From Ecotown to Transition Town: An alternative vision for the proposed Leicestershire Ecotown site Transition Leicester, September 2008 Executive Summary The proposals by Cooperative Estates for site as making a positive contribution an “Ecotown” to be built on their land towards that transition. holdings to the east of Leicester have created a great deal of interest and We therefore propose a positive controversy amongst local people. alternative to the Ecotown development — that Cooperative Estates develop their We see both some merits and some land holdings to provide Leicester and difficulties in the proposals, but rather local settlements with resources to than joining the ranks of those opposing support this process of transition, with a the Ecotown, we’d like to put forward a focus on growing food for local people. positive alternative vision for the use of the land. We think our idea is one that will We suggest using organic growing excite and engage local people, and is methods to cut reliance on fossil fuel thoroughly grounded in a vision for inputs and developing the site using Leicester and the surrounding area that is permaculture principles. We suggest environmentally and economically using a Community Supported Agriculture sustainable. approach, so that local consumers have a direct relationship with growers using the The starting point for our proposal is a site, enhancing food security for consideration of two vitally important consumers, and income security for issues: peak oil and climate change. producers. “Peak Oil” refers to the impending historic This proposal would provide much- peak in global oil production, which is needed skills and local jobs for local likely to bring in an era of rapidly people, reduce the need for energy and increasing fuel prices, unreliable fuel resource intensive expansion of transport supplies, and economic contraction. infrastructure and improve the resilience These factors will lead to a need to re- of Leicester’s food supply. The localise the economy in Leicester, opportunities for innovation and the meeting our core needs – such as development of much-needed skills on energy, transportation and food – largely the site are enormous. using local resources. For Leicester to thrive during this period of transition, we We are keen for our proposal to start a need to start developing and improving discussion locally about the best possible local infrastructure now. use for the site. We think any change of use should take into account the The latest research on climate change aspirations of local people, and the need indicates that to avoid disastrous global to respond locally to climate change and warming, we need to virtually eliminate peak oil. our reliance on fossil fuels for energy – not over a century or more but within a We hope that the issues we raise and the few decades. suggestions we are putting forward are taken into account as the proposal for use Taking these issues together, we see our of the Ecotown site is developed. If community as entering a period of “Pennbury” is not developed on the site, transition towards a more sustainable we hope that the land owners will turn to local economy, and we’d like to see any our alternative proposal, as a sketch of a development on the proposed Ecotown way forward towards a truly sustainable and inspiring use of the land. 2 A view from the future? 3 The Context Peak Oil The land owned by Cooperative Estates and English Partnerships on the edge of “Peak Oil” refers to the historic peak in global oil production, after which Leicester is a significant resource for local 1 people and the city of Leicester. We think production begins to decline . Evidence from many scholars indicates that we are that any change of use should be 2 evaluated with the long term interests of close to this point now , and the likely local communities and the impacts on the implications are of both reductions in local and global environment firmly in available supply for the UK over coming mind. years, and oil prices that are both more unstable and generally considerably The availability of this land presents a higher. great and exciting opportunity to make a substantial contribution to the future This phenomenon is likely to have a environmental and economic wellbeing of strong economic impact on the UK, due the surrounding area. We’d like to see to our heavy reliance on oil and the lack this opportunity seized by involving local of available low cost, low-carbon people in making the best choice now on alternatives. Economists have argued the future use of the space. that it may bring about a series of recessions or even a long-lasting 3 We believe that the Ecotown proposal as depression . It will also have a strong it stands does take into account a number impact on the infrastructure that provides of important environmental issues, such the city of Leicester with its core needs, as the need to develop buildings with low especially transport and food production, in-use carbon emissions and the need to which are both highly reliant on oil. preserve and enhance biodiversity. We also believe that Cooperative Estates The impact on the security of Leicester’s have a genuine commitment to food supply is of particular relevance for environmental principles, and have given the Ecotown proposal, as it proposes serious thought to the design issues changing the use of a significant area of involved in creating a settlement where land close to the city, so we focus on it living a way of life with a low below. environmental impact is made easier. Food Security However, we feel that the proposal lacks a strong consideration of broader The infrastructure that provides the city of sustainability issues, such as the Leicester with food is at present highly resource intensiveness of creating a large reliant on fossil fuel inputs. This reliance scale development per se, and some of the adverse environmental impacts of the 1 We have included a note introducing Peak Oil, development on the nearby city of taken from our website Leicester. (http://www.transitiontowns.org/Leicester ), in an appendix at the end of this document. 2 We would also suggest that the proposal see Hirsch (2007), Peaking of World Oil Production: Recent Forecasts does not take into account the likely http://www.netl.doe.gov/energy- impacts on both the local economy and analyses/pubs/Peaking%20of%20World%20Oil% fuel costs of the coming peak in global oil 20Production%20-%20Recent%20Forecasts%20- %20NETL%20Re.pdf production, and that when this issue is 3 considered, the priorities for use of the for example, see FEASTA (2007), Envisioning a sustainable Ireland from an energy availability land could be radically changed. perspective http://www.feasta.org/energy.htm 4 affects both food distribution, and the UN-sponsored “International Assessment growing of food itself, as conventional of Agricultural Knowledge, Science and monoculture agriculture makes Technology for Development” 5, substantial use of natural gas derived advocated a shift away from industrialised fertilisers, oil derived pesticides, and oil- agriculture to small scale, agro-ecological fuelled machinery. methods. 6 Recent increases in oil prices have In Cuba, the economic crisis of the early already led to increased food prices as a 1990s and the sudden decline in fossil result of this relationship, both in the UK fuels available for use in agriculture led to and globally. Our reliance on stable oil a shift from a highly industrialised supplies to maintain supply chains approach to agriculture to an approach bringing food to the city’s supermarkets, combining substantial urban food through which most people in the city production and organic farming. For source their food, is another key cities, urban food production was vulnerability. Disruptions to food maximised, and used in combination with deliveries were shown to create the risk intensive, co-operatively run farms on the of food shortages developing within days edge of urban areas. As a result of this during the fuel protests in the UK in 2000. approach, the city of Havana now It has been estimated by Leicester city produces more than 50% of its fruit and council staff that if deliveries to Leicester vegetables within the city itself 7. We stopped, the city has less than one day’s believe that this approach provides an supply of food for the city’s population on ideal model to follow in Leicester, and its supermarket shelves. given that it takes many years to establish successful and productive organic farms, Our food supply system is therefore we should look to start this process now. highly vulnerable to increases in prices and disruptions to fuel supplies, both of Land suitable for food production within which seem likely to take place given Leicester itself is scarce, so in addition to current estimates of available oil for maximising production within the city, it import over coming years 4, and the lack will be necessary to maximise production of action being taken to reduce our on all suitable sites close to the city to reliance on oil. have a food supply that is as robust and sustainable as possible. We suggest that the solution to this problem is to urgently increase the For this reason, the opportunity presented resilience of the food system in Leicester, by a site of over 1500 hectares becoming so that we can provide for our core food available for a change of use is an needs without relying on fossil fuel energy enormous one. If the opportunity is seized inputs. This means making a switch to develop local food infrastructure on the towards food sourced locally and site, people in Leicester could have produced using organic methods, so that access to a secure, low-carbon, and the vulnerabilities associated with fossil affordable source of local food for years fuel-based production and transportation to come.