Green Suffolk News

Walk to Work Week – Monday 14th May to Friday 18th May 2012

Chris Ward — Mon, 14 May 2012 09:27:41 +0100

Fresh Ways to Work and Lowestoft Local Links have stepped up to the challenge and signed up for national Walk to Work Week (14-18 May). We hope that you can join us for some healthy competition.

If you can’t walk all of part of your journey to work you can still get involved: from lunchtime walks, to walking meetings, to uploading photos from your walks.

Do you and your work colleagues have what it takes to go up against other organisations in a Walk to Work Week Challenge?

Simply gather a team of colleagues (max. 20 per team but each company may have as many teams as they wish) and walk to and from work or for business travel during Walk to Work Week then record your mileage on the Walk to Work Week website.

http://mylivingstreets.org.uk/walktoworkweek

The triumphant winners will be crowned at the end of the week with prizes for:

•?The team with the highest average mileage per team member

•?The team with the highest percentage of staff taking part in the challenge

•?Walking Champion of the week

Every participant will be entered into a prize draw.

Don’t forget to create a team name and provide a photo of your team to freshways@suffolk.gov.uk
We’ll get in touch and provide you with some extra incentives for your team!

Easy going trails pack

Emma Flint — Thu, 10 May 2012 14:34:50 +0100

Suffolk is full of beautiful and varied countryside from the heritage coast to inspiring Constable Country to the wilds of the Brecks.

The county is blessed with large swathes of forest and woodland, acres of heathland and many country parks and picnic sites.

The pack contains a selection of 18 trails, each of which gets you close to nature in the very heart of Suffolk’s countryside. Each trail is very easy to follow on generally level ground. They range from just 1/3 mile to 8 miles. Explore magical Cavenham Heath, see rare birds at Lackford Lakes, visit Britain’s first village at West Stow Country Park, enjoy the beautiful grounds at Thornham Walks, or marvel at the views from Dunwich Heath.

Trails have been carefully assessed by a team of disabled volunteers and are divided into Easy Access Trails, which are suitable for all, and Easy Going Trails, which follow slightly rougher ground and are a bit more challenging. Each walk starts at a car park, most have accessible toilet facilities and many have cafés or tearooms. A few are really wild destinations with no facilities, such as Cavenham Heath, although facilities are close by.

Click here to find out more about these easy access trails.

Will one really wet month make the drought go away?

Emma Flint — Sun, 06 May 2012 13:52:45 +0100

The recent downpours of heavy rain have provided some welcome relief for farmers, gardeners and the environment in our drought-hit region. In fact, this April has been the wettest for almost 100 years. Unfortunately, though, our groundwater resources, which make up almost half of all the drinking water we supply, take longer to replenish.

Seeing rain stream down the window and the swollen rivers, it’s hard to believe there can still be a shortage of water. But after such a long period of dry weather we are going to need more than a few wet weeks to cancel out the deficit caused by many months of below average rainfall.

Mike Cook, Head of Water Resources explains why;

“We operate in the driest part of the country and have to carefully manage water resources to ensure we have enough for our 4.2 million customers.

“Up until the end of March, we had experienced the driest 18 months for 100 years, only receiving between 60 and 80 per cent of the rainfall we normally expect.”

“This exceptionally dry period spanned two winter periods during which reservoirs and rivers would normally refill and recover.”

What happens when it rains, where does the water go?

After a lot of rain the rivers look a lot higher, but this change only lasts as long as the rain does. Anglian Water captures a lot of the rain that flows into the rivers, and pumps it into reservoirs. Most of these are recovering well following the recent rainfall – but reservoirs only supply half of the drinking water we need in our region.

The graph below provided by the Met Office, shows just how much below average rainfall we have had in the past few years compared to what we would normally expect.

Despite the recent rain, East Anglia is still designated as an area in drought and so it’s important we all know how best to conserve water supplies

As part of their 'Drop 20' campaign, Anglian Water is offering advice to its customers, including free water saving products for the home and garden Find out more.

Don't forget a there is now a Hosepipe Ban in effect. Find out if you are affected by the ban here.

The Environment Agency has also provided some handy tips and guidance on keeping water use at a minimum.

It is also urging people to be on the lookout for warning signs in the natural environment, such as fish gasping for air, by reporting any concerns to its incident hotline 0800 80 70 60.

Free Sustainable Product Design Event for Business

Jonas Grist — Tue, 17 Apr 2012 09:34:44 +0100

Suffolk Chamber of Commerce and the Sustainable Design-led Innovation (SDI) business support programme would like to invite SMEs to a free workshop on sustainable product design practices for SMEs.

At this event you will get information on the benefits of sustainable product design for SMEs, as well as useful tools and techniques usable and accessible for SMEs. The event is also an opportunity to talk to experts around individual business challenges, brainstorm ideas and possible solutions, and explore business support opportunities.

When: 24th April 2-5pm

Where: Suffolk Chamber of Commerce, Felaw Maltings, South Kiln, 42 Felaw St, Ipswich, IP2 8SQ

The event includes:

Experts talk:

Listen to academic experts and professionals talk about the potential of sustainable product design for SMEs.

Key talks:

Sustainable Product Design for SMEs
Cradle to Cradle – applying theory in practice
Expert Speed Dating – explore with the experts particular challenges that your business faces within product development processes
Brainstorming Lab - would you like to get some new ideas and a fresh perspective on your business? Brainstorm it with masters level design students and experts

Hear from industry experts.

To register contact Justyna Spurtacz j.e.spurtacz@cranfield.ac.uk or call 01234 75 0111 ext. 2140

Or contact Rowena Hughes rowena@suffolkchamber.co.uk or call 01473 694805

For full agenda and event details, please follow this link.

New energy saving advice line launched!

Emma Flint — Fri, 13 Apr 2012 08:02:01 +0100

The new advice line is being run by the Energy Saving Trust with Careline Services to provide the public with advice on how to save energy in their homes and businesses.

The energy efficiency advisors will also give information out about existing government schemes like Warm Front and the Carbon Emissions Reduction Target (CERT).

The advice line number is 0300 123 1234.

To find out more about the advice line click here.

Future Friendly Awards now open!

Emma Flint — Tue, 03 Apr 2012 13:07:39 +0100

The P&G Future Friendly Awards recognise individuals and groups who make a difference.

This year the awards will be giving £1,000 to two individuals in the 'little hero' and a 'big hero' awards and will also be selecting three groups to compete for a £10,000 bursary, the two runners up will receive £500.

Visit the Future Friendly Awards website to find out more.

Energyshare Fund opens 10 April

Emma Flint — Tue, 03 Apr 2012 12:40:55 +0100

Energyshare can help your community raise up to £10,000 and get your community project off the ground.

Two types of funding are available:

1. Match funding - where you raise £5,000 and British Gas and energyshare will match it or

2. a straight up £2,500 - no match funding required.

Visit the energyshare website to find out more.

Visitors flock to visit green homes!

Jonas Grist — Fri, 30 Mar 2012 16:55:07 +0100

On a barmy late March evening, over 80 residents, councillors and building professionals descended on the Cherry Tree Close development in Wortham near Diss, for a Suffolk Green Buildings Network event.

This event demonstrated that green homes are significantly cheaper to heat/light and very importantly to many; can be designed to look in keeping with other traditional Suffolk buildings.

This private housing development of high quality 2 to 5 bedroom houses incorporates a full suite of renewable energy solutions including air-source heat pumps, solar thermal and solar PV arrays, whole house heat recovery, under-floor heating and rainwater harvesting. The developer (Greenright Homes) has strived to support the local economy by exclusively utilising local contractors and consultancies. Of great interest to many, the total estimated annual running costs for the as-built central heating systems in the 10 properties is £2,100 in comparison with £6,200 for oil-fired boilers.

The Cherry Tree Close development is featured as a case study on the Suffolk Green Buildings Network web site: http://www.greensuffolk.org/sgbn/case-studies/cherry-tree-close-wortham/

And the 2012 Creating the Greenest County Award Winners are....

Emma Flint — Thu, 22 Mar 2012 14:21:03 +0000

The county’s most dedicated and innovative schools, businesses and communities were presented with ‘Creating the Greenest County’ awards last night.

At a ceremony held at Wherstead Park, projects, organisations and individuals battled for 19 prestigious ‘Green Oscar’ titles.

Now in their fifth year, the awards promote great examples at a variety of levels and different scales - from large organisations taking significant steps to reduce their negative impacts, to individuals in communities growing local foods and educating others as to how to live more sustainably.

Winners were as follows:

Schools:

Greenest School: Birchwood Primary School, Martlesham Heath

Building Energy & Water: Gislingham and Palgrave CEVCP School

Travel and Traffic: Corton VC Primary School, Lowestoft

Food and Drink: Abbots Green Community Primary School, Bury St Edmunds

Waste and Recycling: Great Waldingfield Primary, Sudbury

Businesses:

Building and Waste Management: Aid to Hospitals Worldwide, Bury St Edmunds

Transport: West Suffolk NHS Foundation Trust, Bury St Edmunds

Culture: Taylor Made Joinery Interiors Ltd, Ipswich

Product: Cyberpac T/A Harmless Packaging, Ipswich

Small Business: Essential Care (Organics) Ltd, Bury St Edmunds

Greenest Pub, Club or Hotel: The Coach House, Woodbridge

Green Business Hero: Kieron Lingard, Ipswich

Communities:

Building, Energy and Water: The Rattlesden Community Council, Nr Stowmarket

Community Energy Project: Green Energy Nayland

Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty: Coasts and Heaths - Groundwork East of England, Woodbridge

Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty: Dedham Vale - Leavenheath, Polsted and Stoke by Nayland Community Woodland Steering Group

Local Food: The Oak Tree Low Carbon Farm CSA, Ipswich

Landscape and Biodiversity: Riverside Projects team (Volunteering in the community), Sudbury Common Lands Charity

Green Community Hero: Terry Peake, Wickham Market Parish

The standard of award entries was very high, giving the 30 judges from a range of local organisations a very difficult task in picking winners from the 101 award entries.

Scooping the award for ‘Greenest School’ was Birchwood Primary School in Martlesham Heath. The Eco-Schools scheme is at the heart of the school’s work and the headteacher and staff are committed to involving the children throughout the entire programme, including planning, monitoring and decision making. Notable achievements include solar panels on the roof of the school, creation of a weekly gardening club and regular litter picks involving the whole school.

Winner of the ‘Small Business’ award was Essential Care (Organics) Ltd, based in Bury St Edmunds. All their packaging is recyclable, and the raw materials used for their skincare and cosmetic products are sourced as locally as possible, with over 75% of their ingredients from organic agriculture.

David Barker, Chairman of the Creating the Greenest County Delivery Partnership said; "Suffolk communities, businesses, schools and individuals have shown real dedication and enthusiasm in their entries, the quality of which has risen year upon year.

“The standard of entries has been testimony to a range of people across Suffolk who are committed to reducing their environmental impact, saving money and taking a real pride in Suffolk’s environment. The people and organisations that have entered the awards are an inspiration to us and they are helping to turn our aspirations into reality.”

Creating the Greenest County is one of Suffolk’s top priorities. The ambition is to reduce Suffolk’s carbon emissions by 60% by 2025 and to protect and enhance our natural historic and built environment. The partnership consists of organisations from the public, private and voluntary sectors from across the county.

The awards were sponsored by the Environment Agency, Adnams, Carillion, the Port of Felixstowe, University Campus Suffolk, the East of England Cooperative Society, Thorpeness and Aldeburgh Hotels, AV Unit and Suffolk County Council.

Earth Hour 31 March 8.30pm

Emma Flint — Tue, 20 Mar 2012 17:02:57 +0000

Join in with millions of other people this Saturday at 8.30pm and switch off your lights in support of Earth Hour.

Find out more about Earth Hour and how you can get involved here.

Don't Be A Tosser! - Help in the 2012 Spring Clean Suffolk

Jonas Grist — Tue, 06 Mar 2012 14:45:07 +0000

Following on from the success of Don’t Be a Tosser over the last four years, the same campaign will be repeated in 2012.

BBC Radio Suffolk will be leading on the campaign through their radio shows and website.

Why not organise or get involved in a litter clean up of your local area? By doing so you'll make a REAL difference to the quality of your local environment - and it will make you feel good about it afterwards!

The dates proposed for the campaign are the fortnight between the 26^th March and 9th April - although many activities go on well beyond the campaign dates. As in previous years, a separate campaign with schools will be run that uses the Spring Clean Suffolk title.

Individuals or groups can register their interest through their local Borough or District council via this page: http://greensuffolk.onesuffolk.net/events/don-t-be-a-tosser-help-in-the-2012-spring-clean-suffolk/

These will act as the point of contact for each area and to help distribute litter picks/ plastic bags and illuminated vests and collect rubbish from the communities concerned.

It is worth noting that the campaign has in the past won Green Apple, Sony and Frank Gillard Radio Awards and is widely supported by organisations such as Town and Parish Councils, the Suffolk Constabulary, NHS Suffolk, Suffolk WI and Rotary Clubs across the county.

Tackling Flooding in Suffolk - Have your say!

Jonas Grist — Sat, 03 Mar 2012 06:16:00 +0000

Flooding devastates livelihoods and communities. This is your chance to hear more and influence how Suffolk deals with the risk of flooding in the future.

In reality, water doesn't respect organisational boundaries and the only way to sort out most flooding problems is as a partnership between statutory bodies and local people. We want to reduce the risk of all flooding, but particularly localised flash floods caused by sudden heavy rainfall, but we are realistic about what can be achieved with the resources we have. So, together with our partners, Suffolk County Council is leading on producing a strategy which sets out how we will prioritise actions and deal with flooding risk in the county.

We are now at a stage where we need your input.

Have we covered all the actions you would expect to see in this strategy?
Are we focussing on the right things?
Will our strategy work in reality?

Read our summary document at http://www.suffolk.gov.uk/floodrisk

Your views are really important, so we ask for your comments on this document.

Monthly planning news!

David Walton — Fri, 02 Mar 2012 18:01:20 +0000

Read Jonathan Galton of Climate Consulting's first monthly update for the Suffolk Climate Change Partnership's Sustainablility Support for Planners project.

To read the monthly update click here.

The project is run as part of the Climate Change Skills Fund with the support of Sustainability East. For further information, click the project, the Climate Change Skills Fund or Sustainability East.

Tap Water Grants to Schools

Jonas Grist — Wed, 22 Feb 2012 16:53:12 +0000

Tapwater.org is offering grants, through its Tap Water Awards programme, to help support educational establishments in the UK to reduce their dependency on bottled waters by installing mains fed water machines and providing reusable stainless steel bottles.

Grants of between £300 and £5,000 are available to fund all or part of project costs.

Educational establishments registered in the UK are eligible to apply, including:

Schools.
Colleges.
Universities.

Examples of eligible project costs include:

Mains fed water machines.
Plumbing work to install machines.
Electrical work to install machines.
Buying of other items associated with mains fed machines.
Any other items associated with mains drinking water in schools.

Applicants should complete the application form and submit, either by email or post, at least three months before the project is due to commence.

Applications for grants will be assessed on a rolling basis and are subject to availability.

BRE announces another round of CSEP funding

Emma Flint — Fri, 17 Feb 2012 08:38:20 +0000

The Community Sustainable Energy Programme (CSEP) is an open grants programme run by the Building Research Establishement (BRE) as an award partner for the Big Lottery Fund.

Community-based organisations can apply for capital grants on a competitive basis in this round for heat generating technologies and energy efficiency measures.

Applications must be received by 5pm Friday 29 February 2012.

New Green Suffolk website!

Emma Flint — Tue, 14 Feb 2012 06:15:00 +0000

Love your environment this Valentine’s Day!

Green Suffolk has seen the merger of three existing websites dealing with green issues - bringing all the information you need together in one place.

The three websites that have merged are:

www.greensuffolk.org
www.suffolkrecycling.org.uk
www.suffolktravelplans.org

We hope that the merger of these websites will provide you with a one-stop-shop for all the information you need on waste and recycling, green travel and being green at home and at work.

Find out how you can be green and love your environment this Valentine’s Day.

Please let us know what you think of the new website by giving us your feedback using this survey.

Record breaking year for Suffolk's Green Oscars

Emma Flint — Mon, 13 Feb 2012 14:18:54 +0000

A record breaking amount of entries have been put forward for the prestigious 2012 ‘Creating the Greenest County’ Awards this year.

Suffolk schools, businesses and communities have contributed to the ambition to make Suffolk the Greenest County with over 100 projects, organisations and individuals put forward as contenders for the awards.

With 19 different categories, the awards evening on Thursday 22 March promises to showcase a fantastic variety of green actions being undertaken in Suffolk.

Now in their fifth year, the awards promote great examples at a variety of levels and different scales - from large organisations taking significant steps to reduce their negative impacts to individuals in communities growing local foods and educating others as to how to live more sustainably. These examples are recognised in order to inspire others to find ways to contribute to making Suffolk the greenest county.

Councillor Judy Terry, Suffolk County Council’s Portfolio Holder for the Greenest County said; “I am absolutely thrilled that we have had received more than 100 entries for these awards – in the five years the awards have been running, this is the most we have ever received.

“This shows that, even at a time of austerity, the schools, communities and businesses of Suffolk are still aware of the importance of protecting the environment of our county. These awards are about publicising the lessons learnt and are key to delivering the Creating the Greenest County element of Suffolk's Community Strategy, 'Transforming Suffolk’.”

David Barker, Chairman of the Creating the Greenest County Delivery Partnership, said; "The strength of winners we have had over the last five years have been a testament to Suffolk’s commitment to reducing their carbon emissions, taking pride in their community and helping Suffolk to become the Greenest County. I look forward to seeing what innovative projects there are this year.”

Sarah Sharlott of Whitehouse Enterprises, a progressive social enterprise based in Suffolk, has experience of the benefits that winning a Greenest County award can bring after Whitehouse scooped an award for their recycled furniture in 2010.

“Winning the award not only gave us a sense of recognition for our accomplishments, it also helped us to promote the brand and the product more widely. The income generated from the increased sales has enabled us to buy a new website, where we can sell our products nationwide and allowed us to employ two additional members of staff.”

The awards are sponsored by the Environment Agency, Adnams, Carillion, the Port of Felixstowe, University Campus Suffolk, the East of England Cooperative Society, Thorpeness and Aldeburgh Hotels, AV Unit and Suffolk County Council.

A record breaking amount of entries have been put forward for the prestigious 2012 ‘Creating the Greenest County’ Awards this year.

With 19 different categories, the awards evening on Thursday 22 March promises to showcase a fantastic variety of green actions being undertaken in Suffolk.

Now in their fifth year, the awards promote great examples at a variety of levels and different scales - from large organisations taking significant steps to reduce their negative impacts to individuals in communities growing local foods and educating others as to how to live more sustainably. These examples are recognised in order to inspire others to find ways to contribute to making Suffolk the greenest county.

East of England climate change risks and opportunities

Emma Flint — Mon, 13 Feb 2012 06:17:43 +0000

The Government has recently published the UK Climate Change Risk Assessment (CCRA), the first assessment of its kind for the UK.

The report sets out the main priorities for climate adaptation in the UK under 5 key themes.

Agriculture and Forestry
Business, industries and Services
Health and Wellbeing
Natural Environment and
Buildings and Infrastructure

To coincide with this publication regional assessments have been undertaken to highlight the key risks and opportunities from climate change within each area. The East of England summary report can be read here.

Local Foods Suffolk

Jonas Grist — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 00:00:00 +0000

Local Foods Suffolk is a local food project helping community groups set up and run local food projects.

This can be anything from community orchards or forest gardens, vegetable growing clubs, Community Supported Agriculture schemes, food cooperatives or community farm shops. Smaller ideas like allotment improvement projects, lunch clubs or tools sharing clubs can also be supported. Indeed any project involving the growing, sharing, eating or selling of local food can be considered.

This multi-agency project is led by Suffolk ACRE and funded by the Local Food stream of the Big Lottery fund, Suffolk County Council, and Healthy Ambitions Suffolk. The project has multiple social outcomes which it hopes to achieve; from increased health and wellbeing to strengthened community structure and resilience, higher levels of social capital, and reduced isolation amongst vulnerable people. Crucially, the project aims to increase access to local food within Suffolk.

How will we achieve this?

Three Community Development Officers for the project cover the whole of the county between them. They can offer help, advice, guidance and support to communities wishing to improve and extend existing projects or create new ones. Besides giving their time and expertise, they can also part-fund some projects to help with small start-up costs, or assist with funding applications to secure larger sums for bigger projects. Whilst being split georgaphically, the team also has subject area expertise to offer.

Aside from advice and support, we are also keen to provide appropriate training for groups needing certain skills to run food projects. If you have a training need, be it food hygiene or horticulture, please contact us.

For people who are not interested in producing their own food, we are aiming to provide useful information on alternative sources of local produce, by starting to map local producers in the county. The project's Local Food Directory is available here; which includes details of where locally produced meat, fish, fruit, vegetables and other foods can be accessed. We will be adding to this as the project progresses - please contact us if you are a producer wanting to be added to our directory.

Want to find out more?

Our quarterly newsletter is emailed to anyone interested in finding out what local food initiatives are happening in Suffolk, inlcuding projects Suffolk ACRE is supporting. Email us if you'd like to be added to the distribution list, or to access the online version, click the links below.

Local Foods Suffolk Update, 1st Quarter - January 2012

Local Foods Suffolk Update - 2nd Quarter - coming in April!

Aside from providing project updates via the newsletter, our project officer Kirsty also has a local food blog. This is an unofficial project blog aiming to provide a source of information on what's happening on the local food scene - in Suffolk more generally, and particularly in Ipswich.

Our facebook page also has lots of updates on our work, including food-related events.

Anyone who has an idea for their community that they’d like help with, please do get in touch with one of us on localfoods@suffolkacre.org.uk. We looking forward to hearing from you!

Registration for the Climate Week Challenge is now open!

Jonas Grist — Thu, 26 Jan 2012 15:11:12 +0000

In March 2011 the first ever Climate Week Challenge saw teams in schools and workplaces put their innovation, creativity and ingenuity to the test, coming up with green ideas to make or save money.

There were 145,000 registered participants for the Climate Week Challenge, across six age categories, making it the largest ever live environmental competition. Winners of the one-day challenge were selected by some fantastic celebrity judges. This year the judges will include Kate Humble, presenter of the BBC’s Springwatch, Liz Bonnin, presenter of BBC’s Bang Goes the Theory, and Cath Senior, Head of Understanding Climate Change at the Met Office

Hundreds of schools from across the UK have already registered to take part. Join them in this high profile, high energy national competition! You can register your organisation today to participate in either the One-Day or One-Hour version on the Climate Week website, here: http://www.climateweek.com/challenge/register-for-the-challenge-2012/ (Please note registration closes on Monday 5^th March).

For more information please email challenge@climateweek.com or call 0203 397 2601.