Kirknewton Community Consultation What you said…
Community Feedback October 2007
Kirknewton Community Renewables Ltd Thanks to all those who took part in the recent Community Consultation., and here are the first results. Who are we? We are Kirknewton Community Renewables or KCRL for short. It’s a big name for a small group of seven volunteers who came together in 2006 through the Community Council to try and make a small contribution to reducing Kirknewton’s environmental footprint. We fought for “environmental justice” following the use of Kaimes Quarry as Edinburgh’s largest rubbish dump for 15 years between 1987 and 2002 despite the simple fact that Planning Consent have never been sought or granted. The outcome is that we have a community owned and registered charity (KCRL) with ideas and ambitions to make Kirknewton a better place and we have funds which we propose to invest in a renewable energy project that will deliver real benefits to our community. This consultation process that we have begun is to discover the hidden talent that lies within our village as it’s your ideas and enthusiasm that can make a difference. The feedback session held in the Village Hall on Saturday 22nd September demonstrated that there were members of our community who cared. We hope to arrange a meeting in the near future to which all will be welcomed. We need to take a coherent strategy forward and your help and enthusiasm is needed. Anyone wishing to be notified of the date and time of the next meeting of our group should email stew@onetel.com and put FEEDBACK MEETING in the subject line. Membership of KCRL is open to anyone living within Kirknewton and surroundings, so get involved – it’s your say in your community. Thanks again ~ Stewart Mckenna (chair) 22 people dropped by on a very wet Saturday in August to share their ideas and opinions.
Drop-in event Saturday August 18th
What happened? When KCRL wanted to find out what type of projects local people in Kirknewton might be interested in they asked an independent community facilitator to ask people. After all who knows a community better than the people who live there? Starting with a drop-in event on August 18th a community participation exercise was carried out over a number of week & week-end days in August & September. The facilitators spoke to people on the streets & at their houses asking for their views about: What do you think about community investment in renewable energy projects? What do you think about seeking further funding to invest in a “bigger idea”? and “What is the best way of using the income to the community to combat fuel poverty & increase energy efficiency”. A feedback event was held on September 22nd which members of KCRL attended. Both events and the outreach work were promoted through a series of posters and over 1000 flyers were delivered in the village. This was done so that local people could make their voices heard – 167 of you participated, from a wide range of ages and areas and what ideas you had! Over 560 ideas! Here is how it was done, and what you said…
What you said about Newsletter ….. Title What did you think about community investment in renewable energy projects?
Where did2 people come from? Page
We asked people to tell us if they approved of the community investing long term in renewable energy projects for community benefit. As you can see below, the answer was a big “yes”. Do you approve of the community investing long term in renewable energy for community benefit?
Don't know No
We asked people to put a dot on the map to show where they lived. The map above shows the wide spread of people who took part, all areas were well covered. This was important because of the enormous variety of housing in Kirknewton.
Yes
“Definitely the way forward”
What age groups took part? People of all ages from 16 to 84 shared their views. This shows the age ranges of participants
What do you think about seeking further funds to invest in a bigger idea? People were in favour of more investment.
45
Should the community make an application for increased funds to invest in a "bigger idea" that will set up a larger income stream for long term to reduce fuel poverty in the community?
40 35 30 No of 25 people 20
Female Male
15 10
Don't know No
5 0 16-24
25-44
45-64
65-74
75-84
85+
Age ranges
Yes
This shows how this matches the age profile of the area This shows how closely the age ranges of those who participated met the population profile of the village 60 50 40 % of pop- 30 ulation 20
Population Statistics Participation
10 0 16-24
25-44
45-64
65-74
Age ranges
75-84
85+
“To cut down power bills for older people and out of work – as long as done properly”
“What is the best way of using the income to the community to combat fuel poverty and increase energy efficiency? Page 3 Note: for a complete record of all the ideas people recorded please see the detailed report available through KCRL
Top benefits
Top eight opportunities
☺
Here is what you said would be good 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6.
Sustainability Economic Community benefit Environment Miscellaneous Opportunities Use of Income: Benefits
Opportunities Miscellaneous
Sustainability
Environment
Community Benefit
Top constraints
Economic
Here is what you said are the opportunities for using the income to reduce fuel poverty and increase energy efficiency. 1. Information ~ people said they needed more information “so we know the best options” 2. Community/Social ~ show how landfill can be turned into something good for village & environment” 3. Insulation ~ “encourage loft insulation” 4. Wind energy ~ “Community wind turbines” 5. Solar energy ~ “provide grants for solar panels” 6. Energy efficiency ~ “grants for individual energy efficiency” 7. Cost of energy ~ cost benefit of being more energy efficient” 8. Other alternatives ~ “community heating scheme?”
Use of income: Opportunities Recycling/ composting Miscellaneous
1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6.
Economic Lack of knowledge Physical Bureaucratic Inertia Community 7. Miscellaneous
Employment
Investment Information
Education & Training Community/ Social
Other alternatives Cost of energy
Insulation
Use of income: Constraints Miscellaneous
Energy efficiency
Solar energy
Wind energy
Community Economic Inertia
“Well done to those who have given their time so far’
Bureaucratic
Physical
Lack of Knowledge
Other comments Other comments
Recycling Alternative energy Information Miscellaneous
Community amenities
People had a lot of other ideas as well as questions about KCRL and the community council. Very few people knew about the renewable energy opportunities and many would like more information. This is an opportunity for more things to bring the community together. Some people felt there were lots of other things that could be done to improve the village and someone said “This is the forgotten village”.
For more information: A full report with everyone’s comments is available from KCRL.
What people knew about KCRL Very few people said they had heard about KCRL, for most people receiving the notice about the community work was the first they knew about the community group. People would like more information about the group and about renewable energy opportunities. Look out for more meetings.
Feeding back the information At the feedback event on Saturday 22nd September 25 people came to see the results and met some of the KCRL Committee Members. In addition there is this report which will be circulated widely and a detailed report will be available through KCRL.
Acknowledgements: Thank you to everyone who took part. To the Kirknewton Community Renewables Ltd who made this project happen, to the Big Lottery for the grant to make it possible, to the Community for letting us use the hall for the drop-in event and feedback event and for everyone’s enthusiasm and interest in taking part.
Where now? KCRL will use the ideas you have shared to help in targeting projects the people of Kirknewton would like to be delivered, including those involving investment in renewable energy. It can also be used to apply for further funding to take some of the ideas forward. This report will be available on-line soon and distributed around the community. Further details from stew@onetel.com. For more information about this kind of community work contact: vikki@hiltonassociates.com