Aims And Objectives

This page sets out the aims and objectives for our newly formed, non-profit community-based organisation, Sustainable Ottery.

We are a group of individuals who have come together to try and do something collectively at a community level about the threat of global warming and our reliance on steadily depleting fossil fuels.

The group was formed in response to a letter and article placed in a local newspaper in February 2007 by three residents of Ottery St Mary to which other local residents and traders then responded.

Sustainable Ottery’s basic aim is to:

Promote a more sustainable community that is less dependent on fossil fuels, more reliant on its own resources, and actively working to reduce carbon emissions.

Sustainable Ottery’s objectives are to:

•Raise awareness in the local community of Ottery St Mary and surrounding villages of:

a) the threat and implications of climate change and declining fossil fuel supplies for ourselves, our children, our community and the surrounding area of East Devon

b) actions that could be taken both individually and collectively to reduce our dependency on fossil fuels and help make our community more sustainable in the long term.

Initially this awareness-raising will be undertaken through a series of film showings and public meetings in accessible venues in the centre of Ottery St Mary.

•Encourage local residents and traders to come together and develop plans and actions for reducing our carbon emissions and our dependency on fossil fuels. In the coming months we intend to create different sub-groups for taking forward a series of actions. These sub-groups will be agreed on by local participants but are likely to include transport, energy use, and local food production.

•Build partnerships and cooperation with:

-existing community structures such as the OSM Town Council and the OSM Chamber of Commerce

-local groups already working to promote a more sustainable community such as Recycling in Ottery (Rio) and Otter Rotters

-local churches, youth groups, and community associations in OSM

-local primary and secondary schools

-other community-based groups elsewhere in Devon and the UK committed to promoting more sustainable communities and to reducing use of fossil fuels. We have a lot to learn from each other’s experiences.

•Our activities include:

  - Holding talks, films screenings and debates

  -Running events such as a green fair with recycling activities,

  junk -modelling, making water wheels etc

  -Future activities may include a community garden, tree planting

  -A lot of our work will build on existing activities in the locality

For more information e-mail us or call 01404 811464