Dunbar 2025 Reporting Back Leaflet

We want to be energy and cost

aware

We want local food to be available

We need a!orable and reliable ways to

get around

We want to learn more practical skills

We want to work together...

We want to grow our own

food

SUSTAINING DUNBAR

These days transport and heating costs are a great concern for many households. Will we be able a!ord to travel in the future? And how will we stay warm without spending a fortune? What will happen to food prices? Will we be able to buy food that is good for us? And what about the children? They are the future. How can we make sure that they learn what they need to live rewarding lives?

These questions won’t go away. And we know they are being asked – because at Sustaining Dunbar we’ve consulted with more than1500 of you around the local area. We’re getting a picture of your concerns. So what about the answers?

Well, here’s the good news. The future might not be so scary after all. But only if we work together and do something about it – right now, right here, in and around Dunbar.

At Sustaining Dunbar, we want to take the whole community forward to the year 2025. When we arrive there we want to be using half the fossil fuel energy we use at present. We want the area to be a comfortable and safe environment, with energy-e!cient homes, lots of local foods, as well as integrated transport and plenty of local job opportunities.

Yes, it’s a tall order – but we can start today with a whole lot of achievable stu", from ‘draughtbusting’ our homes, to trying to buy locally sourced food (or better still, growing some of it ourselves). And a whole lot of other practical steps…

You don’t. But you’ll feel a whole lot better if you do. Besides, there are some good reasons for acting now. You’ll !nd more details on our website. Here are a few examples:

We can’t go on being so dependent on oil and other fossil fuels. We’re simply running out. That’s why you’re having to pay more and more for food, heating and transport.We can’t continue to use so much energy growing food and importing it from all over the world. We’ve got to think local.We can’t assume we’ll be able to travel for business or pleasure for much longer in the way we do today. We have to travel less and look at more e!cient ways of getting around that are more economical and less harmful to our environment.There’s more – but this is also an opportunity to build a better future that could be very enjoyable, as well as being sustainable. Sustaining Dunbar is your local network for people who care about the future of all of us in the Dunbar and East Linton area. We’ve been busy gathering your ideas about how we all get to this sustainable and satisfying future.

Join us for the journey if you live in Dunbar, West Barns, East Linton, Spott, Innerwick, Skateraw, Thorntonloch, Oldhamstocks and surrounding areas.

Not surprisingly, you’ve told us that if there were economical ways of making your home more energy e!cient – by way of better insulation or a ‘green’ boiler – then, of course you’d look at this! However, there are snags – not only cost, but also confusing information and advice and a lack of accredited local installers and tradesfolk.

We need to "nd a way of providing a service to householders that o#ers expert and impartial advice - plus easy "nance and coordination and access to the right installers.

We know that the majority of residents in the area are dependent on fossil fuel as a source of home heating. While many in the town are on gas, in rural areas it’s mostly oil, lpg, coal or electricity. We see potential to make more use of local woodlands as a source of fuel, as well as for more use of renewables, not just green electricity but also gas from anaerobic digesters.

In some cases, planning regulations are also a problem. Many properties in Dunbar and District are in conservation areas. This can mean restrictions on how homes can be made more e!cient. Local planning policies do not

encourage community ownership of wind turbines or other larger scale renewables.

Current energy supply is almost totally dependent on large energy companies with no local ownership or control. Community owned renewable generating capacity would include many sources of energy from biomass, wind, sun and water - both large and small (from megawatt installations down to individual household scale). That way, we create a measure of independence from the national grid – and an income for the community from the sale of energy.Call into BeGreen on West Port and

get free home energy advice and information about grants.

WHAT YOU SAID

When it came to health, some of you pointed to stresses from having to commute to work and hectic lifestyles. Others were concerned that sometimes basic health facilities were di!cult to get to by public transport and how far you have to travel to visit a dentist. Quality of food was an issue, along with sedentary lifestyles.

You expressed concern at the number of potential polluters close at hand – cement works, a land"ll site, potentially an incinerator, and a nuclear power station. Lobbying to ensure the highest environmental standards, while exploring

alternatives for a longer term low-carbon future, will be a priority.

If more of our basic needs, such as place of work or where we bought our food could be met locally in the future, then these would bene"t our wellbeing. Our community would become more inclusive as it provided for more of our needs at a local level and gave more

opportunities to meet our neighbours and to learn new skills.

Transport, in all its forms, is a major concern. Crossing the A1 safely, joining up or developing cycle paths that connect communities around Dunbar, making it safer for cyclists in general – these are some of things you say concern you at

the moment. You’d also like improvements in the street environment: making it friendlier and safer for pedestrians and cyclists.

You’d like to catch a bus outside Dunbar station and you need a station at East Linton as well. You’d like later trains and a bus service that goes to places you have to go, such as Edinburgh Royal In"rmary. But you also "nd public transport in general is expensive as well as poorly integrated. That’s why you want better information, more #exibility in fares and family prices too.

You told us you’d like to see more local employment opportunities, so that you don’t have to travel so far to work. It’s the same for leisure – wouldn’t it be good if you could get to a local cinema or arts centre for a cultural "x?!

Sustaining Dunbar supports local transport initiatives.

You probably know that East Lothian has for long been described as ‘The Garden of Scotland’. Local gardeners know the quality of the local soil – and you’ve told us you’d be delighted to buy more local food – at the right price. Right now, you say, on your big weekly shop, it can be hard to identify exactly what is locally grown.

We’d like to !nd a way of connecting growers and consumers and developing new business models so that as wide a range of produce as possible !nds its way into your shopping basket. We will encourage and support new food fairs and local markets.

We also know that many of you would grow more of your food if there was access to land, some form of community garden or allotments. This community or cooperative element is just one factor in the even bigger question of the current agricultural and food supply system, currently geared towards large scale production, irrespective of local needs – and often at the expense of biodiversity and the environment.

Stallholders and customers at Sustaining Dunbar’s “Gathering In” Festival in October 2010.

Dunbar Arts Trust’s Knitting the Harbour Project, included traditional textile skills workshops.

The Our Locality website is a place for community groups, projects, networks and campaigns to develop a web presence.

The aspiration to work as close to home as possible appears here too. We believe that growing larger amounts of food for local consumption will create local job opportunities. Carrying out a wide-ranging programme of ‘eco-refurbishment’ to our housing to make them more energy e!cient would also employ a wide variety of skills and trades.

Our vision includes provision of "exible workspace, shared o!ce facilities and starter units. Many businesses will be engaged in repair, re-use and recycling of goods, as we gradually move towards the idea of waste as a potential resource.

We will need to learn many new skills. There will be many opportunities for lifelong learning and practical skills training We may need a local bank or credit union to ensure that our money stays locally and supports our local economy. Schools will be more focussed on ‘learning through doing’ and on the practical skills our young people will need.

More information available fromSustaining Dunbar, 16 West Port, Dunbar, EH42 1BU

Tel. 01368 866 920 [email protected] http://sustainingdunbar.org

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We’ve outlined your concerns and now have some pointers towards what we all have to do to reach our goal. Underlying all of our activities is the aim of building a community that is resilient enough to deal with the challenges ahead. Based on your ideas, we have developed a ‘Local Resilience Action Plan’ which will provide a guiding framework for community action.

So what’s next?

Dunbar and district has a wealth of skills and expertise. Together we will work to build a strong and healthy locality.

Look out for projects to get involved with – such as ‘Neighbours Together’ (coming soon!).

Click here