Steering Group Minutes: 2nd December 2020

                                                                                                                               TDEG Steering group 2 December 2020 8pm (via Zoom) MINUTESpastedGraphic.png

Present:  Lynn, Rob, Sheelagh, Alice, Suzanne, Andrea, Steve, Jules, Claire 

1. Apologies:  Bill

2. Meeting timekeeping:  Agreed

3. Notes from the last meeting:  9th September 2020:

a. Steering Group: Bill has indicated he would like to stand down from then Steering Group to concentrate on Climate Action Group.  Action – Lynn to send thanks on behalf of the SG. 

Sue Barber may wish to join the steering group, Action – Lynn to contact her to clarify, and also other members of the Steering Group who have been very quiet recently.

b. Ethical Consumerism:  Claire offered to take over from Ben on the Ethical Consumerism Group but would have to step down her involvement with the Climate Action Group.

c. Treasurer:  Rob will definitely stand down from this roll at the next AGM.  We still need to find a new Treasurer. Action – All to consider

d. Ethical Consumer Group magazine  subscription has been set up.  Members interested in reading the magazine should cross off their initials on the front to indicate they have seen it and return it to Claire when everyone has seen it.  Emails from the group can be also be shared.

e. TDEG statement on Climate Change and ecological issues for planning applications:  Lynn, Sheelagh and Suzanne have been working on a draft for this (available for viewing, please ask if you would like to see a copy).  It was proposed to use sections as appropriate in forthcoming planning issues with Parish Councils  (e.g. PDNPA Local Plan Review and Sherwood Road housing scheme), as well as adding it to the web site.

4. Committee Reports 

a. Chair’s Report:  the next TDEG meeting has been promoted by email and Facebook and arrangements are in hand.  

Hannah Owen, Clerk of Tideswell Parish Council, has been in touch concerning the Peak District National Park Authority Local Plan Review, and asked if we would like to complete their public survey, www.peakdistrict.gov.uk/planning/policies-and-guides/the-local-plan¨.  The survey is just the start of a wider consultation exercise on the Local Plan (which is the main planning document for the whole of the Peak District), and it is important to impress upon the NPA the number of people who are concerned about environmental issues. A more detailed consultation process will begin in February 2021.  Many of us had already picked this up via the Facebook page, but let’s encourage others to complete the survey as well.

b. Secretary’s report: We have 114 subscribers (up from 103 in July); please remember to use Mailchimp for group communications since people can join the mailing groups through the website.  It would save duplicating email lists which is precarious and might miss new members.  

c. Treasurer’s Report: The subscription at £27 pa to the Ethical Consumer Magazine is the only addition since last meeting.  £167 remains in the bank account plus a small amount of cash.  Hope Valley Climate Action Group have a link on their page to Bulb Energy which gives a bit of a kick back to the group.  We could consider doing the same to boost our funds.  Action – Rob

5. Project Groups Update

Climate Action Group Sheelagh reported on the insulation project that Bill has been working on.  Its main aim is to reduce carbon.  Tideswell will be the only community included in the bid within Derbyshire.  The bid for £210,000 has provisionally been approved by the Council but cannot be publicised until after the official announcement which maybe in January 2021.  It will be presented to the council on 7th December and is not guaranteed but the feeling is hopeful.  The bid will be targeting specific properties in Tideswell that fit into the need for better heating.  Action – Sheelagh to report back when there is more news.

Litter:  Steve, after the Great British September Clean, the November and December possibilities for litter picking were scuppered by Tier 3 lockdown although there isn’t a lot of litter just now.  They will wait until new year for the next session.  Action – Steve to think about new dates when possible.

Wildlife:  Lynn had received a positive response from the Community Association and Sports Association on the Woodland Trust Tree Project and will meet in early January to push this forward.  Action – Lynn

6. Responding to new ideas and growing the TDEG “family”

When new ideas are proposed to the group, it was agreed that they should be responded to quickly.   People are happy to leave it to the Chair’s discretion for the moment to divert these suggestions to appropriate areas., either by email or at Steering Group meetings. 

It’s important to encourage proposers to take some responsibility for progressing their ideas.  It may be that they are directed to the relevant project lead or that links are added to the website.  If content is required on the website it would be extremely helpful if text etc was pre-prepared.  We can’t leave it to the web site editor to do all of this.  A lot information, news and discussion can on the Facebook pages.  It may be that a ‘snippets’ page on our website would be helpful.  Action – Claire to think about this.

When get ‘back to normal’ and have open meetings we might have to revisit how to deal with these ideas, eg which project group can adopt specific ideas.  

Recent suggestions have come from:

– Patricia Kavanagh-Brown on co-ordinating food waste

– Sheelagh looking at walking and cycling routes between villages and towns

– Laura and Adam Saunders – veganism

We could have a page on the website with information about food choices which could then be linked to different project groups.  It was noted that the using the term ‘plant based diet’ rather than veganism would be less extreme,  but this is all up to Adam and Laura.  Action –  Lynn to contact Adam and Laura, and Patricia, to discuss adding information to the web site.

TDEG Model The model was excellent, thank you Andrea.  This can go on the web site home page in the middle , replacing the current listing of project groups.  Pete could help with the  hyperlinking.

The ‘Food Group’ to be added as a sub-group with links to the CAG and Ethical Consumer group. Action – Andrea offered to a draft a revision and will share this.  Lynn will send the fonts for design continuity.

7. February TDEG whole group meeting:  Wednesday, 24th February 2021

Arrangements:  We could have a up to 3 or 4 speakers talking on the same topic,  around 15 minutes each with time for question afterwards.

Nick Buttle could be an interesting speaker on climate action, though there maybe other tiers of council decision makers who could contribute. Action – Andrea to investigate. 

Sarah Dines MP Action – Andrea to contact

Simon Spencer (DCC Deputy Council Leader, Cabinet Member – Highways, Transport and Infrastructure)  Lynn to contact

Janet Haddock-Fraser (Member, Peack District NPA), also from Taddington could report on what the National Park Authority is be doing on climate action.  Action – Lynn to contact

A sustainability officer is also about to be appointed (to either DCC or DDDC), maybe we could ask them to speak also.

The Climate Action Group will provide an outline for the evening so that we are coordinated with our approach to speakers. With just 15 minutes each, we might need to be careful to not ask them to cover too much,  Action – Sheelagh

Chair for future meetings:

Andrea offered to chair the next Steering Group Meeting on Wednesday, 3rd February 2021 and will co-ordinate the agenda. Claire offered to chair the following meeting in April.  Action – Andrea

8. Should TDEG join the Derbyshire Climate Coalition?

Agreed that TDEG will join this group which comprises a number of local groups active in addressing the solutions to climate change www.derbyclimate.org.uk   Action – Lynn

Sheelagh reported that she’d been in touch with the Derbyshire Dales Climate Hub yesterday and that Wendy Buller wanted to say hi.  They are interested to be connected to our group.

Sheelagh proposed that we also join the climate action group that Friends of the Earth have set up.  No cost.  Agreed  Action – Sheelagh.

9. Dates of next TDEG general meetings 

– Steering Group – March 31st 2021

– Whole TDEG meeting – April 21st 2021

Thoughts on topics:  maybe something on food or domestic energy (possibly ask Bill).  Surfers against sewage – speaker was at Great Hucklow.  Plastic free schools.  Action – All to consider what topic might be relevant and timely by April, and think about speakers.

10. Any other business?

Sheelagh was at Hope for the Future on how to build a relationship with your MP.  They have prepared a portfolio with background on Sarah Dines.  This could be helpful to us in preparing a strategy in asking her to come and speak on 24th Feb 2021.  Action – Sheelagh is happy to share their notes. 

Thanks to Jules for provide Zoom for the meeting.

Meeting closed 9.10 pm

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