| Kington Langley Parish Council: Climate Action Survey, April 2022 | ||||||||
| 99% of households had paper survey distributed to them. | ||||||||
| Online version of survey also available. | ||||||||
| Announced in parish magazine, also on KL Community Help Facebook page. | ||||||||
| 316 | households in parish (approximately) | |||||||
| 36 | online surveys | |||||||
| 22 | paper surveys | |||||||
| Total submitted: | 58 | |||||||
| 18% | response rate | |||||||
| 62% | opting for the online version of the survey | |||||||
Comments
In no particular order.
Paper ref / online
Can we as a village calculate our carbon footprint?
Online
Instead of the PC seemingly encouraging car use relating to the school ie designated parking schemes etc it would be more in tune to the climate crisis to look at alternative ways to decrease car dependency. Eg car share, public transport, cycle facilities. If not practical then at the very least educate those parents who regularly sit waiting in the village with car engines running.
Online
It is a help to the climate crisis that new houses are more sustainable when it comes to energy use, although they are poorly built and may need major renovation sooner than older houses – placing a further strain on resources (but that’s another argument). However the elephant in the room and something that puts a much larger strain on the climate is traditionally built houses of which Kington Langley has many. Maintaining old houses and trying to increase energy saving performance to the houses is very difficult and incredibly expensive. The government schemes to date have been poor and it would be nice to see local parish councils putting pressure on county councils to bring grants and aid to a county level to help traditional houses become, sympathetically, more sustainable. I don’t know the system but to see government grants brought down to county councils could help villages like ours prepare the housing stock for the next 200 years of life in the village.
Online
Wild flower planting on the commons, maybe sheep grazing at certain times of the year on the commons (helps in better bio diversity).
Online
1. Ease the parking outside the school, which would prevent cars waiting (and idling their engines) until they can get through.
Online
2. Discourage parents and carers from sitting in stationary vehicles whilst keeping engine running. This would reduce carbon and pollution.
Online
3. Give some of the common over to meadow land and thereby encourage pollinators and wild flowers.
Online
Having some sort of scheme or support to help villagers shop/source goods locally to cut out unnecessary waste between farmer/producer and consumer
Online
– Reduce the speed through the village to 20mph which helps reduce carbon emission through the lack of acceleration going up to 30mph+.
Online
– Incentivize a green roof scheme on applicable buildings
Online
– Incentivize green buildings e.g. eco friendly building
Online
– Incentivize solar panels to be on roof tops to help reduce power taken from the grid
Online
– Improve access to footpaths around the village to help increase people from the village to use these rather than drive to other areas to go for a walk, e.g. footpath near great house is overgrown, the path by the S Bend leading to Jackson’s lane (then on to Birds Marsh) is not easy to walk, needs clearing and leveling of troughs created by erosion from rain water where the water has no other place to go as the ditches are all blocked.
Online
The Parish Council could be a key co-ordinator of other Eco projects in the village – at St Peter’s Church, the village school, recycling points. Encouraging planting of daffodils, caring for the pond and trees, looking at allotments, and monitoring car speeds/pollution is very positive. Organised litter picks? Wild planting of unused areas, raising awareness of helpful schemes from Wiltshire Council. A solar panel project? Care of ditches and streams, wildlife projects to support swifts, hedgehogs. So many possibilities – a repair workshop or swap shop at the village hall? Speed reduction in the village – and reducing car use for school drop off…
Online
Reducing the amount of traffic using the village as a short cut.
Online
I agree we need to do something however the suggestions above, however well intentioned, are merely window dressing.
Online
I think there are two significant things we can do as a village –
Online
1. Become self sufficient in electricity generation
Online
2. Measure and support everyone in the village to reduce the total consumption of energy within the home from whatever source.
Online
So how could we do this?
Online
To address 1 we develop a community solar farm. This could generate the equivalent of all electricity used in the village. The concept is not new and there are already examples of villages that have achieved this www.gawcottsolar.co.uk. It can be funded with grants and a community shareholding and as well as offsetting all of our electricity use will also develop a return to the community shareholders and profit that can support local activities such as 2. below. In addition it could be up and running in 12-18 months.
Online
To address 2. the primary strategy is to reduce consumption of energy by a mix of improves energy retention (insulation etc.) and a collective desire to use less anyway. Grants along with profits from our solar farm will help those in the village who find it difficult to invest in home insulation. The concept of understanding our total energy consumption as a village and to generate the will to collectively reduce it would potentially be a challenging data collection effort however this maybe available from generators for electricity and gas by postcode to which we would need to collect oil and liquid gas consumption. However as a tool it would be very powerful.
Online
We cannot address all climate related activity and some should be less to personal desire (cars, food, purchasing habits etc.) however these two would put Kington Langley in the top quartile of villages trying to address climate challenges in the UK and beyond.
Online
Andrew Douglas, Honeywood, Parkers Lane
Online
This is not something the parish council should be wasting money on. Climate change is caused by big industrial nations like China, USA and India, not the UK. The UK should stop wasting money on green initiatives and instead lobby the big polluters to cause less harm
Online
Infrared camera would be interesting but not sure it would change our behaviour.
Online
Pooled electric car would be of interest once kids old enough to drive and/or when either of our existing two cars needs replacement
Online
We have two fully electric vehicles so hence our no responses above.
Online
We would support any national effort to save paper. For example, newspapers often contain full-page adverts, which are very wasteful.
2
Village hall site ideal for charging points as already have solar panels etc.
3
Charging points for 1/2/3 cars back of hall. As 3 phase 415V and solar units on roof.
4
I said no to an electric car as I think it would be subject to abuse.
4
I said no to car charging infrastructure as this is not carbon neutral, but there is a diesel that is totally emission free.
4
On electric cars have to be charged and so these are more emissions.
4
I said yes to reduced grass cutting but what about planting flower seeds (old type)
getting children looking for flowers. [sample seed mix suggestion included].
5
Support Kin House local food shop to reduce food miles.
Campaign to improve path alongside A350 into Chippenham for cyclists and pedestrians.
Encourage recycling of items of items not collected by WCC.
Provide practical information on what households can do – from composting to
green energy savings
9
Replace Stocks Tree in original position.
10
Influence planning to ensure that a) PV panels are on roofs not agricultural land
b) listed buildings can be double-glazed.
12
Clear up the rubbish left after the hedges have been cut. The twigs and branches spill into the road and blocks the ditches.
13
Public transport, whether a shared e-car, or buses going to useful places and meeting
other transport routes would remove a lot of CO2.
I bought an e-bike and am too frightened to use it.
14
Ref. Thermal imaging: I feel that this is the most important thing that the community can do.
Hire a thermal imaging camera and carry out a full survey of all properties in the village.
I am sure that volunteers would be forthcoming to help with the survey.
16
I would allow some areas of the common (those not used for community events) set
aside to allow grass to grow long so that wild flowers would flourish.
These areas would need to be cut in July / August but there would be an overall saving in mowing. The growing of small trees too.
17
Help people with loft insulation?
17
Re. EV charging infrastructure, most people already have direct access to electricity at home. Please no more town-like street furniture.
18
Look at an example of a carbon-neutral village, Ashton Hayes near Manchester. Info on-line.
18
Measure the village carbon footprint online tool. Add online info re ancient woodland, EV charging, fruit trees on the Parish online database. Community orchard. Another pond.
Wildflower area. Veg and flower seed swap station in village. Grown our veg and share.
18
Grow our own trees – micro / community Tree Nursery. I have experience of the last and will get in touch.
18
Buy houses. Bird and own boxes dotted around.
19
Solar lighting / road signs.
The original survey used is available here.
It is also available as a Google Form – please contact getinvolved@kingtonlangley.org to request this.