Transition Town Market Harborough and Market Harborough Environment Group
Planning event 8th January 2015
Open space in 2 hours
We were gratified to see a good turn out for this new event to our calendar, a planning event to help answer the posed question :
“What can we do to improve the sustainability of Market Harborough in 2015 and beyond”
We started with a ceremonial cutting of a cake to celebrate the union of “Transition Town Market Harborough” and the newly names “Market Harborough Environment Group”. This beautiful cake was the joint effort of Mary Dank’s and Mary Green. From the rest of the group we thank you!
Cake to celebrate the union of TTMH & MHEG
Mary Dank’s and Darren Woodiwiss cut the TTMH+MHEG celebration cake
The event was split into two phases, draw out the subjects we wished to discuss and then come up with a list of actions and answers which could form the basis of future projects.
The subjects
We handed out post-it notes and asked the group for ideas for subject headers that we could discuss during the evening. We had many suggestions, some of which were answers to the as yet unasked questions but Mark Baverstock and Darren Woodiwiss went through the responses to group them into logical subjects which were then written onto record cards.
When all of the responses were collated we reviewed the grouped responses by Darren reading them out aloud and asking the group if they agreed on the subject headers.
We had eight slots for discussion over the evening and so needed to select the ones that we wished to discuss. We mused the idea of a clap-o-meter and a cheer-o-meter but in the end elected by consensus to a show of hands.
One subject had little or no support and so was discarded, Transport & Pollution and Food & Health were combined to make two subjects.
Mark Baverstock adds the subjects to the board
| Table A | Table B | Table C | Table D | |
| Round 1 | Enterprise | Awareness of TTMH and MHEG | Waste | Transport and Pollution |
| Round 2 | Bio-diversity | Energy | Education and the inner Transition | Food & Health |
Harvesting ideas
The next phase is to collect the answers to the question under the subject header, We planned to run two rounds of harvesting run over four tables with each round lasting 30 minutes with 15 minutes to review the feedback.
So as not to guide the responses we have deliberately not informed the group about any projects that are currently in fly, this will also guide us as to the community penetration of such projects.
After group feedback sessions in each round we finished at 9.40… only 10 minutes late thanks to the judicious use of my bicycle horn!
Groups discuss each subject and draw out actions
There follows a breakdown of the responses:
Enterprise
| Description | Comments | Project status | Response | |
| 1 | Investigate which Supermarkets donate food waste to homeless | |||
| 2 | Local Food & drink forum | Would like to encourage more events and more involvement from edibLE16 | ||
| 3 | Food bank | Investigate how we can help | ||
| 4 | Enterprise to help employ and train the marginalised members of the community | |||
| 5 | More support from national chains to help advertise local groups, events, projects | Could run a campaign | ||
| 6 | Encourage Market gardens / Allotments | |||
| 7 | Supermarkets to put money into growing food locally, via charity etc., | |||
| 8 | Win win, rather than competition |
Awareness of TTMH & MHEG
| Description | Comments | Project status | Response | |
| 1 | Branded Garments | |||
| 2 | Eye catching posters | |||
| 3 | Informative leaflets | |||
| 4 | Local Media
HFM Social etc., |
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| 5 | Newsletters | |||
| 6 | Features in the Harborough Mail | |||
| 7 | Younger people groups | |||
| 8 | Stalls at events | |||
| 9 | Memorable slogans | |||
| 10 | Talks at
Schools Organisations eg U3A |
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| 11 | Carnival float | |||
| 12 | Groups or issues | |||
| 13 | Promotion of local events in Multinationals |
Waste
| Description | Comments | Project status | Response | |
| 1 | Composting | Community composting/Recycling areas | ||
| 2 | Small appliance recycling in shops | |||
| 3 | Restart project | |||
| 4 | Litter | |||
| 5 | TIP | Not allowed to enter the waste sites on foot, this should be reversed | ||
| 6 | A skip day | Remove large waste or electrical items | ||
| 7 | Vermin Control | Stop feeding the pigeons & Duck. Bread is bad for ducks and encourages rats | ||
| 8 | Morsbags | |||
| 9 | Bins | Not enough emptying of bins on Millennium mile | ||
| 10 | Fly tipping | |||
| 11 | Education | What to feed ducks sign
Litter Smoking Dog waste Chewing gum |
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| 12 | Recycling | Pressure high waste producers | ||
| 13 |
Transport & Pollution
| Description | Comments | Project status | Response | |
| 1 | Journey share | Cars to work
Common Journey |
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| 2 | Electric car charging point | Garages
Supermarket car parks |
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| 3 | Prioritise actions | |||
| 4 | Increase cycling | Provision
Security Family / Old people Schools good at cycling, what about adults Harborough Cycle day Tricycles Safety on roads |
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| 5 | Incentives to cycle | Supported buying scheme
Cycle paths Showing |
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| 6 | Electric bikes | |||
| 7 | Dial-a-ride | |||
| 8 | Bus routes | To St. Lukes
Town Shuttle New bus stops & Routes |
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| 9 | Publicise car sharing scheme | |||
| 10 | Trains | Evening services from Leicester | ||
| 11 | Out of town parking | Bus connection (park & ride)
Bike hire Electric vehicles Walk Bag trains to get your shopping to the park |
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| 12 | ||||
| 13 |
Bio-Diversity
| Description | Comments | Project status | Response | |
| 1 | Creation of new habitats- diversification | |||
| 2 | Enhancement of existing habitats | Hedgehog homes
Bird boxes Bat boxes Wildflower meadows Welland park pond Tree planting – replacement of dead trees in parks |
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| 3 | Wilderness areas | Potential school projects as they have land | ||
| 4 | Green space | Site behind Sainsburys | ||
| 5 | Overgrown Hedges | Private not cut back
Council over trimming Council not clearing mulch – dangerous |
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| 6 | Winter vegetation | |||
| 7 | Over coppicing of trees | |||
| 8 |
Energy
| Description | Comments | Project status | Response | |
| 1 | Saving Street Lights | The sub heading of this was “Safety issues”, when the street light switch off started we were informed that crime generally dropped in these unlit areas. Leicestershire police recently ordered some lights be re-instated to stop crime in a certain area… maybe more information and education is required | ||
| 2 | Solar Panels | Roof top prospects | ||
| 3 | Wind power | |||
| 4 | Effectiveness of local Solar panels | Research, we assume that more information is required on the effectiveness of solar PV at our latitude | ||
| 5 | Re-Charging points for EV (Electric Vehicles) | |||
| 6 | Gas/Electric group purchase | |||
| 7 | Carbon Footprint test | |||
| 8 | Energy saving – Housing | Better Insulation & Education | ||
| 9 | Schools Project | Converting school buildings
Solar Bio-mass Carbon pumped into green houses |
Education & the inner transition
| Description | Comments | Project status | Response | |
| 1 | Experiment cognitive & practical | Find out
Learn |
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| 2 | Critical discussion | Sceptical to positive | ||
| 3 | Open minded | |||
| 4 | Freedom to express | |||
| 5 | Respect others freedom of expression | |||
| 6 | Challenge Others | |||
| 7 | Accepting to be challenged | |||
| 8 | Willingness to learn | |||
| 9 | Desire to evolve | |||
| 10 | Taking responsibility for the consequences of my actions | |||
Food & Health
| Description | Comments | Project status | Response | |
| 1 | Recipe book | Using locally sourced food
Apple theme |
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| 2 | Promote Fresh | Higher nutrient content
Encourage home grown & Community grown |
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| 3 | Sharing surplus | To give away, create a Harborough brand that this can be promoted under | ||
| 4 | Community Gardens | Help promote N² community garden & Orchard
Waterloo community garden |
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| 5 | Fitness through activity | Mental & Physical (Green gym) | ||
| 6 | Fundraising | To achieve large scale growing schemes
Paid employment opportunities Training |
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| 7 | Local food buying group | |||
| 8 | Love food, hate waste | Encourage LCC to host more activities in Harborough | ||
| 9 | Education | Promote Organic
Promote Whole foods |
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