January 2023

News from Stinsford Parish Council

I would like to suggest a date for everyone’s diaries. On 2nd February 2023 between 7 and 9 pm we have arranged an event to launch the Stinsford Parish Climate and Ecological Emergency Strategy. This will be an excellent opportunity to explain what we are doing to residents and importantly to obtain residents’ views and ideas on how this essential work can be best progressed. We will also be interested to hear from anyone who can volunteer any time, skills or knowledge towards developing the strategy or any potential projects within its remit. 

We are working alongside Kingston Maurward College who will also be present on the evening to explain their own approach to tacking climate change and reaching net zero carbon emissions. The College has kindly provided their University Business Hub for the event. This is the new state-of-the-art eco-friendly building at Stinsford that many of you will have seen in the process of construction. There will also be an opportunity to explore the building. Tea and coffee will be provided.

The Stinsford Parish Climate and Ecological Emergency Strategy was first adopted by the council in October 2021 and updated in August 2022. Its primary aim is for the parish to reach net zero carbon emissions by 2040. While Stinsford has many opportunities presented by its woodlands, water meadows and downland, we have to be realistic about what we can achieve. There are issues, such as the A35 cutting through the centre of the Parish, that we can do little about. The strategy covers the whole of the parish. Effectively three villages and a scattering of hamlets and isolated dwellings alongside large tracts of agricultural land, two small industrial estates and Kingston Maurward College. One of our big strengths is the large amount of woodland in the parish.

Although the Climate and Ecological Emergency Strategy does not have a statutory basis this is in some ways what makes it so exciting - for once we can really think what would make the Parish a better place to live and work, and how we can develop an exemplary approach.  Within this work there is a lot that could be done in our own small way towards saving the planet and supporting all that we value about the parish.  

We believe that the Parish Councils strategy offers a wide and flexible range of approaches based on what residents told us during the consultations for the Stinsford Neighbourhood Plan. The Climate and Ecological Emergency Strategy comes in the form of three documents; an overview; the strategy itself and a delivery plan, all of which are available here on the Parish website under the Climate Emergency tab.

Areas that we have looked at include energy, the economy, transport, tourism, housing, land management, waste, food and drink, health and well-being, ecology and the community. Each field lists potential projects but stresses that these are suggestions and that, ultimately, we hope that residents will help to prioritise these. We will be discussing some of these issues at the launch in February but even if you cannot make it on the night, please look at the documents on web-site,  and let councillors or the parish clerk know your views and if you would be willing to get involved. You are invited to explore any of the potentials projects or suggest other ones.

I hope to see as many of you as possible in February. In the meantime I would like, on behalf of Stinsford Parish Council, to wish you all the best for 2023.     

Sarah Pattison, Chair, Stinsford Parish Council