Leamington Town Council Aims for "Transition Town" Status

4.00.00pm BST (GMT +0100) Sat 13th Oct 2007

Low Carbon Future?

Leamington Town Council Leader, Bill Gifford, recently chaired a public meeting to learn about and promote "Transition Towns"; put simply this means the taking of small but significant steps to reduce our reliance on oil and other fossil fuels and make our economy and community more self reliant.

The meeting attended by over 60 people, representing Businesses, Local Government, Environmental Groups, the Charitable and Voluntary Sector, Churches and local residents was held on 24th September at the Town Hall and was greeted with much enthusiasm by those attending. The session kicked off with a talk from the Co-founder of the Transition Towns Networks, Ben Brangwyn, who described his experiences in Totnes, Devon - the first Transition Town.

Interestingly, Ben described the process as not simply one of reducing carbon, but also of increasing resilience. He noted that 85% of our food is bought through supermarkets and reminded us that there is only 5 days worth in the system, which did not strike him as very resilient. Ben went on to describe 8 steps that would enable the community to become less dependent on oil:

1. Form a steering group that plans its own demise!

2. Start working groups focused on specific areas e.g. food, transport, home energy, economics, health, education, textiles etc.

3. Build foundations

4. Raise awareness

5. Big public meeting - galvanise support from the community

6. Build bridge to local government

7. Re-skilling - teach people sustainable crafts and trades

8. Honouring elders - they can see where resilience is lost

Do you have any bright ideas?

During the question and answer session that followed, Ben went on to describe the scale of the problem and the contribution Warwick and Leamington could make to reducing carbon emissions.

The meeting ended with the completion of Step 1 above with the formation of a Steering Group including representatives from the Community and Members of the Public.

Comments Welcome

If you have any ideas on how Leamington can evolve into a Transition Town, contact bill.gifford@warwickdc.gov.uk

Related Links:

Background to Transition Towns.

BBC Article on Transition Towns.

Guardian Article on Transition Towns.