07 September 2008Community 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 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, managed by the Tidy Britain Group and 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 two Eco School Green Flag holders, Fordcombe CE Primary School and Chevening St Botolph's CEP School. In 2005, Chevening school received their fourth and permanent Green Flag and were the first school in Kent to receive this accreditation.
Within the district, Leigh Primary and St John's CEP Schools have also been awarded Silver Eco-school Awards and Hartley Primary, Hever CEP and Hextable Junior have all been awarded Bronze Awards. The Council is currently supporting a number of other local schools to enter into the programme.
Energy efficiency
In partnership with the Kent Energy Centre, 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 the Energy Conservation Officer.
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.
To help to promote Fairtrade and encourage Council staff to consider Fairtrade products when they are at their local shops and supermarket, the Council holds an annual Fairtrade Display Stand during Fairtrade Fortnight (first two weeks in March). During this time, staff members are encouraged to try Fairtrade products and gain relevant information on the aims and achievements of Fairtrade.
In 2005, local community groups, residents and businesses submitted successful applications to the Fairtrade Foundation to make Sevenoaks and Edenbridge Fairtrade Towns. Local people in the towns formed a Fairtrade Network and Steering Committee to look at ways of supporting Fairtrade locally. Local supporters were overjoyed that their applications was successful and Sevenoaks and Edenbridge is now officially Fairtrade Towns supported by Sevenoaks District Council, Sevenoaks Town Council and Edenbridge Town Council. Fairtrade celebration events was held in both towns. The Steering Committees continue to organise local events and support churches, schools and organisations to raise awareness further in Sevenoaks and Edenbridge.
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 (
PDF 205K file details) leaflet for further details.
Members of the Sevenoaks Fairtrade Steering Committee have also designed small window stickers to enable local people to show their support for Fairtrade in Sevenoaks. The window stickers are available to businesses and organisations in Sevenoaks town that either serve or sell Fairtrade to clients, customers or staff. If you would like a window sticker please email sus.dev@sevenoaks.gov.uk with your postal address and contact details.
“Go Wild”
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 will be held to give practical advice on how to make gardens wildlife friendly. The first two workshops will be held at Sevenoaks Community Centre, Cramptons Road, Sevenoaks, as follows:
Spring Wildlife Workshop - Thursday 24th April 2008 - 7pm to 9pm
Summer Wildlife Workshop - Thursday 24th July 2008 - 7pm to 9pm
Because of limited numbers, the Wildlife Workshops need to be booked in advance. To book a place, please call Simon Davies on 01732 227000 or email sus.dev@sevenoaks.gov.uk.
Summer Wildlife Walks
A series of FREE wildlife walks is planned. These walks will last about 90 minutes and will include frequent stops to discuss local flora and fauna with a wildlife expert. These walks will meet and finish at Lullingstone Park Visitors Centre as follows:
Wednesday 18th June - Meadow Flowers and Orchids - Walk leaves at 2.30pm
Wednesday 16th July - Woodlands and Veteran Trees - Walk leaves at 2.30pm
Important notes:
Walkers should wear shoes suitable for mud and uneven ground and wear outdoor clothing.
If weather is hot, please bring water, sunscreen and a hat.
Children under 16 years must be accompanied by an adult.
Walkers will be required to complete a short health questionnaire prior to each walk.
Information Packs
The FREE 'Go Wild in the Garden' Information Pack is 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). The Information Packs are available on request all year round.
For further information or to request a free information pack and entry form contact Simon Davies on 01732 227374 or email 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 '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.
Other resources are also available from www.encams.org, the organisation who are responsible for the national Keep Britain Tidy campaign.
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 between April and June. 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)). If your school or community group would like to take part, you can request a 'Streets Ahead' Resource Pack ( PDF 42K 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 amongst schools. Streets Ahead also helps to raise awareness to pupils and parents of how they can "do their bit" to help the environment and themselves to better health.
In 2007, 12 schools took part in the survey with 1298 children recording how they traveled to school on a chosen day. The 2007 Streets Ahead collated results ( PDF 162K file details) showed that children and parents are thinking more about the environment with a record 81.2% of children surveyed traveling to school in a way that reduces the impact on the environment including walking, cycling and car sharing (this compares to 76% last year).
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.
Previously, the assembly presentations have taken place during National Walk to School Week in May and International Walk to School Week in October. These campaigns are promoted by the national 'Lets Walk to School' organisation which is supported by the Government.
As part of this visit to the school, children are also receive a stepometer to promote walking by counting the number of steps they take each day. Children can then be encouraged to count their daily steps and aim for the recommended 10,000 steps per day.
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's Road Safety Officers, and the children can join or leave the bus at set points along the route.
Sevenoaks District Council works closely with Kent County Council to encourage schools to join up to this initiative 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.
Further information on sustainable transport is available from Kent County Council. Information on road safety is also available from BRAKE, the national road safety charity.
Kent Car Share
Sevenoaks District Council is now a member of Kent Car Share, 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 scheme visit the Kent County Council web-site.
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, hedgelaying, 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 simon.bateman@nwkent-countryside.org.uk.
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
