World Cafe - 25th Jan 08

FEEDBACK FROM COMMUNITY GET TOGETHER JANUARY 25TH 2008

‘HOW COMMUNITY GROUPS CAN HELP SUSTAINABLE OTTERY MAKE OUR TOWN MORE SUSTAINABLE IN THE FACE OF PEAK OIL AND CLIMATE CHANGE’.

The purpose of this meeting was to exchange ideas about local and global environmental issues between a variety of organised groups within the Ottery St. Mary area and Sustainable Ottery (S.O.) . There were 7 organisations represented, i.e. – O.S.M. church, the W.I., the Rotary club, Ottery scouts, Healthy Living ladies, Beekepers Society, National Women’s Register plus several individuals representing themselves.

Sitting in groups at tables (World Café format) with a S.O. member as scribe, the groups were asked, "In what ways could you and your organisation help us to reach and engage the wider community to think about making Ottery St. Mary a better, more resilient place to live".

The responses to this question were noted and have been summarised in this document, in two main sections – general concerns and more specific concerns. However, when appropriate, after each comment there are actions that each person, group or organisation should undertake and similarly for Sustainable Ottery to undertake too.

1. GENERAL CONCERNS.

a.It is important to establish simple, achievable objectives relating to those matters which concern us most. Small steps will make it easier.

ACTION: S.O. to prioritise its objectives, reflecting local concerns and lead by example.

b.Some of the community groups present felt that S.O. would need to provide leadership and have a vision for Ottery. There was also support for the approach, ‘think globally – act locally’. We also need to incorporate justice issues for all.

ACTION: S.O. must take the lead in organising appropriate local responses to relevant issues and promote its vision for the future of Ottery.

ACTION ALL: All groups to be prepared to encourage and endorse these initiatives to keep the momentum going.

c.It is important to engage with people who wouldn’t normally worry about environmental issues through information and education. However, this information needs to be kept as clear as possible, jargon-free and stress the benefits of any proposed actions. Some felt that we need people to think beyond what they already do.

ACTION: S.O. to organise more informal talks, social get-togethers and meetings offering practical solutions to everyday issues.

ACTION ALL: All groups to be prepared to help ‘spread the word’, advertise and support S.O. initiatives. Ideas need to be shared.

2. SPECIFIC CONCERNS (starting with the most ‘popular’ topic, then descending popularity).

a.Recycling. 

- Why doesn’t E.D.D.C. collect plastic bottles and cardboard in their fortnightly door-to-door collections?

- Why don’t we take our plastic bottles and packaging back to the shops that we bought them in as a protest.

- Switch to buying milk in a glass bottle and re-introduce the concept of taking glass bottles back to shops for a refund.

- Why aren’t bottles of a standard size so that they could be reused by any factory?

- Couldn’t there be a recycling site for plastic and cardboard in Ottery?

- Get shops and supermarkets to stop giving out free plastic bags. Encourage use of reusable shopping bags (canvas, wicker, organic cotton etc.) or why not make our own or have a trendy shopping trolley.

ACTION: S.O.

- Recycling, Plastics and Packaging sub-group to write to E.D.D.C. and demand door-to-door collections of plastic and cardboard based upon the strength of feeling at the meeting.

- Write to local supermarkets about their policy about unnecessary plastic packaging.

- Circulate responses, so that shoppers can chose which shops to avoid.

- Source dairies providing milk in glass bottles.

- Continue campaign to ban plastic bags in Ottery.

ACTION ALL:

- As individuals or groups, write to E.D.D.C. about their door-to-door collection policy. This will be more effective than a petition.

- Try returning plastic bottles and unnecessary packaging to supermarkets and argue the case why you don’t want them. If enough customers complain they might have second thoughts.

- Don’t buy vegetables wrapped in plastic. Why not take along a Tupperware type box (old ice-cream carton) for loose meat, coleslaw, fish, cheese etc. instead of having a plastic container, cling-film or plastic sheet.

- Refuse to have a plastic bag at the till and ask why the shop is still giving them away.

- Always carry reusable bags with you or look for cardboard boxes in a shop to use. Buy a shopping trolley or make your own shopping bag.

- Join the S.O. sub-group on recycling, plastic and packaging.

b.Promoting local food

It is difficult to encourage growing your own food when there are not enough allotments in Ottery.

There should be more support for and promotion of locally grown food by local farmers and small holders.

Farmers have had a tough time and have had to diversify to survive. We need to support them, work with them and buy locally.

Promote healthy eating - create simple recipes based upon local, in season, produce.

Make them simple so that children can cook say at school but also to encourage adults to move away from convenience food and return to ‘cooking from scratch’ with raw, local ingredients.

Encourage one-pot cookery and steamers to reduce the energy used to cook food.

Re-educate people to be ‘seasonal appreciative’, i.e. don’t expect to eat strawberries in February that have been exported half-way around the world.

Need an holistic approach as there is an issue of justice to consider when we buy FairTrade goods, which are imported from many poor countries, all over the world versus the energy and transport cost (food miles) in getting these goods to our shops.

ACTION S.O.:

- The local-food sub-group to promote the launch of the new Ottery Community market to take place, initially, on the last Saturday morning of the month in the Institute (starting on April 26th).

- Write to the town council about the lack of allotments in Ottery St. Mary.

O- rganise talks or courses to encourage more people to grow their own fruit and vegetables and how to preserve surplus food to last through out the year.

- Investigate the apparent contradiction in promoting FairTrade goods and reducing food miles.

- Liaise with local cooks about suitable healthy recipes using local produce.

- Investigate the apparent contradiction in promoting FairTrade goods and reducing food miles.

ACTION ALL:

- As individuals or groups, write to Ottery St. Mary town council about the lack of allotments in Ottery.

- Grow food-producing crops instead of ornamental plants in your garden or grounds of your organisation. Freeze or ‘bottle’ any surplus to see you through the rest of the year.

- Buy locally grown, in-season food whenever possible rather than imported food – wait for summer for those strawberries!

- Try one-pot cooking or using a steamer on top of a saucepan to reduce cooking energy costs.

- Devise recipes using locally grown food and share with ours.

- Support the local farmers’ and community markets.

- Join the S.O. Food sub-group.

c.Energy/resources.

We could make much more use of renewable energy in Ottery.

Use the tumbling weir for its original purpose of harnessing energy and make the factory site a renewable energy complex for the town.

There is a need to adapt our landscape as we need to and not over-romanticise about how it used to be. The landscape is constantly changing due to human activity and after a while we will get used to wind turbines on picturesque hillsides or solar panels on the roofs of historic buildings. Tipton St. John Village Hall committee is applying for permission to install solar panels on the hall roof.

There is an opportunity at Ottery Primary school to campaign for more renewable energy use and the use of ‘grey-water’ during its proposed refurbishment.

in houses and schools etc.

Make everyone go on to a water meter to reduce waste water.

Encourage the use of solar-panels on roofs.

Ottery St. Mary church have had an energy audit carried out on their building by R.I.O.

ACTION S.O.:

- The Energy sub-group to investigate becoming an energy company that buys in energy at a reduced rate and sells at a reduced rate to its customers. Any ‘profit’ will be used to fund renewable sources of energy.

- Investigate with local solar energy companies about large-scale installation of roof solar panels at a reduced rate for Ottery residents. Research what grants are available to do this in addition to cavity wall insulation and roof insulation.

- Make a case for renewable energy use at Ottery Primary school, as championed by Seaton primary school.

- Campaign to reinstate the use of the tumbling weir and make the old factory site one for renewable energy.

ACTION ALL:

- Write to E.D.D.C. or Ottery St. Mary town council about reusing the tumbling weir and the old factory site as a complex for renewable energy.

- Switch to a water meter, if you don’t already have one. For most families this usually saves money.

- Write to Ottery St. Mary Primary School (headteacher Mr. D. Rylance) to encourage the installation of as many renewable energy devices or resource-saving ideas as possible, stressing the benefits to the school, the local environment but most importantly the positive impact upon the children and the way they deal with environmental issues in the future.

- Organise an energy audit for your organisation.

- Be prepared to support S.O. with their energy company and solar energy initiatives.

- Join the S.O. Energy sub-group.

 

d. Transport

Local public transport needs to be improved to encourage greater use.

There are good local buses for pensioners but overall bus services need improving.

Cheaper bus and train fares would help.

Petrol or diesel rationing would reduce the number of cars on the road and the number of unnecessary journeys.

Bio-fuel is not the answer to finding alternatives to petrol. Fields that should be growing crops to feed people are being turned over to non-edible crops to make bio-fuel.

Press for construction of the cycle path between Feniton and Tipton and safer areas for cycling in general.

Encourage a ‘walking-bus’ to get children to school.

Convert the triangle of ground in front of the Hospital into a safer area for school buses to park and The King’s School children to be picked-up from.

ACTION S.O.:

- The Transport sub-group to continue with its efforts with E.D.D. to have the cycle-path built along the old railway line between Feniton and Tipton, following their successful move to have it formally adopted by the town council. They were also involved with the successful - Sustrans bid to build the new bridge across the Otter to The King’s School.

- Encourage parents at Ottery Primary school to organise a walking bus.

ACTION ALL:

- Walk, cycle or take the bus, if public transport is not available, car-share to your group’s meetings or shopping trips to town.

- Write to E.D.D.C. about building a cycle-path between Feniton and Tipton.

- Volunteer to help in a walking-bus scheme at school.

- Join the S.O. transport sub-group.

e. Ottery shopping/employment.

To encourage local shopping introduce a Loyalty card scheme in shops. This could result in a small percentage reduction on each purchase or money back after spending so much etc.

In Totnes, there is the Totnes pound, the local form of currency which costs £ 9.50 for every 10 Totnes pounds. This ensures money stays within the town.

Introduce a similar scheme for children’s pocket money to encourage them to shop in Ottery.

Engage more with Otter Nurseries which is probably the biggest employer in Ottery.

Encourage the council to provide more business opportunities and hence more local employment.

Oppose the development of a proposed supermarket on the factory site which would spell disaster for the small independent shops in Ottery.

ACTION S.O.:

- Gather feedback from Totnes about the Totnes pound and approach the Chamber of Commerce about this or a similar loyalty scheme

- Arrange a meeting with Otter Nurseries to exchange ideas.

- Write to Ottery St. Mary town council or E.D.D.C. to determine any future business opportunities.

- Supermarket’ sub-group to prepare case against the development of a supermarket on the old factory site.

ACTION ALL:

- Do as much shopping as you can locally.

- Gather opinion from friends and colleagues about a loyalty scheme or an ‘Ottery pound’ idea and report back to S.O.

- Back a campaign to prevent a supermarket being built on the old factory site.

- Join the Supermarket sub-group.

f.Other concerns.

Ask for feedback on issues following articles in the Ottery Gazette.

Some areas outside Ottery, such as West Hill, do not receive the free Ottery Gazette or the Mid-week Herald and are therefore out-of-touch with what goes on.

Involve children more in sustainability issues as well as local and global environmental problems.

More communication between the town and east Devon councils, as well as with parish councils and other groups such as the Rotary Club. There is a need to involve other surrounding parishes, including those in rural areas.

ACTION S.O.:

- Lobby newsagents/delivery people to include West Hill and surrounding villages in their distribution of free papers.

- Include our e-mail address in every article published and ask for feedback or give an address for written replies.

- Write a regular article in the Parish magazine.

- Attend a session of Beavers/Scouts or Brownies/Guides who are working towards their environmental badge. Scouts have just had huge re-cycling event – annual jumble sale.

- Organise a poster competition for uniformed organisations or school children to design a poster ‘How I’d like to see Ottery’.

- Give presentations to local groups such as the W.I. or Rotary Club on local environmental issues.

- In our newsletter, include 10 practical things we can do in our daily lives to help save energy, recycle, sustainable shopping etc. 

There is a need to raise money to pay for putting on events such as film nights, gardening courses etc. The Rotary Club have suggested that they might be able to make a financial contribution.

ACTION ALL.:

- Be prepared to be the ‘green’ person in your local organisation (or wider a field) who people can come as first contact with queries. Ottery St. Mary church have appointed a ‘green apostle’ to do just that and to instruct members of the congregations on how to change to a ‘greener lifestyle’.

- Act as a conduit for opinions from S.O. to your members and also from your members to S.O.

- Use the S.O. website for information and a calendar of our upcoming events, www.sustainableottery.org.uk and our e-mail to get in touch with us

info @ sustainableottery.org.uk (remove the spaces around the '@') or write to us at Sustainable Ottery, c/o Roberts Hardware Stores, 13, Broad Street, Ottery St. Mary. We will always respond. 

- When you next meet as a group, share this document and challenge your colleagues to come back to your subsequent meeting having made a positive change to their shopping, driving, recycling etc. habits. Ask them for any more good ideas and feed them back as above.

- Encourage young people in your organisation to get involved with these issues. If you do not have any youngsters then why not offer to share some of your skills with local youth groups and the uniformed organisations, gardening, cooking, woodcraft etc.

- Join the S.O. steering group. We meet on the third Thursday at 7.30 p.m. of each month in the hall at the rear of the U.R.C. church in Jesu Street (opposite the Co-op and entrance opposite the ‘Lamb and Flag’). You’ll be most welcome to join us in our discussions – tea and biscuits always available.

- Help us fund-raise money to stage events, film-showings, courses etc. or other local initiatives or maybe you could provide venues for such activities.

Thank you for taking the time to come to our meeting. It proved to be very useful and successful, producing many good ideas. You will receive our newsletter every 4 – 6 weeks. We hope that this will be the beginning of an even more successful partnership in the future.

Sustainable Ottery. 07.02.2008.