Notes of the Meeting
1. Campaign for the Protection of Rural England/Derbyshire Association of Local Councils Award Presentation
At the start of the meeting, the CPRE presented TDEG with an award for winning the Inspiring Groups category of their inaugural CPRE/DALC Living Countryside Awards.
2. Annual General Meeting
The TDEG Annual Report 2023-2024 can be read here –
2.a – Apologies: Bill, Laura, Adam, Simon
2.b – Roles: Sue ran through the committee’s roles, responsibilities and the projects which other committee members are involved in.
Responsibilities:
• Chair Sue (continuing)
• Secretary Fiona (offered and appointed) ~ Previously nominated by Lynn and seconded by Rob
• Treasurer Laura (continuing)
• Communications: Lynn (continuing)
• Friends of the Earth – Sue is TDEG’s link for FoE.
2.c – Financial Accounts 1 April 2023 – 31 March 2024 from the Annual report – retrospectively approved by Rob and Andrea.
3. Presentation of TDEG Activities
A presentation of TDEG’s work over the previous year was provided by the Chair and project group leaders. The presentations summarised information in our Annual Report (here ).
A PDF of the presentation can be viewed here.
Sue and Lynn summarised TDEG’s background and objectives.
Project groups
- Climate Action Group – Energy: Sheelagh spoke for Bill and gave an update on renewable/community energy initiatives.
- Climate Action Group – Primary Education: Andrea and four children presented an introduction to Eco-councils in Litton School and Tideswell School. Litton School applied for their Green Flag award today. Tideswell could apply next year. Help for the future was requested.
- Cycling Group: Helen gave an overview of the Co-op Pit Stop, cycle maintenance sessions with Peak Tri-store and the “Scenic Cycling” book launch.
- Ethical Consumer Group: Jules gave an update on the Repair Café with statistics and the Buying for Good group. A request was made for an Ethical Consumer project lead.
- Litter picking Group: Suzanne outlined plans for future litter picks. Next litter pick planned for Sun 6th Oct.
- Recycling Group: Rob outlined that the Recycling focus for TDEG is on ‘difficult-to-recycle’ items disseminated in Village Voice newsletter and available on the TDEG website.
- Wildlife Group: Lynn outlined the group’s work: planting trees, wildlife walks, butterfly surveys, work with Breedon Cement, Swift, Owl and Kestrel boxes, and the Going Wild project.
4. Talk by Derbyshire Dales District Councillor, Neil Buttle
Neil Buttle – Green Party elected member, and Derbyshire Dales District Council (DDDC) deputy leader.
Neil discussed some of the initiatives the council is pursuing around climate action:
- DDDC recently came 8th in an Office for Local Government assessment of all local council performance.
- DDDC has a new climate change officer.
- The council is aiming for a carbon neutral position by 2030. Decarbonising actions have included changes to leisure services, depots, DDDC vehicles, and car parks have electric charge points.
- A target for zero carbon farming in the district by 2040 has also been discussed.
- Neil mentioned his interest in the Rights for Rivers campaign, and how this might be used to protect our local rivers. This is an international campaign to allocate rights (such as a right to life, to be healthy and to thrive) to rivers as if they were individual entities (read more here ).
Sue thanked Neil for this excellent presentation, and all TDEG contributors and our school guests, at the end of the evening.
Next whole group meeting: Wednesday 9th October – further details to be confirmed.
