Transition Scotland Support Case study series: Number 02 March 2011
North Howe Transition Toun (NHTT) http://nhtt.org NORTH HOWE FOCUS Kind of Place: Rural dispersed community Where is it?: In Fife, (a Toun is the old word for burgh) It takes in Letham, Monimail, Bow of Fife, Collessie, Giffordtown and Charlottetown Population: Approx 6,000 Involvement with transition: Official Initiative (registered with Transition Network) Funding: Climate Challenge Funded until March 2011
forward some of the projects proposed by the action groups and has been busy with a range of things.
HOW did North Howe Transition Toun come about?
North Howe is set up as a community interest company.
In 2007, a group of people who wanted to take action on peak oil and climate change came together. From their discussions, they decided they would like to begin work on projects.
COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT
Though the leap from talking about what the action might be to actually doing it was daunting, NHTT has been very well received by the local community and its activities are also well supported. The group received funding from the CCF to take
North Howe carried out a community survey in the autumn of 2009. Community engagement is one of the areas that the folk at North Howe feel is most important and are most proud of. The community survey had a 60% response rate, which is very high. The reasons for this were thought to be the planning that went into the survey, the use of local interviewers, and the general reputation and respect for the NHTT group.
The group felt strongly that the wider community should have a say in what happens in their future. Using the Transition ideas of grassroots growth and community engagement, this community survey helped the group to see where people were interested, and allowed them to shape projects that fitted with the place they were living. More recently the group did a further community carbon reduction survey. This was posted out to homes and had a 15% response rate, which is also good for this type of contact. You can read more on the North Howe website here: http://nhtt.org.uk/energygroup-2/community-survey-2/
ENERGY PROJECTS CaRB (Carbon Reduction in Buildings) The CaRB project was an 18 month project which looked at ways to support householders and businesses make their buildings more energy efficient. From the work on this project, a toolkit was produced which can be downloaded from the NHTT site at www.nhtt.org.uk Four local residents were trained up to become energy champions and support their neighbours and look at the best ways for them to reduce energy consumption.
The CaRB project also saw the development and publication of a toolkit containing 40 ways to save energy in your home. This is available to download here on North Howe’s website: http://nhtt.org.uk/ wp-content/uploads/2010/03/ TOOLKIT-SMALL2.pdf North Howe are also looking into the possibility of community renewables and have put together a document which contains a number of different options for the local area, from wind power to the development of wood fuel.
The NHTT eXchange has recently hosted a discussion on firewood and bulk buying. This has allowed a group of people to come together to arrange a trial bulk buy of a North Howe were able to offer firewood alternative. For the infra-red home photographs to families involved, this has local residents through CCF helped to solve time, space funding. They also applied to and resource issues that may Greenshoots Fund for 75% have prevented them buying subsidy for insulation and individually. draft proofing for local homes. North Howe have also worked with a local primary school on energy efficiency and hope to look at the village halls.
LOCAL KNOWLEDGE IN FOCUS: Although North Howe’s energy champions were paid, training local volunteers to carry out work is often successful as people either know them, or get to see them going about their daily lives in the local area. A level of trust is built up, and a more meaningful engagement in the aims of the group can be built from these relationships.
NHTT EXCHANGE NHTT have a forum on their website where members of the community can share not only ideas and advice, but barter and freecycle goods locally. This helps to support a more connected community.
THE GREEN LIBRARY WITH the help of the Climate Challenge Fund, NHTT were able to set up a small green library providing the local area with books on growing, planting, smallholding, and a whole range of food making subjects.
HEART AND SOUL NHTT also have a heart and soul group, which aims to look at how people involved in transition in the local area can stay inspired, motivated and encourage one another. Often the issues communities look at through transition are enormous, and this kind of support can be invaluable.
Find a range of useful resources at www.transitionscotland.org
TRIP STOP
TRAVEL PROJECTS
NHTT are looking onto the feasibility of having ‘trip stops’ which are similar to bus stops.
TRANSPORT is a big issue in rural areas. Local bus routes tend not to be well subscribed enough to make them worth investing in for the local people, and local people need more flexibility.
‘We came up with the idea of TripStop. In essence it’s about creating the conditions for local people to give and receive lifts on local journeys – like a trip to the nearest town.’ Unlike TripShare, TripStops are informal and not organised in advance. They are designed for short, ad hoc journeys. Safety is addressed by relying on community cohesion so that people only give lifts to those they know or recognise. NHTT recognise that this might not work in all communities, but the idea is one which works in a community which is, in the Transition tradition, becoming a well engaged, connected and resilient place.
PATHS TO TRANSITION
Car use tends to be quite high, by necessity, but there are other options and in North Howe, they are looking at a range of solutions and ideas to give people inspiration and to make it easier to travel more generally. NHTT have been looking at the promotion of Tripshare Fife, www.tripsharefife.com so that residents can make journeys with one another where possible, rather than making lots of single occupancy individual journeys. NHTT has also looked at improving and providing more coherent walking and cycle paths around the local area. They have managed to get landowner permission for a
new path (Letham to Fernie) and are raising funds for this. Following on from this, the travel group are also looking at the provision of better cycle parking at key points around the area. This is to encourage people to use their bikes more, but also to give local people more of a choice in how to travel. The idea of choice and flexibility of options remains key in encouraging people to change their thinking about how they travel. Offering a range of ideas and making them easy to access ensures that uptake of these initiatives will be at a good level. See: http://nhtt.org.uk/ transport-group/ for more information and to follow the group’s progress.
HAVING secured agreement from a number of landowners, NHTT have now applied for funding to upgrade 3 sections of path in the area. If the funding applications are successful, the paths will be improved to a 1.2m wide whindust surfaced path that will be suitable for all-abilities. A further element of the project is bike parking. Provision of bike parking at 5 locations in the area is being proposed. .
Find a range of useful resources at www.transitionscotland.org
DOORSTEP BAKERY IN FOCUS: NHTT are also looking at the possibility of starting a community owned and run bakery and are piloting bread delivery in early 2011. A local baker has allowed them access to an oven one day a week so that bread production can be scaled up. ‘The bakers from The Doorstep Bakery completed a successful trial delivering bread to 20 households in the NHTT area over 3 Fridays in January and February. Feedback has been great and a real boost to the group.’ www.nhtt.org.uk 28th Feb 2011
FOOD GROUP PROJECTS IN the summer of 2010, NHTT held a family food skills day which looked at demonstrating and informing people about different aspects of local food. There were demonstrations there from local producers and residents on preparing game and seafood, pasta making, hot and cold smoking, and preserving. The Fife diet were also there to show people ways of eating more locally throughout the year, and NHTT members ran a barbeque with local Buffalo beef from Puddledub. This was a very successful event with around 50 people attending.
NHTT have several bits of equipment for hire. They have one apple press and crusher and assorted equipment for this process. They also have a pressure canner. The group are also piloting a community garden supplies area where thing such as manure and leaf mould can be stored and used by local people. Transition Tavern and Transition Cafe There are several villages in North Howe, and none of them have a pub of their own. This meant that the people from the villages were all travelling distances away from their homes to socialise in the evenings. The idea for Transition Tavern is a portable pub that visits different villages on a fairly regular basis, bringing locally made and sourced drinks, snacks and music so that a vibrant evening can be created in people’s local area. The Tavern is generally used at local events. The Transition Cafe was an idea that came from the tavern and is a non-alcoholic version of the same idea, which serves tea, coffee and snacks and can be organised to provide a cafe at events in the local area.
Find a range of useful resources at www.transitionscotland.org