The Story So Far…

Whittington & Fisherwick, Staffordshire consists of

• Two Parishes, one Parish Council - Part of Lichfield District
• Total Population c.2800 with around 1100 households
• Primary school, Co-op, chemist, Chinese takeaway, village hall, church hall, 5 pubs, golf course, Hospice, MoD Joint Services Medical Training Centre, various farms

WFEG was set up as a group of volunteers in 2007 because

• Many local people were and are concerned about climate change/energy security
• They want to save money on fuel and travel
• They were looking for authoritative and practical information and ideas
• They didn’t know what to do about the “environment” or felt powerless

WFEG gives us all a sense of acting together and help create positive peer pressure. Our aims are to

• Promote the concept of Whittington & Fisherwick becoming a low carbon community
• Measure the community’s carbon footprint and work to achieve a year on year reduction
• Encourage all residents, businesses and village organisations to reduce their CO2 and greenhouse gas emissions
• Share our experience with other communities

Our carbon footprint in 2009

• Unique Foot-printing tool embedded in website which tracks domestic emission – based on Act on CO2
• Annual 8 week window – September and October annually
• 105 homes signed up in 2009 (first round)
• Lowest footprint recorded was 2.8 tonnes – the highest 36.1 tonnes
• Thanks to a paper survey in 2008 we had two years’ worth of records for 45 households which when pro rated showed an 11.6% reduction = 67.5 tonnes
• Parish total – 700+ tonnes (5% average reduction)

What have we done so far?

Found sources of funding and sponsors which has helped us to:

• Design, print and deliver ten printed Newsletters to every home in the Parish
• Create an interactive website with online membership and donation plus a unique foot-printing facility
• Design and broadcast a regular e-zine (electronic newsletter) to more than 500 subscribers
• Organise 3 Big Green Fairs each with more than 1000 attendees
• Put on talks, films and visits
• Take stalls at the annual Country Fair, the monthly Village Market, and al School and Church events
• Hold an Open Homes day with suppliers’ exhibition
• Hold a candle lit vigil to coincide with the December 2009 Copenhagen talks

We have run campaigns to

• Ban the incandescent light bulb – a full scale publicity campaign with more than 2000 light bulbs given away
• Enabled 120 free Energy audits of homes, community buildings, businesses within the Parish
• Ban the unfilled cavity wall – 60 subsidised installations of cavity wall and/or loft insulation completed
• Joint HEC and carry out a Parish renewables survey with EST

We have funded

• Cavity wall and low energy lighting for Village Hall
• Loft insulation and lighting for Church Hall
• Part-funded refurbishment of Pavilion – including providing an air-source heat pump
• Helped the Dog Inn invest £6k in energy saving measures

We have received the following awards and commendations for our work

• EST/Guardian/Act on CO2 Green Community Heroes 2009 for Best Rural Project
• RegenWM Prize 2009 for Best Environment and People project
• Business In The Community C+ Carbon Award 2009 for Best Community Project
• Southern Staffordshire Partnership Regeneration Award 2008 - Commended