Our Vision for aSustainableBlackshaw ParishAgreed at a public meeting of Blackshaw Environmental Action Team (BEAT) 13/7/11

The Vision

Create a more sustainableBlackshaw Parish, economically,

socially and environmentally.This to be done by producing

more of our own food andenergy, raise awareness on

sustainability among allgenerations but particularly the

young and generate asubstantial income that can bereinvested in the community to

further our aims.

Would you like Blackshaw Parish to producemore of the food and energy we need? Wouldyou like the community to generate asubstantial income through energy ownedschemes that can be re-invested in thecommunity? That could insulate our houseseven more to save money on our energy bills,become less dependent on coal, oil and gas,increase local employment, create a healthierenvironment and a better future for ourchildren?Most of us would say yes to this. But can it bedone? Here we’ll outline a possible way to do itbut we would also like to hear your suggestions.

Background

Blackshaw Environmental Action Team (BEAT) was established in 1998. A briefhistory of BEAT is available in no.9 of BEAT's newsletter, UpBEAT, which is availableon www.blackshaw.net/BEAT/BEAT archives.At BEAT's AGM in October 2009 it was agreed to establish a BEAT working group tolook into how BEAT can help local residents become more self-sufficient in theirenergy use. The working group presented its ideas at two public meetings in theform of a powerpoint presentation, and those present gave their support to thegroup's proposal to develop a sustainability plan for Blackshaw.Since then the group has looked into various initiatives which are all described inUpBEAT (all available on the above mentioned website), as well as in emails toabout 200 local residents. The initiatives have also been discussed at BEAT's publicmeetings.Parallel to this process, the Parish Council through its Way-Ahead group initiated adetailed survey of all the 380 odd households in the Parish asking for their viewsand priorities for the new five-year Parish Plan, which has since been published onwww.blackshaw.net.The survey identified general support for the establishment of small scale renewabletechnologies to produce green electricity and heating. The majority also supportedthe establishment of small and medium sized enterprises, tourism and many otheractivities. Various local groups, including BEAT, have been asked to implementdifferent parts of the Parish Plan.In this document BEAT wishes to present its vision for a sustainable BlackshawParish, for consultation with the wider community. Towards the end of thisdocument we have listed possible ways forward for a sustainable parish. However,we encourage ideas from anyone - and everyone is welcome to join in the process.

1 Formatted & designed by Angie Guy

Why a vision for a sustainableBlackshaw?

A variety of challenges face ourcommunity in the coming years and some of them

are more likely to affect the children and youngpeople of today than the current adult population:

• We saw how a banking crisisstarting in the USA rapidly spreadaround the world and created thebiggest economic crisis since thesecond world war, with risingunemployment, cuts in publicservices, fewer young peoplebeing able to get into highereducation, etc, which all can leadto higher rates of mental healthproblems, crime and poverty.

• All forecasts by researchersindicate that we are likely to havemuch higher energy prices in thecoming years. The era of cheap oilis probably going to end in thenear future. Our oil and gassupplies come partly frompolitically unstable countries, andtheir supplies could be disruptedovernight. We have seen howquickly our food supplies insupermarkets ran out whenblockades of the oil refineries tookplace.

• Climate change is already takingplace around the world and islikely to lead to increased flooding,droughts, unpredictable weatherpatterns, rising sea levels, massmovements of people fleeing fromthe consequences of climatechange, etc. The Upper CalderValley is likely to be affected too.

• Loss of biodiversity due to climatechange, change of land use, etc atan alarming rate which will affectmany aspects of our lives.

BEAT has no illusions that we cansomehow protect our localcommunity from any of thesepossible shocks from the outsideworld. And we do not want Blackshawto become isolated from the rest ofsociety and the world. However, wecan prepare our community to bebetter equipped to meet some ofthese challenges, to be more resilient.But how?Blackshaw is placed in West Yorkshirein the Pennines and affected by ruralissues like lack of employmentopportunities, high transport costs,lack of affordable housing, youthmoving from the area, etc.To make our community moresustainable we want to generateincome locally through micro-generation schemes such as hydro,wind, solar panels, etc - owned bythe community – with the profitgenerated to be invested in thecommunity.

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The supermarkets do not stock any oftheir food items for more than about fivedays’ normal supply. So if deliveries getdisrupted because of petrol shortages,flooding, heavy snow fall and freakweather events we will have major foodsupply shortages in less than a week.It is unlikely that Blackshaw would everbe able to produce all our own food and itwould be a rather dull diet if we tried.Some of us feel we cannot live withoutcoffee and tea, bananas and oranges –things that are unlikely ever to grow inBlackshaw - even with climate change.However, we can produce some of ourstaple foods locally: meat, eggs,vegetables, a variety of fruits, nuts, etc –the produce competition at the annualfete in Blackshaw is a great testament tothis. In fact more local residents aregrowing more of their own food – some ofthem supported by experienced growersthrough Blackshaw Optimistic Gardeners(BOGs).Some local residents are smallholders intheir free time producing meat, eggs,vegetables, etc for their own use but witha surplus they want to sell or swap withlocal residents. Blackshaw Food Network(BFN) has been established to developsuch a network for exchange of foodproducts. Much of this local produce isorganic. By avoiding fertilisers andpesticides we are reducing the amount ofgreenhouse gases produced. Hugeamounts of fossil fuels are used toproduce fertilisers and pesticides.However, you do not have to agree thatclimate change and oil shortages aremajor problems facing our communitiesin the years to come in order to be infavour of local food production.

There are many other reasons why localfood is a good idea: it is healthy for you towork in a garden or allotment, you canpass your growing skills on to the nextgeneration and your neighbours. It createscommunity links and friendships when youexchange food products with localresidents. Blackshaw is of course not alonein producing food. In Hebden Bridge wehave the Calder Food Network and thefood group of the Hebden BridgeTransition Town; there is Calder LocalOrchard Group (CLOG) that plants fruittrees all over the valley and makes ciderfrom local apples; there is a garden cluband a big allotment society in Heptonstall;and we have the nationally knownIncredible Edible Todmorden – all of themvery active with a lot to offer.With the current economic crisis, risingunemployment, and rising poverty levels,more and more people want to grow someof their own food and save a bit of moneythat way. There are local residents whoare willing to let others use some of theirland for food production. In fact BEATalready has a list of 19 local residents inour parish willing to share their land. BEAThas contacted these landowners and wouldbe pleased to introduce them to peoplewho are looking for land to grow food.This could be taken a step further bycreating local employment in foodproduction and selling and distributingthese products. Some of the food could beprocessed locally, eg chutneys andpreserves for the winter time – creatingmore local employment. These jobs willnot be highly paid but they will have otherbenefits, like avoiding long commutesevery day to work, avoiding traffic jams,reducing your frustrations as well as yourtransport costs.

Where to get our food from?

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Where to getour energy

from?

This has been a regular part ofBEAT's work for years. BEAT hasalso started encouraging localresidents to buy 100% renewableenergy from Green Energy UK,which gives local residents a 10%discount.Producing renewable energy forheating local houses is morecomplicated than providing themwith green electricity – unless theyuse the electricity for heating. Forthe more isolated homes heatpumps (air sourced, ground sourcedor bore hole sourced) can becomean attractive option with theRenewable Heat Incentive (RHI)from April 2012 – particularly if theelectricity used to run them is fromrenewable sources.For houses grouped closer together,renewable district heating systemsmight be a better option, enablingthem to have just one boilingsystem for the group of housesrather than a boiler for each house.Again making use of the RenewableHeat Incentive might make such anoption financially as well asenvironmentally attractive. Ideally,biomass district heating should becombined with the growing of localbiomass as fuel for the districtheating, as well as for individualwood burners. There is plenty ofland available for biomass growingand at least 19 local land ownershave indicated they are willing touse some of their land forcommunity projects. Other landowners might be willing to use theirland on a strictly commercial basis.The Hebden Bridge basedTreesponsibility has already plantedthousands of trees in Blackshawwith the help of local residents, andare planning to plant thousandsmore over the next decade as wellas managing the trees, all free forthe landowners as the trees are paidfor through grants.

Just as BEAT does not expectBlackshaw to become totally self-sufficient in food, we do not expectto be able to produce all our ownenergy (electricity, heating,transport, etc). However, we can goa long way to producing most of theenergy we use locally. As with localfood, this can create localemployment, save money for localresidents, and even create a steadyincome stream that can be used forfurther investments in thecommunity, like energyconservation via house insulation.Being situated on the top of thePennines is an energy blessing forBlackshaw (though some will say acurse in other contexts). We get alot of wind – so much wind that itcould produce the electricity weneed. Many households havealready invested in domestic windturbines. However, there is stillsome local opposition to windturbines, particularly the biggerones visible to local residents. BEAThas therefore also looked at allalternatives for community ownedrenewable technologies.There are several sites suitable forsmall hydro projects in the area.For over a year BEAT has beennegotiating with relevantlandowners regarding potentialcommunity owned hydro projectson these sites and in return offeringthe land owners free electricityfrom the project.This work is likely to continue butso far no landowner in BlackshawParish has agreed to such a project.Instead we have found a site by thecricket club in Hebden Bridge withthe permission of landowners andin partnership with Hebden BridgeTransition Town. BEAT will also lookat potential sites for a smallcommunity owned wind turbine.BEAT is very fortunate in havingaccess to two local hydro experts:one is the part-owner of a socialenterprise, h2oPE, specialising incommunity owned hydro projects.Another is the coordinator of thePower From the Landscape projectat the Alternative TechnologyCenter. Both are very supportive ofBEAT and both have spoken onhydro at BEAT public meetings.BEAT will also continue to offeradvice to individual households onmicro generation of energy usingsolar panels, wind, hydro, biomass,heat pumps, etc.

Treesponsibility has also plantedtens of thousands of trees inneighbouring areas over the lastdecade. It will of course take yearsfor these trees to mature forharvesting as biomass. However,there are hundreds of mature treesin the Upper Calder Valley that needto be felled due to their age andthese trees could be an early sourceof fuel for biomass heating.Planting, managing, harvesting,storing and selling trees can createlocal employment possibilities, createwildlife and biodiversity habitats,help reduce the risk of floodingfurther down the valley and be astore of carbon dioxide (throughphotosynthesis), thereby helpingmitigate climate change.Production of energy for electricityand heating should go hand-in-handwith energy conservation. In fact, itis cheaper to reduce the use ofenergy through house insulation etcthan it is to produce the energy,especially if the house is a fairlymodern house (built after 1930).However, the majority of houses inour parish are older stone houses,often without cavity walls, and if withcavity walls the cavity is not suitablefor insulation. These are termed'hard-to-treat' or 'hard-to-heat'houses.Hard-to-treat houses tend to beexpensive to insulate. If they haveattics this is an extra expensivecomplication. These costs oftenprevent the house owner from doingthe insulation. The government iscurrently preparing a scheme toassist such households through theGreen Deal and Calderdale Council isalso planning to launch its ownsupport scheme DEEP (DomesticEnergy Efficiency Programme).However, even with such schemes itmay not be possible for all 'hard-to-treat' house owners to afford theinsulation. BEAT hopes to be able tohelp.If BEAT manages to establishcommunity owned renewabletechnology systems that generate asignificant annual income throughthe Feed-in-Tariff and the RenewableHeat Incentive, BEAT would be in aposition to give financial support tothe insulation of hard-to-treathouses, and other initiatives such asaddressing fuel poverty, thereby alsogenerating additional income andemployment.

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How to create sustainabletransport?

If BEAT manages to generate substantialincomes through community owned microgeneration of energy, some of this money couldbe used to make our transport less dependenton oil. Various options are possible. It could bea community owned minibus in addition to theexisting bus network, which is currently likely tobe reduced because of cuts in public funding.It could also be a car sharing system, like theHour Car schemes in Hebden Bridge andTodmorden, Their cars run on 100% biofueland no oil. A car sharing system in Blackshawcould also be 100% electric cars using theelectricity produced through renewable projects.The government offers £5,000 towards thepurchase of certain types of electric cars. Wecould even have electric bikes and/or scooters.

How to create sustainability awareness?

Hand-in-hand with developing a sustainable supply of food, energy and transport goescreating awareness of how we can all look after the planet and each other by building

stronger and more resilient communities. It is not about blaming, preaching orcriticising some peoples' behaviour but offering an alternative, a better way of living.BEAT has always done awareness raising through speakers at public meetings, film

showings, our newsletter and our web site, promoting renewable technologies, workingwith similar groups in the Upper Calder Valley, commissioning wildlife surveys of the

area, campaigning against inappropriate planning applications, encouragingsupermarkets to recycle mixed plastics, etc.

However, BEAT wants to do more, particularly among children and young people. Wewant to contact schools, children and young people's groups like cubs, scouts and

woodcraft groups, offering activities rather than lectures on how we can all do our bitto look after planet earth. If the children and young people go home and repeat the

activities, embodying the message to the adults, all the better.

How to improve our local environment?

BEAT is not alone in looking after our localenvironment. The Parish Council, Friends ofColden Clough, Colden School, the Chapel,

various individuals like local farmers, all makeimportant contributions. BEAT members have

been involved in balsam bashing, tree planting,organising village clean-ups, planting flower

bulbs on road verges, etc for many years.Together we have stopped some inappropriate

projects where developers were hoping to makea quick profit without taking into considerationthe views of the local community. Together we

managed to stop these projects throughcommunity campaigns.5

This vision for Blackshaw was supported bythe community in general terms at twopublic meetings in 2008 and 2009. We havewritten this vision up in a shorter version(one page), which is available in UpBEAT no11. BEAT will now develop a plan for theimplementation of this vision and carry outfurther community consultation. Animportant part would be to generate asubstantial, long term and regular income fora community fund that can be invested inthe community to make it moreenvironmentally, socially and economicallysustainable.This income stream is most likely to comefrom micro generation of energy over a 20year period through the Feed-in-Tariff andthe Renewable Heat Incentive, although thetariffs for the RHI are not finalised at thisstage. The easiest and quickest way ofgetting micro generation up and running isthrough wind turbines, even small ones (5-12 kw). However, because of some localopposition to wind turbines we will try to finda suitable site for a community owned windturbine. We will also continue to look atpotential sites for hydro turbines - if we canget local landowners interested.Hydro projects are likely to be more costlythan wind turbines. There are various waysof raising the money:

This vision for a sustainable Blackshaw can only be realised if the local community isactively behind the process. It will only be a sustainable community if the communityhas full ownership of the process, by setting the goals we want to achieve. That is whywe want the community to discuss this vision and to amend it where necessary.There will be difficulties and disagreements on the way, but if we treat each other withrespect we can amaze ourselves. We have already shown this with 12 annual feteevents, some very active and long-lived community groups, the Gardeners' QuestionTime event at the Chapel, campaigning against some planning applications, etc, etc. Letus leave a sustainable Blackshaw to our children and grandchildren.

Can we do it? YES WE CAN!Can we do it? YES WE CAN!

We will try and raise as much of the capitalcosts as possible through grants. Variouspotential funders have already beenidentified as well as some potential hydrosites. The remaining money for the capitalcosts can either be raised through donations,loans, venture capital or shares. Donations could be from fundraisingactivities, like the 'Visit your neighbour'event this summer.Loans from local residents and possibly fromCalder Credit Union could be repaid within afew years from the income generatedthrough the Feed-in-Tariff or the RenewableHeat Initiative.Shares could be sold to local residents andbeyond with an annual interest paymentabove bank rates. Calderdale Council maybe interested in contributing financially tosuch community owned micro generationschemes.BEAT is receiving free legal advice from alocal specialist on the best legal structuresfor the various options in order to protectBEAT members from any future liabilities. Ifwe set up an energy scheme without sellingshares we can do it as a company limited byguarantee. If we want to sell shares wewould set up an Industrial and ProvidentSociety (ISP). Deciding to sell shares coulddepend on whether it is necessary to raiseadditional capital for the scheme.

What are the next steps?

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