The following section records our learning and reflections from each projects perspective:<\/p>\n
Neighbours Together<\/strong><\/p>\n People and families are busy and short on time: It became clear that there was more work to be done just to get people to work together \u2018as a household\u2019 let alone a neighbourhood group than we originally anticipated.\u00a0 Family lives are so busy that it is not easy for them to sit as a family to assess their situation and plan change together.\u00a0 We tried to make the household assessments and action planning as quick and as easy as possible.<\/p>\n The Neighbours Together Project changed from being a \u2018Transitions Streets model \u2018 to being a unique \u201cHousehold Canny Challenge\u201d project and took on a more a project coordination role to ensure alignment with all our CCF projects.\u00a0 Initially the idea was to start to work at forming neighbourhood groups (as per Tranisition Streets model) but it became apparent that engagement needed to start at the household level and then coalesce into groups as and when the opportunities arose.<\/p>\n We would recommend others to start working at a household scale rather than trying to start at a neighbourhood scale e.g. start with the Household Canny Challenge first then work towards Neighbours Together.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Worms Work<\/strong><\/p>\n Initially the wormboxes seemed to appeal to those that were already waste aware but a greater cross-section of households are now becoming involved.\u00a0 To date the project has therefore mainly helped families\/ individuals who are already on the recycling route achieve further waste reduction by dealing with food waste in an enclosed system. This system has proved to be simple and accessible. People express very positive feelings about being involved in the project and are enthusiastic about having a wormbox to tend and look after!<\/p>\n The majority of people responded by saying they will grow food with the worm compost.<\/p>\n The initial concept of working with classes to run wormery workshops for their families was not taken on board by any school that was involved in the project. We weren\u2019t able to spend enough time with teachers early enough in the project to get the idea incorporated into their teaching plans and so it was perceived as creating extra work. With the new funding, over a longer period, we will be able to do more intensive work with schools, to develop wormery lesson plans and generally to support teachers to make better use of such projects to deliver cross-curricula learning.<\/p>\n There is more scope to encourage schools to communicate with each other and to share learning and experience.<\/p>\n We need to create good opportunities for discussion on the topic of food waste through gatherings and events and could make more use of social networking sites such as Facebook to encourage networking and support among participants.<\/p>\n Some people just don\u2019t like worms! <\/p>\n Transport – Drop-in Travel Advice Session<\/strong><\/p>\n The travel advice sessions have proved very useful, enabling us to chat one to one with local residents about their travel needs and allowing us to better tailor local travel information.\u00a0 Experience gained from the energy advice team at the Be Green project in Dunbar (with whom we share these sessions) has shown that sessions such as these take a while to establish, and this has been the case with the travel advice too, although we have had visitors most weeks.\u00a0 The visitors who have come along have often stayed for a while, sharing valuable information about their local travel experiences, which has helped enormously to provide the kind of information that local people find useful.<\/p>\n We are building up a good reputation as a source of up to date public transport information and timetables, as well as somewhere to get advice about cycling and walking routes\/maps\/leaflets.\u00a0 Our travel advice order forms have been useful as a way of publicising the wealth of resources we have available. In the future, publicity for the drop in sessions\/information service will be expanded, but we have learned that it takes time to build up a reputation and a good customer base. <\/p>\n Transport – What’s Stopping You?<\/strong><\/p>\n The bike accessory voucher scheme has allowed us to engage personally with a wide range of local cyclists (many of whom were new to regular cycle). Speaking to folk on a one-to-one basis has given us a real insight into the barriers to cycling locally:<\/p>\n The Bike Workshop is turning into a proper hub for biking activities, bringing cyclists of all abilities together to share experiences and organise rides. A hub such as this is worth the time it takes to establish as it brings new people into the fold.<\/p>\n We worked hard to include the local bike shop in our projects, but more effort will be needed to communicate with the local shops to illustrate that we are not setting up a rival service but working to increase the number of cyclists in the area. <\/p>\n Transport – SpareWheels carsharing club<\/strong><\/p>\n The concept of carsharing is new to many people and it is important to keep making the distinction between carsharing and lift-sharing which is often how the concept is mistakenly understood. Many of the early members were not typical drivers with average mileage, some didn\u2019t previously own a car and so their mileage actually increased. Now that the club is established and able to expand, it will be important to attract members who will make more use of the cars\u00a0 and gain the confidence to get rid of their own car. We also need businesses to sign up to make more use of the cars during the day. <\/p>\n Transport –\u00a0P7 Independent Travellers<\/strong><\/p>\n Our previous P7 transition project worked with primary school pupils to encourage them to cycle to secondary. This year’s project widened the remit to include public transport and pupils took home information packs including local bus and train information. The lessons were well-received by pupils who like the idea that they don’t need to depend on their parents for lifts everywhere. <\/p>\n Transport – Bus travel<\/strong><\/p>\n Rural bus travel in a deregulated environment has suffered, and coverage relies on a declining but discretionary subsidy from local Government. This continues to prop up commercially unviable services. Publicity of these services has never been a priority, so considerable efforts have been made here to produce a range of timetables and other resources, e.g. online, to make it easier for people to know about services and to use them. The adopt-a-bus-stop scheme is still in its infancy, but intended to use imaginative promotional messages to encourage patronage. Our interventions have been well-received and we continue to collaborate with the local authority on improving bus timetable information and provision. It is difficult to objectively measure whether these efforts have changed behaviour, but we can verify that outlets that supply our timetables are mostly aware of them, and their currency and that there is a gap in demand which these offerings have filled.<\/p>\n It is more difficult to measure whether people are using the buses more, as patronage figures are difficult to extract.<\/p>\n It has been a challenge to sustain the momentum of the bus users group, with enthusiasm at first rising when the group first came together and then waning. We have latterly launched a few publicity initiatives that may help us to invigorate \/ re-animate the membership.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Community Energy<\/strong><\/p>\n Community energy projects are only \u201ccommunity energy\u201d by name if they do not consult with the wider community. The DCEco set up an on-line public opinion survey regarding wind turbines but received a minimal response. The more proactive technique of employing local facilitators to actively engage the public has been invaluable. This has generated data from a cross section of our locality that would not have been available if we had waited for the public to come to us. It has provided us with a strong mandate to proceed with our community wind turbine project and guidance from our community as to the direction we should take to maintain local engagement in our project.<\/p>\n We have realised that finding sites for community owned renewables in this area is extremely difficult. Commercial developers already hold options over the best sites and planning guidelines elsewhere are very restrictive.\u00a0 Scottish Government targets for community renewables will only be met if a way is found to make it easier for communities to invest in joint ventures with the developers of commercial windfarms.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Energy Advice Service<\/strong><\/p>\n The energy advice service continues to be very well received with universally positive feedback. People trust and appreciate the expert, independent advice and support that we are able to provide. However, there seems to be steady core level of demand for five or six full audits per week which is difficult to increase.<\/p>\n In some cases it is clear that a full audit and report are not required. Rather than taking time to write a full report it may be more appropriate in some situations to simply leave householders with relevant advice sheets. We plan to update and redesign our advice sheets to better fulfil this purpose.<\/p>\n The discount PV scheme was popular and people were very pleased to be able to use a local installer whom they trust. It was unfortunate that the scheme fell foul of the FITS debacle just as it was really getting going. Falling prices mean that PV\u2019s remain a good investment, even with the new lower FIT rate, however, the new qualifying rules for FITS requiring an EPC rating of level D or better will rule out many future installations in this area. Upgrading the energy efficiency of many of our hard to treat homes to level D or above will be extremely expensive or will require relaxation of planning restrictions for conservation areas.<\/p>\n We severely underestimated the difficulty of obtaining a finalised \u2018framework agreement\u2019 with East Lothian Council to provide capital finance for our proposed revolving loan fund for eco-refurbishment projects. Whilst very supportive, Council officials have often had more pressing priorities and we have still not reached a final agreement. We remain convinced that the availability of such an easy finance package, along with a community run advice service will be crucial elements of achieving the future home energy savings required and still hope to launch\u00a0 this scheme very soon. We are deeply sceptical of the proposed UK Green Deal and it remains very unclear what effect this may have on our future service provision.\u00a0 We will need to review how best to work with this scheme when the details are finally announced.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Our Lessons learned:<\/strong><\/p>\n The following section records our learning and reflections from each projects perspective: Neighbours Together People and families are busy and short on time: It became clear that there was more work to be done just to get people to work … Continue reading \n
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