use overall
Practical Action!
Also, at that time:
75% of respondents consider the initiative has helped the environment; 87% think the project has helped them; 60% are aware there are web-pages about the project; 44% have changed their travel habits with 67% of people either using the car less, using public transport more, or walking or cycling more; 49% have started growing their own food or buying local food as a result of this project and 47% believe they have reduced their energy consumption
People and Projects ….
Two Local Food Festivals have now been held – promoting our own local farmers and encouraging families and schoolchildren to have a go at growing food too. Our third is planned for Sept 17th!
We have also produced our very ownLocal Food Directory and have somebudding young entrepreneurs!
Derrington – Way Ahead! We have worked together with Cooper Perry, our local primary
school, to plant a school orchard and run climate change workshops – the school is keen to embrace environmental issues and has set up an Eco-Club!
40 villagers planted fruit trees in their gardens, through our ‘adopt an apple tree’ event
Derrington – Way Ahead! On the tree theme, our Brownies had an evening re-potting
saplings and learning about the importance of trees last November. They made about 25 nest boxes in February this year and in May planted seedlings and seeds to exhibit at the Food Festival!
Derrington – Way Ahead!
We have held two seasons of films about Climate Change and Sustainability, including for children, plus arranged a talk by Richard Davies from the Marches Energy Agency
We have helped set up the led Health Walk on Wednesdays - and to support walking, have held a series of Community Bench Building events – building around 15 rustic benches, with help from SCC and helpers of all ages!
We have held two seasons of films about Climate Change and Sustainability, including for children, plus arranged a talk by Richard Davies from the Marches Energy Agency
Derrington – Way Ahead!
We have organised a Furniture and Bike Collection Day in conjunction with the Furniture Exchange and Back 2 Bikes.
We have installed a Shoe Bank at the Village Hall and a Cartridge Recycling bin too – we should be having a new ‘node’ at the Red Lion pub shortly ….
Another consultation exercise last October revealed strong support for introducing IT facilitiesat the Village Hall – so we haverecently installed broadband andbought two laptops - our villageIT heroes, Charlotte and Peter have been holding ‘one to one’ support sessions since January!
Derrington – Way Ahead!
All we do is detailed on the web-pages hosted by the Village Hall website and we promote the project through the Church and Village Magazine, edited by Jackie Skelson, through fliers and posters and the village grapevine.
We have been proud to receive several awards, including a national Green Apple Award and more recently the initiative came runner up in the NEA awards. The “outstanding feature of this initiative has been the number and range of practical outcomes and the number of individuals and groups that have been actively involved”.
Derrington – Way Ahead!
Projects just round the corner: plans to install cycle parking around village; create a Village Trail; further develop the IT project; run some summer holiday activities for children, investigate a community renewables project and:
The Third Local Food Festival, Sept 17th Derrington Village Hall!
As a pilot project we are sharing experienceshere with other communities across the countythrough the Staffordshire Climate ChangePartnership, as well as within local projectsin Stafford communities, such as the Penkside Project.
Well done Derrington!
