Sustainable Communities Competition

On 5th June 2009 to mark World Environment Day, the Somerset Strategic Partnership launched a Sustainable Communities Competition.

Parish Councils were invited to submit proposals, on behalf of their local communities, for a Sustainable Development Project which could offer long term savings in the amount of energy used by the community and a reduction in CO2 emissions.

Projects had to be community based and could typically include:

Improved insulation for the Village Hall or other community building.
Energy efficient heating (e.g. woodchip boiler)

Energy efficient lighting
Sustainable electricity generation (e.g. photovoltaic cell, wind or water power)
Purchase of an energy efficient vehicle.

Competition entries had to be submitted by the end of September 2009. Five entries were received and on 23rd October 2009 the Panel of Judges met to decide the winner.

The winning entry was 'Tatworth Growing Together - Preparing for a life without oil'.

This is a community crop production project, aimed at demonstrating that food can be produced locally and sustainably, reducing oil dependency, green house gas emissions and carbon footprint. The project is owned by the community, run by volunteers and regulated by the Parish Council.

The Judges were impressed by the projects plans, the community involvement in the project and the strong environmental impact. The Judges thought that the project was innovative and visionary and yet possible for other communities to replicate.

Please follow the link to the projects website for further details of Tatworth Growing Together.