The Great Collaboration
Leading to a zero carbon Herefordshire
The Great Collaboration:
Through our project The Great Collaboration – Leading to a Zero Carbon Herefordshire we are inviting communities to come together. Discussion, sharing of information, inspiration, and peer-to-peer support is at the core of this work supporting parish councils and their local communities. Around the county people are starting to respond to Herefordshire’s declaration of a Climate and Ecological Emergency with their own shared, locally-relevant, practical projects and plans.
Stage 1 of The Great Collaboration
Between August 2019 and February 2020 during Stage 1 of The Great Collaboration project HGN took a zero carbon focussed workshop to six locations across Herefordshire (Hereford, Bromyard, Ledbury, Ross- on-Wye, Leominster and Kington). HGN engaged with 155 councillors from 57 different councils representing 41% of the 139 (including Herefordshire Council) councils. These councillors represented the full spectrum of local governance in Herefordshire across all areas and all levels; parish, town and county councillors were all represented.
Stage 1 of The Great Collaboration aimed to engage as many councillors as possible with the aim of raising understanding about the issues of becoming carbon neutral. Workshops focused on achieving zero carbon across four key areas; transport, energy generation, energy saving in buildings and land use.
Stage 2 of
The Great Collaboration
The next stage of this project aims to support the feeling of local momentum towards carbon reduction. Using online resources to enable ease of peer-to-peer communications and sharing across parishes we hope to work towards our target of net zero by 2030. We are currently developing a portfolio of tailored webinars and workshops for parish councillors covering the subject areas that they requested from The Great Collaboration stage 1 workshops can be found on our events page.
THE GREAT COLLABORATION PORTAL
This is a big week for The Great Collaboration Portal.
We have just received word that our funding application to the MCS charitable foundation was successful which means we are able to begin the next phase of our work. Behind the scenes we have been busy preparing for this moment and it feels very timely.
So far we have been able to develop an interactive web platform to support and encourage local communities as they reduce their carbon and ecological footprints. Click here to visit the site and begin your journey- your responses will support the local engagement process as well as providing you with robustly researched actions and local information.
Word is beginning to get out about the potential for this tool…
Tim Yair, the Regional Senior Energy Projects Officer for The Midlands Energy Hub, said that the Great Collaboration Portal, “represents an exciting means of achieving net zero by empowering local people to take local action.” He went on to say that the Portal provided, “the necessary tools and support in order to enable individuals and communities alike to take the next step on the journey and make a real difference to local emissions.”
The Centre for Alternative Technology has already been involved in the development of The Great Collaboration Portal. Dr Anthony Hurford Project manager of the Zero Carbon Britain Hub and Innovation Lab recognises the potential of the tool for, “finding out what needs for support exist at community level and what actions are already being taken to transition to net zero greenhouse gas emissions,” in addition, this tool is “vitally important for efficient use of resources.”
Dr Ellie Chowns Cabinet Member for Environment and Economy is, “hugely supportive of this project and the difference we believe it could make to the county and country. Not only in terms of helping us to move closer to achieve our Net Zero ambition but also in terms of our community engagement and ability to respond to local issues.”
We have also been added to the National Association of Local Councils website here and support for our work continues to grow beyond our Herefordshire boarders.
If you would like to know more about this project then please do not hesitate to contact me events@hgnetwork.org We can also now be found on Facebook here so be sure to click ‘like’ to keep up to date with our news.
Resources for Councillors
For further reading, click here or for more information on any of the subjects below, please click the titles.
