Community action

Keynsham

Community rubbish pick is this Sunday, 10 February from 11 to 1pm meeting at the gravel car park by the Lock Keeper pub.  B&NES are lending us some equipment, but do bring your own if you have it.

Keynsham Wombles is a Transition Keynsham Project aiming to reduce the amount of litter on our streets.  If you feel able to help pick up litter in a small area near your home or work in Keynsham please email womble@transitionkeynsham.org and we will love you for ever!!

Bath City Farm

9th  Feb Community litter pick Take in the beautiful surroundings and do something for a
good cause!  The farm needs volunteers to help clean up the site – go on, it will be fun!
All equipment will  be provided. Meet outside the Farm shop. Everyone welcome.
Booking not required (10.30 – 12.30pm).
16th Feb Community tree planting day Have a great day out and help the farm by
planting trees  in our sheep field. All tools and tuition will be provided. Everyone welcome.
Booking not required (10.30 – 3.00pm).

Green Homes in Bath

Interviewed by The Breeze today on the invitation to householders to join in the HomesFitForTheFuture campaign in which householders open up their homes for visitors to coe and see how homes can have theri energy consumption greatly improved and thus save money and reduce CO2 emissions. A win win campaign. The main weekend will be March 17 18 but the campaign to encourage householders to take up sonme of the ideas on offer for their own homes will last two months.

Welcome funding boost for Bath energy saving project

Liberal Democrat Energy and Climate Change Secretary, Chris Huhne has announced that Bath & West Community Energy  (BWCE) in Bath will be receiving £30,825 from the first £4m allocation from the Local Energy Assessment Fund.

Locally owned and run  BWCE is one of the first of around 80 local energy projects to win funding from the new £10m Local Energy Assessment Fund.

The money will be used by BWCE to engage local, professional energy specialists who will survey five local schools, Ralph Allen, Oldfield, Newbridge, Bathford, and Colerne primary schools. They will suggest ways of improving energy efficiency and how any improvements could be financed. Using the schools as a base, they will also recruit and train community ‘energy champions’. These champions will work with pupils, their families and the school community to find practical and effective ways to reduce energy in their homes.

At a time when people are worried about rising energy bills, this funding is a welcome boost to help people save energy and keep costs down.  Projects like that of BWCE’s show people that going green is realistic, practical and will help them save money in ways that work in our area.  Local communities will be put at the heart of the UK’s effort to rise to the enormous challenge to get clean and cheap energy on our efforts to halt climate change and to end our reliance on erratic market of imported oil and gas.

Lo Carbon Workshop

‘Building Community Capacity’ workshop, Renewable & Low Carbon Energy in the West of England
Saturday 14 January 2012

My opening remarks for the workshop day

• I am very pleased to be here today to welcome you all to this important workshop about community energy

• As a local authority, we exist for the well-being of our residents
• This well-being is threatened by the twin challenge of climate change and rising energy prices
• We have made de-carbonising our district a priority and aim to help cut our district’s carbon emissions by 45% by 2026 and of course this is an important issue for all of us across the West of England
• So we are very pleased to be leading a series of low carbon projects, on behalf of all the authorities in the West of England, including one looking at what we can all do to realise the potential for ‘Renewable and Low Carbon Energy in the West of England’ – which this workshop is a part of
• Because of course local sustainable energy production is not just essential to cutting carbon emissions, but also to the future economic prosperity and well-being of our communities
• We are very concerned to ensure that local people have a real say and a real stake in local energy projects that are of real benefit to them in every sense – and that local businesses benefit and can create new ‘green’ jobs, retaining economic benefits locally
• For some time now we have been supporting the work of the Transition movement in our area. We have several very active Transition groups now – as well as a number of organisations that have emerged from Transition, such as Bath & West Community Energy and Energy Efficient Widcombe, who benefitted directly from the Council’s local energy champion training. ( Both of these organisations are here today)
• All of these community groups have been making a real impact on the ground
• Quite literally in some cases – I have just agreed to hand over a plot of land to Transition Larkhall in Bath for vegetable growing – not a topic for today, but nonetheless very important work in our efforts to cut carbon emissions!
• We are very proud of our partnership with Bath & West Community Energy, whose twin aims of delivering local sustainable energy and keeping the income from those projects in the community will help us to deliver our priorities.
• I know that you will be hearing from them later on this morning along with other community based organisations and local support organisations, so that we can all learn from each other
• And that really is the point of today – to see how we can work together to build further on all the exciting community based work that is already happening across the West of England and to see if we can find ways, together, to engage more local people in this work, to accelerate community sustainable energy development and realise the huge potential that we know is out there to generate local clean energy and make an even bigger difference
• So thanks again for making the effort to come along and I wish you a truly inspiring and productive day

Fracking in the Mendips

The debate continues and I am delighted that Don Foster signed EDM 2292 which advocates the need for a full impact assessment on the technique before it is allowed in the UK. Here in B&NES the concern is on the possible consequences to the thermal waters of Bath if fracking is allowed in the Mendips.

HYDRAULIC FRACTURING (FRACKING) (No. 2)

That this House believes a moratorium should be placed on onshore and offshore exploration, development and production of shale gas via the withdrawal of UK Petroleum Exploration and Drilling Licences at sites utilising hydraulic fracturing (fracking) processes, at least until the publication of a detailed environmental impact assessment into the practice; notes that hydraulic fracturing can contaminate local water sources such as aquifers, which provide about 30 per cent. of the UK’s drinking water; further believes the production of hard to reach fossil fuels is not compatible with efforts to achieve the UK’s statutory carbon budgets; and, therefore, urges the Government instead to give greater support to the generation of energy from renewable sources.

LINK to pursuad your MP to sign is at this LINK

Bath Community Energy

Bath and NE Somerset has launched a partnership protocol with a local Social Enterprise Bath and West Community Energy whichb has arisen out of the Transition Bath movement.

I attended the share offer launch to give the Council’s views on the ititative and at the Cabinet we approved the partnership protocol.

My Notes which formed my speach at the launch:-

Cllr Crossley: BWCE Launch

Council hosts launch event for new initiative with carbon reduction community company

  • Pleased to be able to host this event as part of future cooperation with Bath & West Community Energy

Background- the challenge and aims

  • As a local authority, we exist for the wellbeing of our residents.
  • This wellbeing is threatened by the twin challenge of climate change and rising energy prices
  • As such, we have made de-carbonising our district a priority, and aim to help cut the district’s carbon emissions by 45% by 2026.
  • Clean, renewable energy is key to this, so our Draft Core Strategy contains the aim of installing 110 megawatts of renewable electricity in our district by 2026.
  • This is an ambitious aim, but it is vital that we achieve it, not only to address energy prices and climate change, but also because renewable energy is an important economic opportunity.
  • To take full advantage of the economic opportunity, revenues from renewable energy must stay in the local area, providing local prosperity and jobs.

Strongly supporting the aims of BWCE

  • BWCE offers us an opportunity to start to make this happen. BWCE seeks to generate at least 25% of the draft Core Strategy target by 2026, amounting to over 25MWe, through community-based, local projects.
  • We supporting  BWCE’s aims of delivering local sustainable energy and keeping the income from those projects in the community,  because if they are successful, they will help us to deliver our priorities. BWCE will keep energy revenues local, through their community fund, the returns to local investors and by developing a local low carbon supply chain for their projects.
  • I should say of course that it is not for the Council to comment on the financial merits of the shares on offer today.
  • But what I can say is that we are delighted that the first project that BWCE is planning is about offering solar panels to our schools. This means it will be possible for schools to work with BWCE and to get a deal that competes well with the market, but with unique benefits to our community. Not only will it enable our children to learn first-hand about our clean energy future, but the free electricity will help our schools to be resilient to energy price rises and, even better, the revenues from these projects will recycle locally rather than leave the area as company profits.
  • We are especially pleased that if BWCE’s aims are met, they intend to be investing in 4-5 years’ time around £275-300,000 a year on average into further low carbon projects in our area, depending on which types of technologies they install.
  • We are one of very few local authorities in the country who is fortunate to have a local organisation that intends to do this.
  • We also welcome SSE’s £1million investment in our area. By working with companies such as SSE, and the Council, BWCE should be able to attract the further finance needed to meet its aims.
  • We have been truly inspired by BWCE’s extensive expertise, enthusiasm and entrepreneurialism.  We wish them every success and look forward to cooperating with them further in the future.

The BWCE is getting support from Scottish and Southern Electricity     and their CEO was at the launch.

See below a blog on the Guardian website about the BCE launch for info written by the CEO of Scottish and Southern Energy

<http://www.guardian.co.uk/sustainable-business/blog/energising-community-renewables-big-business?newsfeed=true>http://www.guardian.co.uk/sustainable-business/blog/energising-community-renewables-big-business?newsfeed=true

Fracking

The local paper The Chronicle ran an article with a positive slant on Fracking READ HERE

Whilst the Guardian has also run a positive story on this from an interview with the minister READ HERE

However if you look around YouTube it is easy to find examples of the risky nature of this business.

See this YOUTUBE

What is clear is that no licence to Frack should be granted without a lot more research into the methods used and the outcomes researched properly.

The Breeze FM Interview

The Breeze is the new radio station in Bath and I have now set my car radio to it and am enjioying the music. Today they called me for my third interview on the launch of Bath Community Energy which is launched tomorrow. This will be a local social enterprise taking advantage of the Feeder tarrifs to generate solar energy from people s roof and thereby reduce CO2, generate income and reduce household electricity bills.  Now thats what I call a triple lock win.

End Ocean Clear Cut fishing

AVAAZ have another petition going to stop bad fishing practice

As concerned global citizens, we call on you immediately to implement and enforce your obligations to the UN resolutions on fishing and work to ban the destructive practice of deep-sea bottom-fishing. We urge you to usher in a new era of accountability and commitment to our injured oceans by steadfastly holding other nations to their promises to protect oceans and curb devastation.

to sign up click HERE