The Story So Far
Whittington & Fisherwick, Staffordshire consists of
- Two Parishes, one Parish Council - Part of Lichfield District
- Total Population c.2800 with around 1100 households
- Primary school, Co-op, chemist, Chinese takeaway, village hall, church hall, 5 pubs, golf course, Hospice, MoD Joint Services Medical Training Centre, various farms
WFEG was set up as a group of volunteers in 2007 because
- Many local people were and are concerned about climate change/energy security
- They want to save money on fuel and travel
- They were looking for authoritative and practical information and ideas
- They didn’t know what to do about the “environment” or felt powerless
WFEG gives us all a sense of acting together and help create positive peer pressure. Our aims are to
- Promote the concept of Whittington & Fisherwick becoming a low carbon community
- Measure the community’s carbon footprint and work to achieve a year on year reduction
- Encourage all residents, businesses and village organisations to reduce their CO2 and greenhouse gas emissions
- Share our experience with other communities
Our carbon footprint in 2009
- Unique Foot-printing tool embedded in website which tracks domestic emission – based on Act on CO2
- Annual 8 week window – September and October annually
- 105 homes signed up in 2009 (first round)
- Lowest footprint recorded was 2.8 tonnes – the highest 36.1 tonnes
- Thanks to a paper survey in 2008 we had two years’ worth of records for 45 households which when pro rated showed an 11.6% reduction = 67.5 tonnes
- Parish total – 700+ tonnes (5% average reduction)
What have we done so far?
Found sources of funding and sponsors which has helped us to:
- Design, print and deliver ten printed Newsletters to every home in the Parish
- Create an interactive website with online membership and donation plus a unique foot-printing facility
- Design and broadcast a regular e-zine (electronic newsletter) to more than 500 subscribers
- Organise 3 Big Green Fairs each with more than 1000 attendees
- Put on talks, films and visits
- Take stalls at the annual Country Fair, the monthly Village Market, and al School and Church events
- Hold an Open Homes day with suppliers’ exhibition
- Hold a candle lit vigil to coincide with the December 2009 Copenhagen talks
We have run campaigns to
- Ban the incandescent light bulb – a full scale publicity campaign with more than 2000 light bulbs given away
- Enabled 120 free Energy audits of homes, community buildings, businesses within the Parish
- Ban the unfilled cavity wall – 60 subsidised installations of cavity wall and/or loft insulation completed
- Joint HEC and carry out a Parish renewables survey with EST
We have funded
- Cavity wall and low energy lighting for Village Hall
- Loft insulation and lighting for Church Hall
- Part-funded refurbishment of Pavilion – including providing an air-source heat pump
- Helped the Dog Inn invest £6k in energy saving measures
We have received the following awards and commendations for our work
- EST/Guardian/Act on CO2 Green Community Heroes 2009 for Best Rural Project
- RegenWM Prize 2009 for Best Environment and People project
- Business In The Community C+ Carbon Award 2009 for Best Community Project
- Southern Staffordshire Partnership Regeneration Award 2008 - Commended