NewsLetter January 08

Supermarket In Ottery?

Sustainable Ottery members have been giving a lot of thought to how to make the best use of the Ottery factory site to promote the food, energy, transport, employment and leisure needs of people living in and around Ottery.

You may remember before Christmas, the Herald reported that the developers who own the site met with representatives from East Devon District Council. Nothing has been said publicly but a planning application may be forthcoming soon which is likely to involve a supermarket.

Sustainable Ottery is planning a series of activities and events to support the development of the site in ways that increase the vibrancy and resilience of the community and help us reduce our carbon footprint and our dependency on oil.

Ideas so far include: making sure the site is energy independent by installing solar panels and by using the mill system to generate electricity; developing the site as a sustainable business centre; establishing a wholesale centre for local food producers; providing green housing; improving recycling facilities and ensuring the building recycles its own waste. Finally researching the feasibility of the people of Ottery buying and regenerating the buildings and site.

To get involved with researching and creating this vision and preparing a response to a supermarket application please come to 2 Bridge Cottages in Feniton on Monday 28th January at 7.30pm.

For help with transport ring 812683.

Visioning Day

On Saturday 9th February our visioning day is planned to take forward the process of imagining a shared vision of what kind of community we want Ottery St Mary to be in 20 years time. How do we go forward as an organisation and what kind of structure do we need in order to work together to build a community which is more resilient, interconnected, supportive and fun to live in? How can we use Sustainable Ottery and its subgroups as a way of making the town more energy independent and developing local food production and transport? How can all this make a radical difference to our carbon footprint and reduce our dependency on oil – the twin themes of the Transition movement.

An interactive day with an emphasis on enjoyment and creativity.

Time: 9.45am- 4pm. Location: The Loft, above the church office (‘The College’) off Silver street right by the Vicar’s house.

Please bring something to share for lunch. Thank you very much to the church for letting us use this space.

Please e-mail saraedrew @ uwclub.net (remove the spaces around the '@') if you would like to come.

Consultation on enlarging Ottery St Mary Primary School

A study by Cambridge University published in Autumn of 2007 showed that a group of 700 primary school children worried about global warming on average once a day contributing to a 'pervasive anxiety' the children felt about the world they were growing up in. The study also showed that if children were encouraged to participate in finding solutions to global warming their anxieties were noticeably lessened.

Well, maybe the children can get involved in finding some solutions. Due to increasing numbers of children in the area Ottery St Mary Primary is looking to expand its capacity to 420 spaces. It is proposed that this should be achieved by partially altering the existing building so that a two storey building can be built.

These changes to our primary school seem the ideal opportunity to demonstrate to the next generation the practical steps and solutions that can be sought to global warming. This offers us the combined benefits of ensuring the well being of our children and providing the community with a sustainable and low carbon emitting building for the future.

For example, wouldn't it be great for our school to harvest its grey water for toilet flushing or harness the power of sun for its heating system for example – and for the children to have a say in planning it. As well as this it’s an opportunity for the new school building to far exceed current building regulations with regard to environmental standards.

The consultation period has just begun and the views of parents and community members are being sought. A viable thriving local school is undoubtedly very important to our community and so this new build seems essential.

If you feel strongly about this issue then please do take the time to make your feelings known to the relevant authorities. A public notice will appear in the newspapers during the second week of March for general responses. Parents, staff and other members of the school can respond to the consultation by:

 the online form at www.consultationfinder.com/devon Write to: Karen Crockwell or Shona Meek, School Organisation Officers, CYPS, Room 120, County Hall, Topsham Road, Exeter, EX2 4GQEmail; karen.crockwell @ devon.gov.uk (remove the spaces around the '@' ) or telephone 01392 382778.

The closing date for responses is 5pm Friday 15 February 2008 for people connected to the school and 7 April 2008 for other members of the public.

For more information on the study quoted go to http://education.guardian.co.uk/schools/story/0,,2189504,00.html .

(Thanks to Claire Gunningham for this piece)

Sustainable Ottery: Ottery St Mary’s response to climate change, carbon footprints and peak oil.

Information: 01404 812683,

E-mail Us

Website: http://www.sustainableottery.org.uk/

Briefings:

http://www.transitionculture.org

http://www.oilcrisis.com/

http://www.richardheinberg.com/

http://www.eatthesuburbs.org/edap-primer

http://www.communitysolution.org/