Memorandum submitted by Garry Charnock
(CRED 6)
I would like to apply to give oral evidence
at a public hearing at CRed on the morning of 31 January 2007.
MY BACKGROUND
AND EXPERIENCE
(VERY BRIEF)
In January 2006 I inspired Ashton Hayes Parish
Council to adopt a proposal that my community (near Chester) tries
to become the first carbon neutral village in England. The proposal
was accepted and we called a public debate that was attended by
75% of the adult population. Since then we have completed our
carbon footprint of the village, in alliance with the University
of Chester, and instigated a host of projects involving all aspects
of our lifestyle. We have also been awarded a £26,500 DEFRA
grant under its Climate Challenge fund and numerous other financial
awards. We have carried out door-to-door lifestyle surveys over
50% of the houses and now have over 20 people actively running
climate-change related projects. We have also attracted over £13,000
in business sponsorship and much more than this is business support
and expertise.
In addition, we have inspired around 24 similar
sized communities in the UK to follow our example (and several
overseas) and will be hosting the first "grass roots"
carbon neutral conference on 14 April 2007 in Chester. We also
inspired Chester City to adopt the University of East Anglia CRed
programme, the first city in the UK to give its citizens a pathway
to carbon neutrality.
The project has featured on BBC Radio 4 and
World Service programmes and local radio, TV and press.
Full details of our activities can be seen on
www.goingcarbonneutral.co.uk
The issue I would like to raise concerns the
best ways to inspire communities to take ownership and action
on climate change. I would like to relate our experience in the
hope that others will learn something from our approach. I can
bring information from our surveys and demonstrate what other
communities across the UK are doing as part of our shared "grass
roots" initiative.
For information, I am a Chartered Civil Engineer
and specialist technical communications consultant and I have
lived in Ashton Hayes for 23 years.
Garry Charnock
January 2007
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