Monthly Archives: March 2014

More community energy in New Mills? Have your say!

30 Sunday Mar 2014

Posted by in Energy

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Is it time for more community-owned renewable energy in New Mills? There are an increasing number of community energy projects around the UK, with many towns and communities putting a lot of effort into becoming more energy-efficient and generating more green energy. Some examples include:

  • Wadebridge in Cornwall, which is aiming to generate 30% of its electricity from local renewable sources by 2015
  • Balcombe in Sussex, which was recently the site of exploratory fracking investigations (and a high-profile protest camp) and is now intending to invest £300,000 in solar power
  • The South Wales valleys, which has an ongoing share offer to invest in solar power on seven community buildings.

So what about New Mills? Our town is of course home to the UK’s first community-owned hydro-electric scheme, the Torrs Hydro, and there is an ongoing project to raise money to put solar panels on the roof of New Mills School.

But could we be doing more? There is certainly no shortage of options: just downstream from Archie at Torr Vale Mill, another weir could generate more hydro-electricity; we have numerous south-facing roofs where we could put solar panels; we have plenty of wind; and let’s not forget the Renewable Heat Incentive, which makes more viable the installation of community heating schemes. As well as an investment in our future energy security, many of these options could be good financial investments too.

We would like to know what you think. Please take part in our poll and send this to as many of your friends and neighbours as possible to get them to vote too.

And if you would like more community energy and you’d like to help make it happen, contact us.

Tackling Invaders

25 Tuesday Mar 2014

Posted by in Biodiversity, Plants

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Take a country walk in summer and you will come across a fairly attractive plant with tall stems, green leaves ribbed with red veins, and profuse clusters of pinky white, fragrant flowers. If you’ve been walking for a few years you will also have noticed increasing amounts of it. In fact, so much so that the other plants you probably delighted in seeing are becoming more and more scarce as a result – check out the glorious woodland flowers at Etherow Country Park this May, for example, and between the bluebells, wild garlic, and red campion will be an emerging carpet of Himalayan Balsam, ready to overwhelm them; in some areas the bluebells have already disappeared.

But the problem isn’t just one of aesthetics and nostalgia. Its ability to rapidly colonise new areas is leading to a number of serious problems:

  • The eco-system can be significantly damaged as it out competes native flora for light, space and nutrients. This means large stands of Himalayan Balsam can develop, particularly on river banks, without native flora growing beneath them, reducing biodiversity and some of our most-loved native plants.
  • When plants die back in winter, soil, especially river banks, are bare and exposed, accelerating erosion and allowing sediment to enter the water, leading to land and habitat loss and potentially contributing to flooding downstream as channels silt up.
  • Although popular with bees when in flower, they may then not visit other plants as regularly meaning native plants may not get pollinated as often, and the reduction in the number of plant species means that nectar is less likely to be available for bees at other times of the year – a particular problem in the ‘June gap’.

It’s no surprise then that one of the most popular suggested projects in last year’s Make It Happen competition was dealing with invasive non-native species, including Himalayan Balsam. Transition New Mills has been working with member Richard Barnes, whose idea it was, to help make the project reality; and now we need your help!

With the help of Derbyshire County Council, Derbyshire Wildlife Trust and New Mills Town Council, we have developed a Tackling Invaders Project Plan to tackle these invaders. Working with other groups in neighbouring areas we hope to be able to make significant progress in reducing and keeping on top of the spread of Himalayan Balsam. It will be a long term endeavour, but other projects have shown it can be highly successful, as the plant is an annual and the seeds only remain viable for 2-3 years. Clearing can ideally take place between May and July, before it sets seed – see the Himalayan Balsam Management leaflet from Derbyshire Wildlife Trust which tells you how to recognise and manage the plant.

The Plan calls on local groups and people with an interest to come together in a systematic way to deal with the plants. This will be based on mapping and understanding where it occurs, and how much there is. Mapping could even be made easy with phone apps, so you can log it when you’re out and about. Then we can start to clear it out of certain areas, prioritising sites upstream and environmentally sensitive sites. It doesn’t take any specialist knowledge, just think of it as a great reason to get outside on a nice day!

If you’re interested in being involved with the project, either mapping or clearing it, please contact us, and we can get something going for when the plants start to grow from May.

 

 

 

Dialogue Opens between Borough Council and Transition New Mills

22 Saturday Mar 2014

Posted by in Economy, Local plans

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Transition New Mills was very pleased to meet last week with two prominent members of High Peak Borough Council (HPBC): Godfrey Claff, who’s in charge of Regeneration policy, and Caitlin Bisknell, leader of the Council. We, along with other groups such as Sustainable Hayfield, Visit New Mills and Torr Vale Mill Preservation Trust, were invited by the local Labour Party to hear about HPBC’s strategy for local regeneration and offer our views and comments.

I thought it would be useful to share what could be the start of a very open, informative and constructive dialogue. There may well be initiatives that we can tap into to further our aims as a Transition initiative and it was good to network with other like-minded groups.

Godfrey began by presenting the HPBC’s Regeneration Growth Strategy which focuses on “poverty, people and sustainability”. There are five main strands to the strategy:

  1. Increasing local employment. Godfrey and Caitlin are visiting the 100 biggest businesses as well as a number of smaller businesses to understand their issues and see how HPBC might help. HPBC intends to improve its communication with business via an e-Newsletter.
  2. Maximising investment in High Peak. The main element of this is the establishment of a Growth Fund whereby the council will borrow money to stimulate growth. Investment is available for private sector projects that will provide an income stream to the council and new jobs, such as housing projects. I asked Godfrey whether this could include renewable energy projects; I don’t think this had occurred to him, but his reply was “come and talk to us”.
  3. Working more closely with partners on projects such as Glossop library. HPBC intends to look much more towards Manchester as our nearest thriving city and engine of growth, such as on transport to take traffic off the roads. Working together on health issues and with the Peak District Park Partnership to access EU funds was also mentioned.
  4. Maximising opportunities for residents such as encouraging the employment of local people through the planning mechanism, upgrading skills through training and a micro-finance loan scheme.
  5. Town centre development. Market towns – such as New Mills – are “hubs for change” so there will be dedicated workers assigned to these towns to help with regeneration with the aim of promoting distinctiveness. It was pointed out that these towns already receive a regeneration grant: for New Mills, HPBC allocates £4,000 which the town council is expected to match resulting in an annual fund available for regeneration of £8,000. It was further pointed out that for the last couple of years, none of this was spent…

Godfrey was keen to stress that there is no new money for regeneration; in fact, it’s being done in a time of a severe financial squeeze. Therefore, this strategy is all about a redirection of current staff and the use of existing or borrowed money. However, HPBC is keen to overcome blockages to projects, e.g. due to lack of land, money (where there is a possible income stream for the council) and/or planning issues.

The discussion afterwards covered a number of topics:

  • The different stress on very small businesses (e.g. sole trader or just a couple of employees) vs. larger businesses (100+ employees, such as Swizzels Matlow). Our own Barry Bate (there representing Visit New Mills) suggested that a business incubator space may be fruitful.
  • An EU programme for the support of small businesses and community enterprises known as ‘Leader’. This is for ‘innovative’ projects (though this has a very broad definition) and could be worth up to £1m or so.
  • Would a Traders’ Association be useful for promoting dialogue between HPBC and local businesses, and offering shared services and advice? For Hayfield? For New Mills? Or for both?
  • Totally Locally Glossop is launching this coming Monday (24 March) at Bradbury House in Glossop and everyone is welcome to go along and network and see how they’re doing things.