15 March 2010Community action through effective partnership working is at the core of Sustainable Development. Public (e.g. local authority), private and community sectors as well as local residents must work together to change the way we live our lives so that future generations can benefit and gain a better quality of life.
There are many organisations and individuals within the Sevenoaks District already helping to progress sustainable development through the involvement of local people and action at a local level. Sevenoaks District Council supports a number of key social, economic and environmental initiatives which are contributing to sustainable development within the District:
Compost Advisor Liaison
The Compost Advisor Project is co-ordinated by the Kent BTCV, a charity with a successful history of environmental conservation volunteering, and aims to appoint volunteers who will advise people on composting issues and help promote the need for waste reduction.
Sevenoaks District Council supports the Compost Advisor Project by liaising with local residents and Advisors. Sevenoaks currently has over 18 Compost Advisors throughout the District and can direct local residents, groups or businesses to an Advisor in their local area.
Anyone with an interest in composting can become a Compost Advisor by undertaking the one day free training course with the BTCV. You can decide how much time you spend being a Compost Advisor and where your particular interest lies. For example, you may prefer to offer telephone support to composters or be able to promote the scheme at local events. BTCV has a wide range of reference books and promotional materials that are available to all advisors.
Eco-Congregation
The Eco-Congregation is a church environmental programme committed to working with churches in Britain and Ireland to encourage them to play their part in leading communities to more sustainable lifestyles. Sevenoaks District Council offers support to local churches and spiritual groups to help them to establish a framework for environmental action as well as resources for practical and spiritual activities.
The scheme is promoted by Encams, an environmental charity who manage by the Keep Britain Tidy campaign and is supported by the Esme Fairbairn Charitable Trust.
Eco-School programme
Eco Schools is a Europe-wide project designed to encourage whole-school action for the environment. The Programme aims to reward and accredit schools that have made a commitment to continuously improving their environmental performance.
The Eco School programme promotes environmental awareness to both pupils and staff in a way that links to many curriculum subjects. The nine environmental topics considered as part of the Eco School programme include litter, waste, energy, water, school grounds, biodiversity, global perspective, transport and healthy living. The scheme aims to help children become more effective citizens by encouraging them to take responsibility for the future of their own environment.
Sevenoaks District Council in partnership with Kent County Council aims to encourage and support local schools who are interested in gaining the prestigious award of the Eco School Green Flag, which can be displayed on their school grounds. Sevenoaks District currently has four Eco School Green Flag holders, Chevening CE Primary School, Hever CE Primary School, Leigh Primary School and Shoreham Village School.
Within the District, Crockenhill Primary School, Halstead Community Primary School and Penshurst CE Primary School have each attained their bronze Eco-School accreditation.
Energy conservation
In partnership with the Energy Saving Trust Advice Centre, a non-profit organisation that offers free impartial advice on energy conservation, Sevenoaks District Council hold a number of training sessions on energy efficiency issues including fuel poverty, grants and climate change. Presentations are available to community groups, schools and businesses to raise awareness of energy conservation with a view to creating sustainable lifestyles for local people as well as having a positive impact on the environment. For further information contact Sevenoaks District Council's Climate Change Officer at private.sector.housing@sevenoaks.gov.uk.
Fairtrade
Sevenoaks District Council supports local community groups and residents who are involved in promoting the local food economy and raising awareness of fair and stable pricing in developing countries. One of these initiatives includes promoting 'Fairtrade' products as part of the campaign by the Fairtrade Foundation, an independent, non-profit organisation that licences use of the Fairtrade Mark on UK products in line with internationally agreed Fairtrade standards. To find out more about the Fairtrade Foundation, the Fairtrade Mark and Fairtrade stands, please click on the link.
Sevenoaks and Edenbridge are now both officially Fairtrade Towns, supported by Sevenoaks District Council, Sevenoaks Town Council and Edenbridge Town Council. Both Steering Committees continue to organise local events and support churches, schools and organisations to raise awareness further in Sevenoaks and Edenbridge, including details of events organised as part of Fairtrade Fortnight.
The Fairtrade Network is supported by local residents, businesses, shops, schools, churches and the Town and District Councils. Fairtrade products are now widely available in local shops and catering establishments and more local people, shops and businesses are being encouraged to get involved. Download the Sevenoaks Town Fairtrade Guide 2009 (
PDF File 339KB file details) for more information.
Go Wild in the Garden
The Council is constantly looking for ways to protect, manage and enhance the District's natural environment. One way in which we aim to raise awareness is by running the Go Wild scheme. The scheme offers free information to help people to make small changes in their garden to attract and protect wildlife and rewards people for their efforts. To this end, a series of FREE Seasonal Wildlife Gardening Workshops and Wildlife Walks will be held to give practical advice on how to make gardens wildlife friendly. The next workshop will be advertised in Spring 2010.
Please click on the link for the January 2010 "Go Wild" Newsletter ( PDF File 746KB file details)
Information Packs
FREE 'Go Wild in the Garden' Information Packs are available and are full of ideas to get you started on wildlife gardening or make further improvements in your garden (copies of fact sheets are also available from the Kent Wildlife Trust website). To order an information pack, please contact:
Simon Davies
Partnership & Projects Coordinator
Call 01732 227374
e-mail sus.dev@sevenoaks.gov.uk
Litter campaigns
Local people are encouraged to help keep Sevenoaks District a tidy and pleasant area, as part of various litter campaigns against litter and fly tipping supported by the District Council. Working in partnership with local schools, businesses, residents, parish and town councils, litter campaigns help to promote the importance of protecting the local environment by making people responsible for their litter. A good example of a local campaign is the annual Swanley Town Clean Up which is co-ordinated by Swanley Town Council. This initiative is held each spring and equips volunteer groups with sticks, bags and gloves to litter pick their local area.
Local schools are also encouraged to raise awareness of litter through the Eco-school project and by hosting local campaigns including designing posters and leaflets which are displayed within the local community. Kent County Council have also produced a free Litter Education Resource Pack 'All About Litter' for Kent primary schools as part of the Great Kent Clean Up Campaign. The Clean Kent Campaign aims to improve the quality of the Kent environment by reducing fly-tipping and littering.
Streets Ahead
The 'Streets Ahead' project is co-ordinated by Sevenoaks District Council and aims to encourage alternative ways to get to school, such as walking, buses, cycling and car sharing. This valuable and fun project is in the form of a survey which is carried out by primary school children. It gives the children the opportunity to record how they travelled to school on any one morning before the end of September. Each school then makes a tree to show how sustainable their chosen form of transport is - the more green leaves the better (see completed tree ( PDF 303K file details)).
The project is designed to make young people aware of the impact that school traffic has on the environment and also produces a year on year record of how people choose to travel to school. Data from the surveys is collated and passed to Kent County Council and is then used to promote sustainable travel among schools. Streets Ahead also helps to raise awareness to pupils and parents of how they can "do their bit" to help the environment.
Walk to school campaign
Encouraging children to be healthy and take more physical exercise as well as promoting sustainable transport has always been important to Sevenoaks District Council. To promote the health and environmental benefits to school children, the Council provides local primary schools with an assembly presentation. The District Council also supports local schools who want to develop a walk to school leaflet or other initiatives to raise awareness. Follow the link for information on Walk to School 2009.
Walking buses
Sevenoaks District Council encourages sustainable travel wherever possible. One of the current sustainable travel initiatives being supported by the Council is a national schools initiative called 'Walking Bus'. 'Walking Bus' is the name for a supervised group of children walking to or from school and encourages short journeys to school to be made on foot. It is made up of at least two adult volunteers, who act as a 'driver' and a 'conductor' and escort the children to and from school. The bus follows a set route, which is approved by the Kent County Council, and the children can join or leave the bus at set points along the route.
Sevenoaks District Council works closely with schools to get them to join up with Kent County Council's Walking Bus Scheme as there are a number of potential benefits of joining a 'Walking Bus' and leaving the car at home when you take your child to school. These benefits include improved health, cleaner environment, reduced travel costs, reduced school traffic congestion and increased 'road awareness' for children.
Schools within the District are supported by Sevenoaks District Council and Kent County Council who assist Co-ordinators to set up, launch and organise walking buses. However, their continued success and operation depends totally on committed volunteer parents and teachers at the school. Current Walking Buses within Sevenoaks District are extremely successful at Riverhead Infants School, Sundridge & Brasted Church of England School, Chevening C E P School and St Thomas R C Primary School due to dedicated and enthusiastic lead Co-ordinators. A number of other schools in the District are looking at setting up walking buses in the near future.
Please follow the link for further information on sustainable transport from Kent County Council. Information on road safety is also available from BRAKE, the national road safety charity.
Kentjourneyshare
Sevenoaks District Council is now a member of Kentjourneyshare, which is run by Kent County Council. This free, simple and secure initiative is open to anyone that lives in the District and will enable you to register your car journey and find passengers or drivers whom have a similar journeys and want to car share. To register for the Kent Car Share scheme visit the Kent County Council website.
This scheme offers a number of benefits:
Volunteering with North West Kent Countryside Partnership
The North West Kent Countryside Partnership operates in the Council areas of Sevenoaks District, and Bexley, Dartford and Gravesham Boroughs, working to conserve and enhance the wildlife, landscape and cultural heritage of the countryside in both rural and urban contexts.
The Partnership is always looking for volunteers to work alongside them on exciting wildlife, conservation and landscape projects. Twice a week, on Wednesdays and Thursdays, volunteers go out on a variety of projects, including coppicing, creating nature areas in schools, hedge laying, tree planting and many others.
New volunteers are always welcome, even if they can only volunteer one day a month or less. The volunteers are a friendly group and the days are as much about socialising as they are about enhancing the local countryside. If you are interested, please contact the North West Kent Countryside Partnership direct on 01322 294727 or email mark.gallant@nwkent-countryside.org.uk.
Kent Wildlife Trust
Sevenoaks Local Group
The Sevenoaks Local Group regularly hold talks/events at the Jeffrey Harrison Visitor Centre at Sevenoaks Wildlife Reserve, off Bradbourne Road. Booking is essential for these talks and there is usually a small charge for each event. For more details and event timings, please contact David Nimmo on 01689 828831 or email davidwnimmo@tiscali.co.uk.
Friday 12th March 2010 - Water Voles, the fall and rise?, by Jon Bramley.
Charts the decline and possible recovery of the fastest declining mammal in western Europe.
Monday 10th May 2010 - AGM & Talk - The Woodland Year, by Fred Booth.
Friday 25th June 2010 - Nightjar Walk, by Bob Francis (in Mereworth Woods)
Nightjars, woodcock, glow-worms and bats at Mereworth Woods. Please wear outdoor shoes and waterproofs.
24th September 2010 - Foxes and Other Folk: the relationship between foxes and ourselves, by Trevor Williams.
Covers fox ecology, behaviour and biology.
Sevenoaks Living Landscape Project
Through the Sevenoaks Living Landscape Project, Kent Wildlife Trust (KWT) aims to work with a range of public and private landowners to enhance, extend and link existing wildlife habitats to create interconnected habitats which can help support key species of conservation importance. The project covers a stretch of countryside between Sevenoaks, Bough Beech and Ivy Hatch.
KWT have a series of workshops/events planned in the Sevenoaks area to highlight conservation issues to local residents.
The next event:
Frog and Toad identification: Saturday 20th March at Bitchet Green, near Ivy Hatch. The event is FREE, but placesa must be booked. For more information, please contact Tania Avard on 01622 662012 or email at tania.avard@kentwildlife.org.uk.
For details of forthcoming events, including times and availability of spaces, please contact Camilla Blackburn, Kent Wildlife Trust's Living Landscape Officer at camilla.blackburn@kentwildlifetrust.org.uk or by telephone on 01622 662012.
Further Information
For further information or advice on any of these initiatives contact:
Simon Davies
Partnership & Projects Coordinator
Call 01732 227374
e-mail sus.dev@sevenoaks.gov.uk
