Environment

from Issue 8 - Volume 18 - Mendip Times

What’s On

Time capsule marks an eco-build first

PUPILS from St Dunstan’s School in Glastonbury have marked a significant step in eco-building by burying a time capsule on the site of their new Autism Spectrum Condition base, the first of its kind in Somerset.

The new ASC building on the school site is the first educational building in Somerset to be built to Passivhaus specifications. Passivhaus builds are known for their excellent energy efficiency which helps minimise future running costs, protect the environment and are designed to be Net Zero. The building was given the go-ahead by Somerset County Council in May 2022.

Staff, parents and students from the Park Road Support Centre in Frome, part of St Dunstan’s School, who are moving to the new base, gathered together to bury the time capsule and visit the new base during its construction. Pupils included information about themselves and where they saw their own future.

The ASC building is a project by Futures for Somerset, a partnership which includes Somerset County Council and BAM Construct. It will cost £1.53 million, is being built by contractors C G Fry and is scheduled to be completed by June 2023 ready for September and the start of the new academic year. It will provide school places for up to 16 pupils.

The construction features energy efficient and low environmental impact facilities, with high levels of insulation and triple glazing, low energy lighting, air source heat pumps and heat recycling through ventilation. The building only uses electrical energy, most of which is created by solar panels on the roof, feeding surplus electricity back into the electricity grid.

Councillor Tessa Munt, Somerset County Council Lead Executive Member for Children and Families, who attended the event, said “It’s tremendously exciting to see this new eco-build –a first for our school building programme in Somerset. Eco-builds like this will help enormously with Somerset County Council’s battle against the climate emergency.”

Sally Allen, headteacher of the new Park Road St Dunstan’s school base, said “Creating a time capsule is brilliant for children learning about the history of their local area. Current pupils will grow up knowing that future generations, possibly even their descendants, can discover what life was like for them.

“This amazing new building will also leave an impression on the future by creating its own energy and wasting as little in heat and light as possible, creating a cleaner environmental future”.

Students and staff with Cllr Tessa Munt, county council staff and contractors on the site

Environment award for community shop

FARMBOROUGHShop & Café has won a prestigious Rural Community Business Award, recognising it as one of the UK’s most inspiring community-owned businesses.

Held annually by the Plunkett Foundation, the awards recognise those businesses that help to create thriving and inclusive rural towns and villages.

Chris Bullock and Sam Ross from Farmborough received their award from TV presenter and auctioneer Charlie Ross. They received both a trophy and £250.

Sam, company secretary to the shop and café said: “We are delighted to have been recognised by The Plunkett Foundation with this award for the actions that we have taken and continue to take in shaping a vital community business that also works hard to minimise its environmental impact.

“Many thanks go to our hard-working manager, Chris Bullock, our tireless team of dedicated volunteers, all our members and of course our loyal customers, without whom we would not have won this award. It is only with your help, support and input that we have got to where we are today.”

James Alcock, chief executive of Plunkett Foundation, said: “Community businesses across the UK put their communities first, they help transform the lives of the vulnerable and provide a thriving future for many isolated rural towns and villages.

“These worthy winners have worked selflessly to improve the wellbeing of everyone in their local community and we are incredibly proud to recognise, and to have supported, their work.”

Chris Bullock and Sam Ross with the Environment Award for Farmborough Community Shop

New Year celebrations for community space campaigners

A FOUR-year-long campaign to save a community space in Frome from possible development has ended in success after Mendip District Council agreed to sell the freehold to Frome Town Council for local use.

The move will see the council temporarily take control of the Broadway site to undertake ground clearance and access work. Once completed, the land will be transferred to a local community benefit society called Save Open Spaces Frome, securing the oneacre space for generations to come.

John Clarke, chair of the Broadway Allotment and Community Garden Association, said: “We are delighted that after four years of campaigning to save the land from development Mendip decided to sell the land to Frome Town Council. This would not have happened without the support of the community. “For the first year the town council will own the land and plan to improve the access. It will then be transferred to Save Open Spaces Frome which will mean it will be protected forever as a community green space.

“During the coming year we hope to talk with people across Frome about what they would like to see on the site. We want to make a unique and special place where nature is protected and enhanced, people can enjoy the green space and nature and grow food. A place for the benefit of all.”

The transfer arrangements between Mendip and the town council are to begin in January. Mendip District Council chair, Councillor Helen Sprawson-White, who represents Oakfield Ward, said: “For those of us who have battled to protect this valuable community space, and its wildlife, I can tell you it’s absolutely wonderful to see the town safely retain yet another important green space for residents.”

Leader of Mendip District Council, Councillor Ros Wyke, said: "Frome residents have such ambition and enthusiasm for this asset. I understand there are potential plans for learning areas, growing projects and for outdoor activities there.

“Local people are clearly keen to make good use of this treasured community space – as will the wildlife that’s there. We are delighted to have helped facilitate this great result for Frome and its communities.”

The site has been saved for generations to come Campaigners celebrate the deal

A good spot!

MY thanks to Chris Sperring for challenging us in his Mendip Times column to look for a treecreeper. I have been around the Keynsham Memorial Park numerous times this year.

For the first time ever in the park I saw a treecreeper this morning. The light was superb which helped greatly with my ham-fisted photography (See Wildlife, page 41). Regards,

Andrew Harrison, Keynsham

Tree planting work

FROME Town Council has been working with community groups and local volunteers to plant trees across the town’s green spaces.

Members of Frome’s Ukrainian community joined the council rangers at the Old Showfield to help extend the community orchard by planting a selection of apple, pear, cherry, plum and quince trees. In addition, the oak and cherry tree at the Blossom Circle that were vandalised earlier this year have been replaced with larger saplings.

Tree planting on At Egford Park, the Old Showfield thanks to support from the Critchhill Rangers and local volunteers, the team recently planted ten orchard trees and some small beech trees along the hedgerow.

A joint effort at Wilf’s Wood

THE owner of former farmland on the edge of Evercreech has joined forces with the Food Forest Project to create a new woodland space for people to gather wild food for free.

Susie Peeler inherited the 14-acre site from her father Wilf Ryall but decided to take a fresh look at the way it was farmed, preferring to plant hundreds of trees to create a wildlife corridor and then made contact with the free food project, based in Shepton Mallet.

A large part of the site has been planted with the first of several hundred fruit trees and shrubs such as blackberry and gooseberry. Volunteers the from Wilf’s Wood community group, set up by Susie to care for the site, joined the Food Forest Project organisers for a planting day.

Susie, who would welcome more volunteers at Wilf’s Wood, said: “I am concerned about the impact of climate change and the need to look at rewilding and to look for a new way to grow food sustainably, particularly given the current cost-of-living crisis.”

The Evercreech site, on Leighton Lane, is the fifth Food Forest Project with three in Shepton Mallet and a fourth at Wedmore. The project is also about to start work on a new allotment offering plots for free to residents of Shepton’s Hillmead Estate.