Great Collaboration Herefordshire

Leading to a zero carbon Herefordshire

Great Collaboration Herefordshire

Around the county, people are responding to Herefordshire’s declaration of a Climate and Ecological Emergency with their own shared, locally relevant, practical projects and plans. Others are wondering how to make a start.

Our project The Great Collaboration – Local Actions for a Healthy Planet brings together communities on their path to a low carbon and sustainable future. Discussions, sharing of information, working together, and peer-to-peer support is at the core of this work, whether the community initiative is being taken by a parish council, by a local group, or both.

From 2020 to the end of 2023, The Great Collaboration was focused on the Great Collaboration Toolkit, funded by the MCS Charitable Foundation. Having developed this and seen it being used by individuals and communities across the county, we’ve now handed it over to be deployed across the UK! It’s now supporting a much wider range of communities. Herefordshire Green Networks programme will now concentrate on activities in this county and be known as Great Collaboration Herefordshire. Facilitating gatherings, sharing learning, arranging peer to peer sessions and providing local networking and partnership opportunities.

Great Collaboration Herefordshire

About 10% of parish councils in Herefordshire are actively engaged in community environment projects, some closely allied to the Great Collaboration Herefordshire and others less so.

We are building up local resources and support for these groups and developing a network across the county. We are always very pleased to hear from new groups or individuals who would like to get involved in responding to the climate and ecological crisis in their communities or parish councils.

Please do email us at: gchfds@greatcollaboration.uk

Parish Councils that sign up to the Great Collaboration by becoming HGN members will get a newsletter and invitations to in-person and online events. So please join now and support our Great Collaboration activity!

Join Now

The Toolkit

If you’re wondering how to make a start or go further with you individual or community actions on climate and nature, then The Great Collaboration Toolkit is for you.

It really comes into its own if you create an account and then choose and record your carbon reducing actions.

Though your information stays private, when enough people from your community take part a picture will start to emerge that shows your local/parish council what people care about and how they can help, influencing local policy and making life better where you live. It’s for everyone, and it’s for free.

Check it out by clicking on the green button!

The Great Collaboration Toolkit

Background to Great Collaboration Herefordshire

THE ROADSHOWS

In 2019 and early 2020 Herefordshire Green Network conducted a series of workshops across the county to hear what support councils needed to help their communities achieve zero carbon outcomes. Nearly half the councils participated across all levels: county, town and parish. Workshops focused on achieving zero carbon in four key areas: transport, energy generation, energy saving in buildings and land use.
At the same time, Fownhope and several other parishes declared a climate emergency, setting up community action groups or climate groups and starting the support or generating interest within their communities.
At the workshops councils stated they needed: ideas and information, guidance on how to gather data and consult their communities and case studies.

GOING ONLINE

HGN were successful in applying for funding from the MCS Foundation to set up a web-based toolkit and pilot a community-based response in Fownhope Parish, with an outreach worker supporting any other parish councils wishing to participate. The long-term plan was that this model would be used to support and encourage other parishes across the UK to join The Great Collaboration.
The aim was to offer easy-to-access information, make it open source, support individuals to commit to making informed lifestyle changes and provide parishes with anonymised data which could help them focus on community actions which needed additional support. For HGN this was a hugely ambitious project.
The first version of the Great Collaboration website and toolkit was created by HGN (mostly volunteers) in partnership local charity Caplor Horizons, with input from Fownhope Parish Council and the Centre for Alternative Technology, and support from NALC and HALC. In 2022 the new version, hosted for HGN by The DMLab, was launched – a version that would allow the site easily to be transferred to an organisation able to deploy it nationally.

GOING NATIONAL!

In September 2023 HGN transferred the web-based toolkit over to a new organisation, Place-based Initiatives Ltd (PBI), which is supported by the Society of Local Council Clerks and National Association of Council Clerks, to expand the provision across the UK as planned. Read about the PBI team here. Currently they’re running regular online sessions for councillors on relevant topics and have a lot of expertise to support local councils in their climate work, much of which will be integrated into the Great Collaboration website. We’re delighted that it’s in good hands and set to grow.

Which councils have already declared a Climate Emergency?

Click here to find out!

Resources for parish councils and groups

For further reading, click here or for more information on any of the subjects below, please click the titles.

Transport

Community Engagement

Energy Generation

Improving Energy Performance in Buildings

Land Use

Case Studies in Herefordshire

Join Our Network

Our strength is in our network so joining means that you can share skills and experience with those who live and work near to you, link with those further away who share your interests, and help HGN to set up the tailored support and specialist events that you want.

Parish council (Great Collaboration) membership

Great Collaboration Herefordshire

Leading to a zero carbon Herefordshire