www.dacenvforum.org.uk

Dacorum Environmental Forum

Full Meeting – 19^th March 2009

MINUTES

Attendance

Phil Pennington	DEF Chairman
Gruff Edwards	New Conservation Society and DEF Vice-Chairman
Marion Baker	Transition Town Berkhamsted
Norman Cutting	Berkhamsted Citizens’ Association
Mary Dyson	Lions Club Berkhamsted
Adrienne Gear	Community Action Dacorum
Roger Hands	Water Group/Box Moor Trust
Paul Harris	Friends of the Earth
Dennis Harvey	Hemel Nature
Dorothy Jackman	Transition Town Hemel
Alan Johnson	Great Gaddesden Parish Council
Hazel Johnson	Green Party
Cllr David Nobbs	Chipperfield Parish Council
Emma Norrington	Groundwork/TBCC
Lizzy Savage	Dacorum Borough Council
Cllr Garrick Stevens	Berkhamsted Town Council
Lucy Stone	Dacorum Borough Council (minutes)
Jason Williams	Friends of Shrubhill

49. Apologies

Cllr Alan Anderson	Dacorum Borough Council
Jean Blackman	Friends of the Earth
Cllr H Chapman	Dacorum Borough Council
Sylvia Davidson	Water Group
Sheila Doyle	Friends of the Earth
Cllr Green	Dacorum Borough Council
Cllr Guest	Dacorum Borough Council
Cllr Brian Jones	Northchurch Parish Council
Chris Jones	Hemel Hempstead Churches
Rudolf Kirst	Hemel Hempstead GM Action Group
Mike Smith	Friends of the Earth
Peter Thring	CPRE Hertfordshire, Chiltern Society
Tim Vaughan	Tring and Berkhamsted Cycling Campaign
Douglas Walker	Resident
Bridget Wilkins	Berkhamsted Transition Town

50. Elections – Chair, Vice-Chair and Steering Group

Lizzy Savage said she had received three nominations for Phil Pennington to be re-elected as Chairman and three nomination forms for Gruff Edwards to be re-elected as Vice-Chairman.

It was therefore declared that Phil Pennington be re-elected as Chairman and Gruff Edwards be re-elected as Vice-Chairman.

Phil Pennington announced that Douglas Walker was standing down as a member of the steering group. He said that three people had put their names forward to be on the steering group: Sheila Doyle; Jason Williams and Emma Norrington. The Forum agreed that all three would join the steering group.

51. Eco Teams

Garrick Stevens gave a presentation which included a short video on Eco Teams. He outlined that Eco Teams were small groups of 6 to 8 households which were practical groups to help reduce energy consumption and carbon emissions from each household. The idea had started in the Netherlands and several areas across the UK had adopted this approach. Each Eco Team would have a facilitator who would be trained by Global Action Group. The cost to set this up would be approximately £6,000. Garrick Stevens suggested a joint approach between the different groups to raise the funding.

Paul Harris said there was a sound structure of groups, between Friends of the Earth and Transition Towns.

Marion Baker asked where the volunteers would come from. Garrick Stevens said the most expensive option was for Global Action Plan to recruit the volunteers; he said the best way was to find the participants.

Mary Dyson asked what the £6,000 was for. Garrick Stevens said that it was for training, access to materials and a database of information. He said that Global Action Plan were a not for profit organisation.

Lizzy Savage asked if the £6,000 was an initial outlay and if the Eco Teams would then be self sufficient. Garrick Stevens confirmed this was the case.

Garrick Stevens said he was unsure if the process had been changed since it began, he said it had evolved and that several Councils in the UK had been involved including, Dawlish Town, Hastings Borough Council and Angus Council.

Gruff Edwards asked if the Eco Teams would be supplied with measuring facilities. Garrick Stevens said he was unsure but that he thought that the teams would log their meter readings. He said one tool to consider was a device which would measure each electrical appliance separately. He said that they cost around £150 and that York City Council had purchased some to be loaned out from the library.

Gruff Edwards asked if people would be asked to weigh their bins. Garrick Stevens said he was unsure.

Norman Cutting said there were a lot of households in the area and questioned how many this programme would reach. He said that the people who had the most to learn from schemes such as this were the people who would not volunteer. He said that money could perhaps be better spent locally to encourage people to do more than Dacorum Borough Council did already. He said it could be more cost effective in educating a larger group. Garrick Stevens said there had to be an impact at the household level as there was already an impact made at a macro level. He said they needed evidence of CO₂ reduction and then publicity.

Roger Hands said he supported the objective but said it would not be easy. He said young people should be encouraged to be involved.

Dennis Harvey asked how the facilitator training was carried out and how much it costed. Garrick Stevens said the facilitators would be assembled for one day and trained to go through the process. The cost would be approximately £1350.

Marion Baker asked how the facilitators would be asked to recruit households as some people might be put off by this. Garrick Stevens said he was unsure but that it could be a variety of ways.

Jason Williams said that it was important to get information on how this would benefit Dacorum. He said it would be wise to get good groups set up initially to set an example to future groups. Garrick Stevens said that people found commitment daunting, but the process would take around 5 or 6 months.

Paul Harris asked if it had been well publicised in areas where it had worked well. Garrick Stevens said it would need a champion, such as a Borough Councillor.

Alan Johnson said he would like to see information like this going into the Parish magazines which went out to all households. He said that schemes like this were already going on unofficially.

Garrick Stevens said that if this idea was taken forward, he would like some help in carrying out further research.

Phil Pennington suggested that the next stage would be for Garrick Stevens to find out further information. It would then be presented to the Environment Overview and Scrutiny Committee if it was supported by the Forum.

Outcome

It was agreed that Eco Teams would be supported by the Forum, and that Garrick Stevens would carry out further research before presenting to the Environment Overview and Scrutiny Committee.

52. Water Group Update

Phil Pennington informed the Forum that CMS, who supported the water group, had lost its funding from Dacorum Borough Council.

Roger Hands said this support was for administrative support but was also directly involved in various projects associated with wetlands so there would be implications for rivers and wetlands, especially on biodiversity matters. He said the loss of funding was very disappointing and could not have been at a worse time. The group, however, were looking for solutions and were making progress in spite of this.

Roger Hands updated the Forum on the Water Framework Directive which was a European led document. He said that it was a 1300 page document which covered all aspects of water and implications in social activities. The Water Group would be responding to the consultation which was required by the end of June. The framework, would then in theory, be adopted by the end of the year. Roger Hands had attended several meetings to date, including with the Environment Agency and other local water groups to discuss different issues. He said that he believed some of the objectives could be more challenging. Roger Hands hoped to circulate the draft response to the Forum before it was submitted, but he was unsure if time would permit him to do this. He said it would be a fundamental basis for a lot of future action.

Paul Harris asked if it had been a complete withdrawal of funding to CMS by Dacorum Borough Council. Phil Pennington confirmed that it had been. He said that Hertfordshire County Council and the other Hertfordshire District and Borough Councils still funded CMS. Paul Harris suggested writing a letter from the Forum to Dacorum Borough Council. Phil Pennington confirmed that this had already been done and that a response had been received. He said the decision had now been made and that environmental issues had been hit by the current budget cuts.

Dennis Harvey asked if there would be a transition period before the implantation date. He also asked if it put statutory obligations onto Local Authorities Roger Hands said the objectives would be structured over a future period of time which varied depending on the objective. He said that the framework would include statutory elements throughout, not just for Local Authorities, but also for water companies.

Dennis Harvey asked if the thrust of the framework was around water as a finite resource and regulations on usage. Roger Hands said that the water stress situation was a prime feature and that options were reviewed such as more reservoirs, adjoining aqua-fills. He said that an aim was to collaborate rather than to lay down the law.

David Nobbs said that the Parish Council were looking at the Thames Basin document which was overwhelming. Roger Hands said it was challenging.

Hazel Johnson asked who would police the regulations. Roger Hands said it would be the Environment Agency.

53. Forming of Action Groups

Phil Pennington said that there were several target set of the Forum through the Local Strategic Partnership. These included setting up three further action groups like the water group.

Lizzy Savage read out the names of those who had volunteered to be involved in each group and said that more people were welcome to join.

Waste Group: Gruff Edwards, Adrian Whyle, Mary Dyson

Biodiversity Group: Martin Hicks, Phil Pennington, Marion Baker, Mary Dyson, Andy Hardstaff, Elizabeth Goodyear, Bridgit Wilkins, Roger Hands

Transport Group: John Lythgoe, Tim Vaughan, Norman Jones, Emma Norrington, Paul Harris, Dennis Harvey, Cllr Mike Moore

Phil Pennington said that he would chair the first meeting of each group until the group was established. He said that the first meeting of each group could be held at the Boxmoor Trust Centre and would then have to find their own venues.

The following times and dates were agreed for the first meetings:

Waste Group – Thursday 30^th April at 7.30pm at the Boxmoor Trust Centre

Biodiversity Group – Monday 11^th May at 7.30pm at the Boxmoor Trust Centre

Transport Group – Thursday 14^th May at 7.30pm at the Boxmoor Trust Centre.

With regard to the Eco Team working group, Phil Pennington asked Garrick Stevens to get in touch with the three Transition Towns and Friends of the Earth who would look for volunteers to help.

54. Any Other Business

Local Sustainable Food Strategy

Marion Baker introduced a Local Sustainable Food Strategy item. She said there was an interest in buying and growing food locally and a commitment to reduce carbon footprint. She said, however, that there was a problem at the moment that there were a number of small separate food projects but no strategic overall plan. Transition Town food groups had been approached by F3 consultants who had carried out work on local food projects. They would design and facilitate a process with the aim of developing a local sustainable food strategy.

F3 would require a report on the current state of food in the area, funding proposals for the £2,000 cost and a written commitment from the local Council and a space to hold meetings and workshops within the Council offices. She said it would be a really good opportunity to work with F3.

Dennis Harvey asked how long it had been going and if there were success stories. Marion Baker said that Devon and Wiltshire Councils had successfully worked with F3.

Phil Pennington said that it would need to go to the Environment Overview and Scrutiny Committee to get commitment from the Council. He said that the DEF budget may be able to provide some of the finance needed.

Outcome

The Forum agreed that it should be referred to the Environment Overview and Scrutiny Committee.

Clean, Safe and Green

Lizzy Savage read out information on the Council’s launch of Clean, Safe and Green which would be in the first two weeks in May. The Council were also running an awards scheme for Clean, Safe and Green champions. Lizzy Savage said that individuals or groups who were giving their unpaid services to make the community a cleaner, safer and greener place to work could be nominated for an award. She tabled some copies of the nomination form which was also available on the Council’s website. The deadline for entries was 30^th April, the winner(s) would be announced during the week commencing 4^th May.

Phil Pennington suggested that Sheila Chauhan, Environmental Awareness Officer, could be invited to the first Waste Action Group meeting.

Age of Stupid Film

Lizzy Savage said she had attended a premier of the Age of Stupid film about climate change which she recommended.

55. Meeting Dates

The next meetings of the Dacorum Environmental Forum will be on Thursday 16^th July 2009 and on Thursday 15^th October 2009 both at 7.30pm in the Bulborne Room, Civic Centre.

Note: The Agendas and Minutes from the Dacorum Environment Forum meetings can be found at www.dacenvforum.org.uk

The meeting closed at 9.10pm