St Andrews Environmental Network & Transition University St Andrews CCF Project Report 2015-16 St Andrews Towards Transition Table of contents 1. Executive Summary 3 2. Programme of Works 3. Headline Achievements 4. Transition Steering Group & StAndEN End of Project Reports 5. Carbon Conversations Streets 6. Carbon Conversation Schools 7. Bike Pool 8. Travel Behavioural Change Programme 9. Remote Housing Power Down 10. StAnd ReUse Town 11. Edible Campus 12. Bringing a Car Club to St Andrews 13. Staffing 14. Appendicies a. Guardbridge Park and Pedel Responses b. Edible Campus at a Glance 2 Final report 2015 -16 1) Executive Summary St Andrews Environmental Network: In 2010, St Andrews Community Council formed a sub-group known as St Andrews Environmental Network (StAndEN) after discussion at several Community Council meetings and presentations to elected Community Councillors. This group focused on carbon savings through targeting households and successfully won a grant: CCF 248. The project ‘Energy Champions’ was successfully delivered throughout 2010-2011. An unsuccessful application was made for funding for a follow-on project in 2011. However, the StAndEN Board met with the project manager and staff at the end of March 2011 and it was agreed that there was evidence of continued need for the project and that it would carry on with the staff working as volunteers while other funding options were explored. The Community Council decided and approved the establishment of StAndEN as a company with its own constitution (see supporting documents) and separate bank account, enabling the group to act as an employer. 2012 – 2015 StAndEN has been active in the whole KY16 *** postcode area in partnership with Transition UStA as part of the St Andrews Communities working together CCF project 2017. This successful was able to make great headway in reducing the Carbon Footprint of St Andrews while helping to forge a strong working relationship between the town and the University - both students and staff. This project took our energy advice service to rural isolated community. A major event, the Sustainable St Andrews Fair, has been held annually bringing together installers of energy saving technologies, renewable energy technologies and enterprises supporting low carbon living. This event took place in 2015 without ccf funding. StAndEN will continued the Primary Schools Programme in 2015 and even did two presentations on insulation to nursery school children in St Andrews, this was well received by the children as well as the staff and their parents. We used the analogy of dressing a child up in warm clothes, hat represented loft insulation, a coat represented wall insulation etc. Much of the material developed for the Primary School Programme in previous years covering such topics as Saving Energy, Renewable Energy, Waste reduction and Recycling was used as basis the for Carbon Conversations Schools. Carbon Conversations Schools was very successful this year and will continue next year. StAndEN has built a close relationship with Madras College which it is looking to develop further.. StAndEN has been in partnership with Greener Kirkcaldy, Changeworks and Citizens Advice & Rights Fife in delivering the Cosk Kingdom Project throughout Fife since 2014. StAndEN delivers fuel poverty help to households living in North East Fife & Glenrothes as part of this partnership. During 2015 StAndEN launched St AndRe-Use Town, collecting unwanted items from students as they were leaving their private rented accommodation. These items were sorted, weighed and stored over the summer in a garage provide by Fife Council. All the items apart from clothing was given away during freshers week. The clothes were donated to the Glenrothes Food Bank (the only food bank in Fife that also ran a clothing bank at that time). This project is set to grow and we have secured additional storage space to accommodate it. Volunteers from StAndEN working with the Express Group in St Andrews run a community garden adjacent to Kinburn Bowling & Tennis Club. This project has yielded 9.2 kgms of Crops during the last year, however the emphasis is on the effect of the gardening 3 experience rather than the yield from the site. Over the coming year StAndEN will resume negotiations with Fife Council to have the site adjacent to the cemetery transferred to the common good, so that allotments can be made available for residents in St Andrews. If successful funding for the capital works will be sought from other sources as the earliest the site could be productive is 2017-18. Transition UStA was initiated by the One World Student group in 2009 as part of a national Transition Universities campaign. It rapidly grew support from staff and local residents as it sought to take local, practical action on climate change and build resilience to peak oil. Since then our relationship with the Transition Towns movement has strengthened across Scotland and the UK as we became a Transition Town member and build links to other groups through hosting networking events and organising training. Within St Andrews University the role of Transition UStA has also expanded as the group seeks to work at all levels in support of the Universities world leading Carbon Neutral goals. Whilst the Transition UStA staff team have been based within the Estates department it has strong links to academic staff and takes an active role in supporting and influencing study so that it best serves a local transition agenda. This staff / student coalition appears to be a unique strength of the groups work and provides interesting benefits as well as challenges. In recognition that for Transition to happen in St Andrews we must work across all sections of the community the group has since 2012 taken active steps to ensure representation from our local community within our steering group too. The majority of our projects also have a town and gown focus which not only improves relationships between the two but also plays to the strengths of both. The University provide considerable support to the project in the form of staffing, accommodation, administration and access to vehicles and trades. This makes any funding go a long way and makes efficient use of resources. Transition UStA’s development is marked by the considerable support of the Climate Challenge Fund which started in April 2011 with funding for 9 projects. This successful first year of work cut an estimated 634 tCO2e and diverted over 2 tonnes of waste from landfill plus led to recognition within the University and town of the importance of this agenda. A further application was made to the Climate Challenge Fund for work to start in April 2012 for a 3 year period and again in October 2014 for the period April 2015 to March 2016 which is covered by this report. Table 1 CCF Project Summary table 2015-16 Length of project 1 years Project Start 1/4/2015 Date Target CO2e 309 tonnes CO2e Total CCF £148,102 reduction grant applied for 4 2) Programme of Work In partnership with St Andrews Environmental Network, Transition UStA received funding to deliver a range of projects under the banner of “ST Andrews Communities Working Together” The successful partnership of Transition University St Andrews and the St Andrews Environmental Network will deliver projects that provide simple, low carbon solutions whilst embedding sustainable enterprise within the community. Through tackling issues around rural home energy, access to local food and food growing, increasing options for affordable and accessible sustainable transport, and enhancing neighbourhood links, local people will be enabled to take practical action on climate change. This programme will bring about social, economic and environmental benefits for St Andrews as well as cut carbon emissions by 344 tCO2e per year. Whilst both groups provided mutual assistance to each other throughout, each objective had a lead organisation to take it forward : Transition UStA objectives 1. Tackle high bike abandonment rates and increase cycling activity by helping owners to improve bike condition and through offering a long term bike loan scheme. This will be associated with training and support for cycling as well as routeway improvements 2. Bringing a car club to St Andrews; We will increase the take-up and visibility of a low emissions Community Car Club, that includes Electric Vehicles, through working with the Operators, Local Authority, University and local representative structures to promote, market and embed the scheme in the community. Working in partnership with Home Energy Scotland offer Fuel Efficient driver training to car club members. 3. Develop a Carbon Conversations streets programme that will link residents with similar buildings or situations to tackle personal and community carbon footprints. Initially based around our team of local volunteer facilitators and residents who have expressed an interest, meetings will be held within participants’ households using the CC structure, and seek practical outcomes for the home owners and community. 4. Edible St Andrews - We will merge our food growing and distribution project with veg bag delivery and dry foods resale under one Food Hub. Develop electric trike-based distribution across the town and university, linking with the Fife Diet Food Coop project to share techniques and knowledge on linking local producers to customers. Use the Hub to help promote food waste reduction through workshops, behaviour change techniques and information. Work with St Andrews Botanic garden to create year-round food growing under cover, along with seedling propagation and help establish a new community space for food growing, increasing learning and fresh local food for sale. StAndEN objectives 5. Remote Housing Powerdown - We will provide energy advice to those living off the gas grid and away from villages, increasing uptake of solid wall insulation, heat pumps, green deal and 5 renewables. Work with residents according to their needs and financial situations and align them to grants and support available.