Newsletter January 2010
Sustainable Ottery: Ottery St Mary’s response to climate change, carbon footprints and peak oil.
Welcome to the January 2010 edition of
Sustainable Ottery’s monthly newsletter
Happy New Year to everyone! Sustainable Ottery has lots to celebrate as we recently received confirmation from Companies House that we are now a Community Interest Company. Fantastic news! Heartfelt thanks to those individuals who spent hours and days poring over perplexing paperwork to make this happen. It means we now have a much firmer foundation from which to grow. Watch this space for more details of our new membership scheme, AGM and new structure.
In the meantime, we have been busy fighting Sainsbury’s planning application – more on that below - and now we need our supporters to take urgent action on the Land of Canaan to King’s School cyclepath/footpath project (see below). Don’t forget that this month’s Community Market is next Saturday 9th Jan in The Institute. And on Sat 20 March we are holding a re-skilling day. Read on for more details.
Urgent - please e-mail EDDC’s Executive Committee TODAY or before evening of this Weds 6 Jan in order to save the planned Land of Canaan to King’s School cyclepath and footpath (see e-mail addresses below).
Yet again we are having to pull the stops out to ensure this project goes ahead – only a year after we thought we had successfully persuaded EDDC to plug the gap in the budget and give the project the green light. A year ago SO supporters saved the day by writing e-mails to district councillors and/or attending the relevant council meeting when it looked like EDDC might axe the project. Please help us do the same again.
This is why we need your help: last week an article in the Ottery Herald (31 Dec) alerted us to the fact that EDDC’s Executive Committee is having a closed meeting this Wednesday 6 January to discuss the Land of Canaan cyclepath/footpath. Through further investigation we learnt that the whole project could be pulled at Wednesday’s meeting as part of EDDC’s financial savings drive. We cannot let this happen – not after all the campaigning and lobbying we’ve done over the past 2.5 years (and others long before that) to make the project a reality. Think of our children’s safety walking to and from school along Barrack Rd and young mothers with buggies trudging in and out of town along that busy road. And think of the extra car journeys, pollution, carbon emissions and congestion that will be prevented once this path is built. And likewise the positive effect of linking the King’s School, the hospital and the Thorne Farm Estate to the rest of Ottery.
Most of the funding for the project has been secured from elsewhere (ie from Sustrans supported by the People’s Lottery of Dec 2007 and from Devon County Council). EDDC’s contribution of £100,000 is only a small proportion of the overall budget – which is why we can’t let this relatively small amount scupper the whole project.
Even if you only have time to write a few words or a few lines, please e-mail the individual councillors on EDDC’s Executive Committee today (5 Jan) or tomorrow (but before the evening mtg). Here are the e-mail addresses of the Executive Committee Councillors. It’s fine to send your message to all the councillors at the same time in a single e-mail:
srandalljohnson@eastdevon.gov.uk
Sustainable Ottery Community Market
Saturday 9th January 9.30am – 12.30pm, The Institute, Yonder St, OSM. Plenty of locally produced vegetables, flowers, eggs, preserves & chutneys and home baked cakes, as well as unique presents and cards. Please call Penny Hounslow on 01404 814632 to book a table or Beatrix Godfrey on 01404 812213 if you would like to help in any way.
Reskilling Day: March 20th The Institute, Ottery St Mary
Ever fancied a spot of home brewing or bread making? Ever wondered how to sew, knit or darn, or wondered about some basic DIY? Or when to start growing seedlings, how to preserve or make jam? If you fancy having a go at some or any of these activities then come along to our Skills day at the Institute on March 20th. We have been awarded £150 by the co-operative to fund this event.
AND if you want to offer a skill please get in touch. You can e-mail info@sustainableottery.org.uk
No to Sainsbury’s campaign
In spite of our limited resources (both human and financial) we have managed to mount a respectable and organised campaign against Sainsbury’s planning application immediately after our campaign against Tesco’s plans – thanks to the dedicated efforts of just a handful of campaigners at a busy time of year. We sent round a press release which several local newspapers ran and we produced a leaflet to help people write their letters of objection, drawing on a detailed analysis of Sainsbury’s own traffic assessment and on the research we commissioned into local shops in 2009. The leaflet (printed in orange, of course) was then distributed to virtually every household in Ottery – thanks to the many SO supporters who offered to push them through letterboxes at short notice. And finally several of us attended and spoke at the town council meeting to discuss the Sainsbury application on 22 Dec, as reported in the press. The end result has been a significant number of objections submitted to EDDC (both online and in writing) before the deadline of 5 January. If you haven’t yet objected, you can still do so in writing even though the official deadline has passed (quote planning application no. 09/2354/MFUL). Legally the Council is obliged to take on board objections right up till the final decision meeting.
Regrettably (in our opinion) the Town Council voted in favour of the Sainsbury’s plans on 22 Dec – in spite of the traffic chaos the Sainsbury store could create and the negative impact on local businesses in direct competition with the store. We are also disappointed that the Town Council has not raised the bar higher in terms of the conditions and community benefits it is proposing EDDC apply to a potential approval of the Sainsbury application. We shall seek to discuss this further with the town council in the coming weeks.
We sincerely hope EDDC rejects both the Tesco application and the Sainsbury application as we believe there are sound planning reasons for doing so. We understand that EDDC councillors will probably make a decision about both applications in the same meeting, due to take place some time in February – and in Ottery, we hope. Although the formal consultation period for both applications is now over, we will continue to challenge the view that Ottery `needs’ a supermarket and the notion that one or the other should be granted planning permission. We know many people in Ottery are opposed to both supermarkets and we hope you will come along to the decisive EDDC meeting and tell councillors this direct. We shall keep you posted of the date and location of this meeting.
Otter Valley Harvest Hub update
Apple-shed Our office-cum-store-cum-workshop is coming along fine. The ceiling is finished and the sink is being installed. The walls will soon be painted and by then the weather will probably be warm enough to start sowing for the new season! A woodburner has very kindly been offered us for the ‘shed, so we’re now investigating the logistics of installing it.
Members are still wanted- so please get in touch if you want to get involved. We’re a small but friendly bunch so we welcome new faces- there’s plenty to do!
Visitors The best day for visits is Saturday- between 10 and 2 but remember to call us first as Escot otherwise charges for admission.
FURTHER INFO:
PHIL 851048 philfoggitt@gmail.com; or
CHRISTINA 814086 christina@davidwilkinsacd.co.uk
Food Group.
Unfortunately, due to illness, the next meeting of the food group – set for 6th January – has had to be cancelled.
Concert
Following the success of last year’s “Ellingtonia” concert, there will be another "Ellingtonia" jazz concert on the 12th February (Friday) Ottery Parish Church, 8pm, tickets £10 from T.I.C., Roberts, or Church Office, or 01404 813964.
Any profits will be shared with the Melanesian Brothers who were badly flooded last year, (Climate Change?) and need all the help they can get.
The next SO monthly Steering Group meeting is on Thursday 21st January, 7.30pm, URC Hall, Yonder St (the hall directly behind the URC church opposite the Co-op).
Please pass on this newsletter to any contacts you have. If you have been sent this by a friend, please e-mail info@sustainableottery.org.uk adding `subscribe’ to the subject line. If you would like to be removed from the mailing list, please let us know. And if you currently receive a paper copy of this newsletter but could receive it electronically (which is cheaper and more environmentally friendly), please send us your e-mail address.
See www.sustainableottery.org.uk for further details of our events and activities.
