Newsleaf August 2011

www.staffordbc.gov.uk

Look out for the new LNR Booklet

The Borough Council has a statutory duty to conserve, enhance and protect biodiversity - to you and me that means wildlife!

Many habitats and wild spaces have declined over recent decades - and continue to do so - fortunately for us we still have a patchwork of wildlife rich habitats

at our fingertips within Stafford Borough. Some of the best natural areas owned by the Council have been designated as Local Nature Reserves and are detailed within a new publication containing information on species, habitats, conservation management activities, plus opportunities for com-munity groups and local people to get involved.

For a copy of the booklet contact Bill Waller, Biodiversity Officer, Stafford Borough Council, call 01785 619 676 visit www.staffordbc.gov.uk/sd

WelcomeWelcome to Stafford Borough Council’s e-news sheet, bringing you updates, news and progress on local sustainable development. Read about innovative ‘locality working’ in Penkside and Derrington, the superb work going on in schools across the Borough, a new scheme to promote sustainable tourism in Staffordshire and our special visitor from Ghana, who reminded us that sustainable development is about a ‘better quality of life for all’.

We hope you enjoy this edition and welcome your comments or contributions for future publications.

AUGUST 2011

www.staffordbc.gov.uk

Green Awards 2011Open for Entries! The annual Stafford Borough Council Green Awards recognise and promote the work of local organisations including all businesses, schools, community groups, faith groups, farmers and landowners in the Borough that are demonstrating an active commitment to good environmental and sustainable development practice.

In doing so the awards reflect the priorities of Stafford Borough Council in supporting prosperity; making the area a greener, cleaner and safer place to live and work and; contributing towards the health and wellbeing of our community.

Any organisation based in the Borough can enter. The Awards are divided into four categories:

1 : Business and Prosperity

2 : Youth and Education

3 : Community and Wellbeing

4 : Public Sector and Leadership

Special prizes will also be awarded to organisations that have excelled in specific fields. These include

Sustainable Tourism Prize sponsor Stafford Tourism Bureau

Climate Change Champion sponsor Staffordshire County Council

Wildlife Medal sponsor Staffordshire Wildlife Trust

Entries should describe practical sustainable development schemes that have been implemented over the last 12 months. Entries close on Monday, 8 August 2011 and can be submitted electronically or posted.

For more information about entering the Green Awards please contact Karen Davies call 01785 619 408 email [email protected] visit www.staffordbc.gov.uk/sd

Its all Go! Go! Go! in Penkside The Penkside Project is an exciting initiative which is helping put the Silkmore and Rickerscote areas on the map for all the right reasons!

Involving local residents, all kinds of community groups, the church, school and local businesses - plus various supporting agencies - the project aims to deliver services and set up projects that the community want, need and will use. Part of this project includes a wide range of sustainability work, funded through bids to the Staffordshire Aggregates Levy Scheme (SALGS) totalling nearly £60,000.

Over the last eighteen months the project has involved over 100 home energy visits carried out by Beat the Cold. These have made a real difference to families - saving energy, reducing bills, tackling fuel poverty, arranging referrals to other agencies and services etc.

There has been a focus on work in schools to promote environmental awareness, including eight climate change workshops run by Beat the Cold and Keele University. ‘Big Wheel Theatre’ presented their ‘green transport’ themed ‘Go! Go! Go! production to four schools in the area whilst Dr Bike from Back to Bikes gave ‘hands on’ demonstrations on bike maintenance.

Energy Audits have been arranged at local schools too. At Stafford Sports College the audit identified various ways to improve energy efficiency and reduce school bills. Improvements have subsequently been carried out and paid for thanks to SALGS funding. We have worked closely with Silkmore Primary School to support ‘green travel’ and an exciting renewable energy project is in the pipeline - more on this in the next edition of Newsleaf!

We have also worked with St Peter’s Church and at Jock’s Café on Sydney Avenue, funding energy audits and undertaking energy efficiency measures to improve efficiency and reduce bills.

This project has achieved a lot in a short time and we are very grateful for the funding received from SALGS which has enabled substantial action in the Penkside area.

We have now set up Task and Finish Groups involving community members, to progress this work, with a focus on Home Energy Audits, Sustainable Travel, Renewable Energy Opportunities and Waste Minimisation.

Something Sustainable for All!

Derrington - Way Ahead is acommunity-led project which aims to promote and support more sustainable lifestyles in the village and as the Borough’s pilot low carbon community, receives support from Stafford Borough Council.

From a complete ‘energy makeover’ including the installation of solar photo voltaic panels at Derrington Village Hall, to running community bench building events; from installing IT facilities and setting up IT drop in sessions for complete novices at the Village Hall, to making bird boxes with the Brownies, the project has reached out to the whole village and beyond! And there is plenty to come! A series of workshops for local children through the summer holidays will include a bat box making session on Monday 1 August and an environmental drama workshop on Saturday 3 September followed by the third Derrington Local Food Festival on Saturday 17 September, with a focus on ‘young growers’. The project has already received three high profile awards, including ‘Runner Up’ in the national NEA and British Gas Footprint Awards 2010 - 11 and has been shortlisted for this year’s Future Friendly Awards! To find out more about activities in Derrington and to get the latest newsletter contact Karencall 01785 619 408 email [email protected] www.derringtonvillagehall.btik.com

Case StudyComputers can open up a whole new world to people - direct communication with loved ones on the other side of the world; information at your fingertips; help with CV’s, finding a job etc. Since January 2011 there have been around 30 ‘drop in’ sessions at the Village Hall - made possible by the fabulous support of Derrington residents Charlotte Udall and Peter Bray.

Staffordshire Tourism Green Scheme The ‘Staffordshire Environmental Quality Mark’ is awarded to businesses that show commitment to sustainability and take action to reduce negative local and global environmental impacts. Businesses must be members of Destination Staffordshire. email [email protected] 01889 880 151.

Vote for Derrington - Way Ahead in

this year’s Future Friendly Awards!

Vote from 27 July to 21 August 2011

www.futurefriendly.co.uk

Stafford Welcomes Fairtrade Guest! During Fairtrade Fortnight (28 February - 13 March), Juliana Sampana, a shea butter producer from Ghana, visited the West Midlands. Juliana is President of Akoma Co-operative and, due to its ongoing support of Fairtrade, Stafford Borough Council was asked to arrange her itinerary across Staffordshire.

Fairtrade involves paying farmers and other workers a fair price for their goods and produce and means communities can afford to invest in healthcare, education and more sustainable methods of production.

Juliana was in great demand! She attended several local events to talk about Fairtrade and the difference it makes to local communities in poorer countries. She met children from Walton Priory Middle School, Pirehill First School, Cooper Perry Primary and Barnfields, as well as taking lunch with the Mayor and meeting members of our local Fairtrade campaigning group ‘Stafford Area Action for Fairtrade’ (SAAFT). SAAFT has been running for over ten years. It has been influential in helping achieve Fairtrade Town and Fairtrade Borough status, as well as organising many imaginative campaigns during Fairtrade Fortnight and One World Week and creating a Fairtrade Directory for the Stafford area available online and as a leaflet.

We are about to re-convene meetings of the SAAFT group - so we can rejuvenate campaigning activities and renew our Fairtrade Town and Borough status. If you are interested please join us at our next meeting on Thursday 22 September at 12.30pm at the Civic Centre. Details from Karen or Jan on 01785 619 408.

For more information on Fairtrade and SAAFT please visit: www.staffordbc.gov.uk/fairtrade or google Fairtrade Foundation.

Catch the Cycling Bug! Cycling is healthy, green, energising and versatile! Whether you’re looking for a day out with the family on safe traffic free tracks, want to have a tough work out on the Chase, or wish to beat the traffic by commuting on two wheels, Stafford Borough can offer it all!

There are some excellent local cycling stores, including our unique bike recycling scheme ‘Back 2 Bikes; we have several clubs and a complete set of cycle maps for each district in Staffordshire; and perhaps more importantly there are new, expanded cycle routes too!

One such asset is the Greenway, a disused railway track to the West of Stafford, (officially known as NCN55, Phase 6, Stafford to Newport Cycleway), which has recently been upgraded. It is fantastic to see so many people, especially families, now using this track - walkers, cyclists, runners, horse riders - enjoying our very beautiful local area along this safe, traffic free, wildlife abundant route.

Cycle Stafford is a new group dedicated to improving cycling in Stafford and the surrounding area. The group meets to discuss local cycling issues, and organises regular community bike rides. For more details:

call Terry Strickland on 01785 248 624 visit www.cyclestafford.org.uk

Students from Stafford Sports College, with Gordon Taylor, maths

teacher and representative on our Eco-Schools Network and

Jeremy Lefroy, who met recently to discuss recycling in schools.

Save Your Energy! You can get practical advice on how to become more energy efficient in your home, how to stay warm and how to reduce ever increasing energy bills, on the Stafford Area Save Your Energy website! The site also looks at options to generate your own heat and electricity using renewable energy sources. With lots of examples, this

website is packed with useful ‘how to’ information. We expect to have news of a Solar Discount

Scheme for Stafford Borough available soon!For info contact Rob Hine, Sustainability Matters

call 01785 603 387visit www.staffordarea.saveyourenergy.org

Kids Enjoy a Part of the Eco-action! Stafford Borough’s Eco-Schools Network is regarded as a showcase of local authority best practice, and offers regular meetings, resources and expertise, help in solving problems and answering questions, hands-on training and an opportunity for schools to share good practice. This year has seen an immense amount of activity amongst our Eco-Schools and there are masses of practical projects and eco-related educational activities going on across the Borough!

For instance, St John’s pupils have created a greenhouse - made entirely of plastic bottles! Youngsters at Sir Graham Balfour have planted living willow sculptures in the school grounds. St Paul’s have taken on an ambitious project to install raised beds, a sun shelter, a wildlife garden and a new pond. In Ranton, All Saints Infant School have purchased equipment to help children learn about life cycles and nature, including a wormery, magnifiers and binoculars. Earlier in the year Oakridge ran a Community Day, in which children, families and staff made mini beast hotels, designed bird boxes, created a sensory garden, and established an allotment. Stafford Borough Council has been able to contribute funding towards some of these projects and we will be putting up case studies on the website later in the year, as these projects unfold.

You may have heard of Elliott the Eco-Bat? He is the Stafford Borough Eco-Schools Network mascot. Along with children from 12 schools across the Borough, Elliott attended the annual Eco-Action Day in June. This event, held at the Wildlife Trust’s superb headquarters at Wolsleley, is a day of hands on learning, with a good helping of fun thrown in. The aim is to thank children who have worked hard through the year in their school eco-clubs and help enthuse everyone back at school with new ideas and experiences. Thanks to all those who contributed to this super event, in particular Staffordshire Wildlife Trust, for hosting our visit and running two superb workshops. Also to Staffordshire Waste Management Partnership and the Midlands Co-operative Society Limited who contributed so generously to the eco-goody bag.

Winning Poem in There is No Planet B!

see www.sustainabilitymatters.org.uk

The New TomatoThey’ve made a new tomato, by putting genes in seeds.

It lasts forever on the shelf, fulfilling all our needs.I wonder what will happen, when I eat mutated fruit?If genes escape within me, shall I turn into a brute?

Shall I last forever and forever on the shelf?And be a prize tomato? I’d rather be myself.If I grow like tomatoes and dangle in a truss,

I could not travel on a train, or on an omnibus.But worse and worse the final curse,

if chromasomes get free,Tomatoes might not look like fruit

but grow to look like me.Frank Ryder

For more details and to find out about sustainable development in Stafford Borough contactKaren Davies, Partnerships Co-ordinator, Stafford Borough Council, Civic Centre, Riverside, Stafford ST16 3AQtel 01785 619 408 email [email protected] web www.staffordbc.gov.uk/sd

If you need this information in large print, Braille, other language or on audio cassette email [email protected] tel 01785 619 000

We always ask for feedback from schools and once again, we got some super responses.

“The two children from my class have put it as one of the highlights of the year on their report cards!” St Austin’s

“The wildlife trust always cater brilliantly for the children’s learning.”

St Michael’s

“The theatre production was great fun and a brilliant way to ingrain the 3R’s!… our Eco Committee loved the whole day and reported back in our whole school assembly. Thank you for a super day. The event was well organised, action packed and lots of fun.”

St Paul’s

“We had a group of boys who are easily bored and the Renewable Energy Workshop was right up their street. It kept them inter-ested and I know they really enjoyed it. The children were full of their day when they returned to school, and couldn’t wait to share it. Thank you to every one involved!”

St Leonard’s