Commission for Architecture and the Built Environment is to launch a public debate on connecting green space within our urban areas. On November 11th 2009 CABE are due to launch a public debate into shifting funding and skills from grey to green infrastructure within urban centres.
The project is to draw attention to the available green infrastructure but to note that it only has real value when it is connected and networked properly. To do this we need the right people with the right skills managing the landscapes of our towns and cities.
CABE stated “This green infrastructure is a powerful weapon in the fight for stronger communities, healthier lives and a sustainable future.”
The launch is in London from 5.30 – 8pm on 11 November. If you would like to attend, please contact Nicola Gillam on 020 7070 6757 or email ngillam@cabe.org.uk.
Opun saw a successful start to the week by hosting a busy Building For Life Awareness Raising event on Monday 19th October. The event was held in both Lincoln and Derby and aimed to get people interested and motivated in becoming a Building For Life Assessor.
The East Midlands has been falling behind as a region with hardly any assessors within local authories when compared to the rest of the country. Working with CABE, Opun is striving to change that, targeting two accredited assessors per local authority by Christmas.
The Training day is due to take place on November 19th in Nottingham, venue tbc. If you would like any more information on Building for Life, please visit the website www.buildingforlife.org and if you would like to be involved in becoming an accredited assessor then please contact James Carpenter at Opun, REM on 0115 9792333 or jc@regenerationem.co.uk
A new dataset for carbon dioxide emissions by local authority has just been released by the Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC).
Actually, make that two datasets. It’s fair to say that there is potential for confusion between the two, so here is a quick guide to clear up what to use when.
The statistics given most prominence by DECC are for total emissions by local authority area for 2007 (local figures are only available after a two year gap). These figures cover all emissions on an ‘end-user’ basis; that is, only those associated with energy usage within homes and businesses. The emissions from the region’s power stations are allocated to those using the energy being produced (useful for the region as it is a net exporter of energy).
The figures for total emissions give the most accurate picture available of how the actions of people within the region are contributing to climate change. However, this picture includes some sources over which local government has little control; namely transport emissions from motorways and large emitters who belong to the EU Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS). To reflect this, DECC have removed these sources for a parallel set of statistics released in line with National Indicator 186 (NI186) guidelines. NI186 is a requirement for districts to reduce their per capita emissions which is included in the majority of the region’s Local Area Agreements.
So total figures reflect the scope of the overall problem, but for a focus on local and regional policy it’s the NI186 figures that are the key. Intelligence East Midlands is working with new data to present some visualisations for the new Climate East Midlands website currently in development. 2007 is the third year of data made available at the local level, so offers an opportunity to begin to study change over time. I’ll be checking back in on the blog once we’ve looked over the figures more carefully.
OK, that’s enough of the abstract here’s the latest ‘Act On Co2′ ad from DECC; certainly doesn’t pull any punches…
Here is the latest newsletter from EMFF, reporting from the Forum’s events of the summer and early autumn – including discussions around understanding of National Indicator 7 – and giving details of new events coming up and the launch of a regional funding advice network. Look out for news of emda’s consultation on its draft statistical portrait of the region in 2009; a BIG Lottery Fund advice day in Leicester; and new training for funding advisors along with a full diary of events and training.
Two lovely pages reviewing last month’s Intelligence Network on Evaluation are hot off the press. Take a look below and give it a click if you want to download the document.
We’ve also collected the presentations from the day and some useful links on the new Evaluation page of the IEM website. Also, check our full selection of Topics pages for a great selection of resources on the region’s key topics.
Just returned from morning at this year’s East Midlands Sustainability Expo, at Walkers Stadium Leicester. Spent my time brushing up on the Carbon Reduction Commitment programme that local authorities, fire and police services, universities, government departments and health bodies are beginning in 2011.
Essentially, these organisations are given allowances to emit carbon which they can then buy or sell through a ‘cap and trade’ scheme. The theory being that the total amount of emissions is capped while using a market mechanism to move the emissions around efficiently.
The Local Government Information Unit team were at the helm for the session, having run a pilot scheme over the last couple of years. Northants County Council participated and Darren Perry gave a very positive presentation on their experiences, while highlighting some of the challenges. The availability of timely data on energy use is a key concern as well as the management of local authorities’ relationships with schools.
I took a couple of main points away from the event. CRC is complex, although this is understood by government and the Environment Agency (the scheme’s regulator). This will see a softly-softly approach being taken to regulation while participants get to grips with its intricacies. Secondly, the concept of trading is akin to ‘playing a game’ and is (to my knowledge) not like anything else undertaken in local government. So as well as coming to terms with the technical aspects of CRC, the scheme requires local authorities to learn a new set of skills around trading and how to maximise both the environmental and economic benefits from their allowances.
On a wider note, the Expo felt like a big success this year. Visiting the exhibitors over lunch, the main hall was really bustling both with delegates and members of the public. Stalls ranged from suppliers of solar panels to local food suppliers (Charnwood Chillis in particular were causing a stir).
East Midlands Regional Assembly organised a lot of media activity round the event this year; we’ll be linking to some interesting video interviews with participants shortly…
Just returned from very successful Network event at Friar Gate Studios, Derby on Evaluation, led by Miles Burger and Caroline Boucher.
As usual, we’ll be producing a full review of the event and a resource pack of useful links and presentation from the event.
We cranked up the @RegenerationEM twitter account for the occasion, and pulled in some interesting contributions from colleagues unable to attend the event itself. If you’re on Twitter, or are considering joining, we’ve had some very positive feedback from people using the service to follow events, so please give us a ‘follow’!
Bike ‘n’ Ride: Nottingham to receive investment to make it easier to bike to the railway station
A day or so ago, transport secretary Lord Adonis announced a £14m package to improve cycle access at railway stations. The aim of the new scheme (snappily titled “Bike ‘n’ Ride”) is to encourage more people to cycle to railways stations; something that only 2% of train passengers currently do. If you’ve ever tried to integrate cycling with catching a train, you’ll probably know that (with some honourable exceptions – I’m thinking of Cambridge, Ely and possibly York) it’s quite tricky. It’s also tricky to actually get your bike onto a train.
The projects announced include the following:
- £5m for fully supervised cycle hubs, offering a range of facilities for cyclists including secure covered parking, cycle hire, information, retail and repair at 10 stations. These include Leeds station (which will be completed by May next year) and London St Pancras, London Victoria, London Waterloo, Grimsby, Hull, Liverpool Lime Street, Scunthorpe, Sheffield and York (all to be opened within the next 2 years).
- £3m for over 4500 additional cycle park spaces at nearly 350 stations across the country, including Nottingham, Stevenage, Cambridge, Exeter, Scarborough, Sunderland, Barrow-in-Furness, Crewe and Middlesbrough.
- £4m from Cycling England for four Train Operating Companies – Merseyrail, Northern Rail, South West Trains and Virgin Trains – to transform the cycling facilities up and down their network to become flagship ‘Bike ‘n’ Ride’ train operating companies.
- £2m which will improve cycle access at rail stations to ensure that bike users can get to and from the station conveniently and safely, and to improve cycle facilities across the rail network as opportunities are identified.
Further details on what Nottingham might actually developed are thin on the ground, but it is pleasing to see that Nottingham station will be well-integrated for cyclists, as well as for tram and bus users. For more details, see the press release.
Earlier this month, a new report, called “Recession Britain”, was published by the Economic & Social Research Council (ESRC). The report looks at what we can learn from the most recent recessions experienced in Britain, to try and help those working to relieve the effect of the downturn on jobs, businesses and people’s lives.
The conclusions reached in the report are based largely on the academic research that ESRC funds. ARO and the regional observatories have worked with ESRC in the past to make sure that the research that goes on at regional level feeds into the evidence-gathering and analysis that happens in academia; and to give researchers in the public sector and higher education a chance to connect and work together.
Some conclusions from the report:
- House prices may fall for a further three years. With fewer houses on the market, buyers find it hard to match their needs and wishes, and so drop out of the housing market, thereby fuelling a further price decline.
- Existing regional disparities in the labour market are unlikely to be affected by the recession. The South East was hardest hit in the recession of the 1990s, suggesting it is very capable of “bouncing back” if hit hard this time.
- Charitable giving: the proportion of individual income given to charity is likely to remain generally constant, as it did during the Great Depression. In Britain’s 1980s recession, there was no obvious effect on the average amount of household donations.
For more highlights of the report, and for access to the full publication, please see the ESRC press release page.
Preparing for a week of travel around the region as I continue my induction as REM’s new post of Funding Advice Network Manager, it’s a chance to reflect on what I’m here for. When organisations in the region want to access cash to make things happen for their community or their service users, they need to find out things like what funds are available, how to access them, how to prepare a business plan or project plan and how to develop their relationship with a funder. Fortunately there are hundreds of people – in local authorities, voluntary sector infrastructure organisations, independent consultancies and funding organisations too – whose role includes giving the advice organisations need. It’s my job to build networks of these funding advisors, develop more training for them, signpost groups to their services, and promote understanding between funders and advisors, and for me at least the key task in that list is the network-building. My question is, why should any of these (presumably) busy people be interested in networking?
My first visit to one of the people who I hope will join the regional funding advisor network gave me a handful of great answers to my question. Jo Butler of Newark and Sherwood CVS has been an enthusiastic participant in the district’s Funding Issues Group for years and she left me in no doubt that networking is worth the trouble. She explained that the Newark and Sherwood ‘FIG’ brings together a team of funding advisors from local authorities, funding organisations and the voluntary sector, and they really do work as a team. It helps everybody keep up to date with the latest funding news, enables them to work smartly – avoiding duplication of effort and signposting groups to the most useful advisor for them – and allows all the advisors to work together on big or complex projects.
Now I’m off to find out more about what else is going on in the region, and to start spreading the word about the benefits of networking: Leicester today, East Lindsey on Wednesday, Market Harborough on Thursday and hopefully into Northants and Derbyshire next week. I am convinced that my message is useful, but also mindful of the downside to my discussion with Jo. As much as we were enthusiastic about networking for funding advisors we were concerned about the funding of advisors’ posts. With the recession limiting donor budgets and pressure on voluntary sector income the future of support for funding advice looks uncertain. So while I am campaigning to develop networking I am also thinking about my responsibility to gather information about the value of funding advice, so organisations don’t miss out on the advice – and therefore the funding – that the East Midlands needs.
If you are interested in this project, whatever your interest in funding advice, please contact me at REM or leave a comment here on the blog.
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