# Banter 96: 19Nov25 Climate Action Network, with Frank Deas {% embed url="" %} ### Video Timeline: (min:sec) 00:00 - 24:40 Presentation 24:40 - 53:17(end) Q & A *** ### Presentation: {% file src="" %} You are welcome to download this presetation; there is a markdown copy at the bottom of this page for the AI Search engine to index *** ### Meeting Summary: ### Quick recap The meeting began with a discussion about weather conditions before transitioning to an overview of the Southwest Stirling Climate Action Network, which was established as a Scottish Charitable Incorporated Organization in early 2023. Frank explained the differences between Scottish and English governance structures, particularly regarding planning frameworks and local authority challenges in addressing climate change, while highlighting the importance of community-led initiatives. The discussion covered various local environmental projects including community orchards, active travel paths, and energy retrofit programs, with Frank sharing his plans for future initiatives and collaboration with local experts, before concluding with an introduction to the new sustainability officer for Weymouth Town Council. ### Next steps * [Frank: Get to AGM and get that sorted out, understand funding requirements for next year](https://us02tasks.zoom.us/?meetingId=wZGKCeu4QTSl4NkqhhoXGA%3D%3D\&stepId=bf225a77-c547-11f0-940d-ca7375478bd4) * [Frank: Set up thematic groups for biodiversity, renewables, energy conservation, food, resource management, and active travel experts across villages](https://us02tasks.zoom.us/?meetingId=wZGKCeu4QTSl4NkqhhoXGA%3D%3D\&stepId=bf225f52-c547-11f0-8762-ca7375478bd4) * [Frank: Work with Eco Club at high school to create local recycling guides for each village](https://us02tasks.zoom.us/?meetingId=wZGKCeu4QTSl4NkqhhoXGA%3D%3D\&stepId=bf2261d3-c547-11f0-b67f-ca7375478bd4) * [Frank: Train Eco Club students to do presentations on campaigns like zero food waste week and no plastic week](https://us02tasks.zoom.us/?meetingId=wZGKCeu4QTSl4NkqhhoXGA%3D%3D\&stepId=bf2263f3-c547-11f0-a1b2-ca7375478bd4) * [Frank: Send trained Eco Club students back to primary schools to deliver assemblies on climate topics](https://us02tasks.zoom.us/?meetingId=wZGKCeu4QTSl4NkqhhoXGA%3D%3D\&stepId=bf2265ea-c547-11f0-8871-ca7375478bd4) * [Frank: Coordinate parallel campaigns on village Facebook pages covering food waste and zero plastics](https://us02tasks.zoom.us/?meetingId=wZGKCeu4QTSl4NkqhhoXGA%3D%3D\&stepId=bf2267df-c547-11f0-b178-ca7375478bd4) * [Frank: Get detail on solar array effectiveness and costs to preach it more effectively](https://us02tasks.zoom.us/?meetingId=wZGKCeu4QTSl4NkqhhoXGA%3D%3D\&stepId=bf2269ca-c547-11f0-9db2-ca7375478bd4) * [Katherine: Consider doing a presentation for the group sometime about Weymouth Town Council's sustainability work](https://us02tasks.zoom.us/?meetingId=wZGKCeu4QTSl4NkqhhoXGA%3D%3D\&stepId=bf226ba5-c547-11f0-b26a-ca7375478bd4) ### Summary #### Southwest Stirling Climate Action Network The meeting began with a casual discussion about weather conditions, particularly focusing on snow and ice in different regions of the UK. Frank then introduced the main topic, discussing the Southwest Stirling Climate Action Network, which was established in early 2023 and officially recognized as a Scottish Charitable Incorporated Organization. Frank explained the differences between Scotland and England's governance structures, highlighting the presence of a Scottish Parliament with devolved powers and a simpler local government structure compared to England. The discussion touched on the challenges faced by local authorities in addressing climate change, with Frank emphasizing the importance of community-led initiatives and the expertise available at the local level. #### Scottish Climate Action Network Overview Frank explained the differences between English and Scottish planning structures, highlighting that Scotland's National Planning Framework 4 is more detailed and regulatory. He described the setup of the South West Stirling Climate Action Network (SWSCAN), which aims to support climate actions across communities, share ideas, and collaborate on initiatives like active travel paths and retrofit programs. Frank also discussed SWSCAN's efforts to advocate for climate sustainability issues and their success in having their local place plan considered by the Stirling Council, which could lead to more teeth for community councils in determining local plans. #### Community Initiatives and Conservation Concerns Frank discussed several community initiatives, including emergency communication systems and active travel links between schools. He highlighted the decline of community orchards after funding stopped in 2012, noting that only one of eight orchards is currently active due to lack of permission from the council. Frank also expressed concern about the council's lack of attention to local nature conservation sites, which has led to damage in some areas. He emphasized the importance of these initiatives for community engagement and sustainability, and mentioned ongoing efforts in energy retrofit and strategic food planning. #### Community Orchards and Biodiversity Challenges Frank explained that community orchards in Scotland are not self-sustaining financially, as they give away fruit and juice rather than selling them. He outlined plans to train local experts in each village to manage tree care, with funding applications being prepared to support this initiative. Frank also discussed concerns about biodiversity net gain requirements, noting that while similar to southern requirements, Scottish guidelines do not mandate a specific positive biodiversity impact. He shared an example of a developer intentionally removing trees before submitting a planning application, highlighting the need for greater enforcement of environmental regulations. #### Community Climate Initiatives Update Frank discussed his work with community councils and the expertise he leverages to support climate initiatives. He explained how he collaborates with local experts and uses change management skills to facilitate community projects. Frank also shared his plans for 2026, including setting up thematic groups on biodiversity, energy, and other key areas, as well as involving schools in recycling and environmental campaigns. The group discussed solar power in Scotland, with Frank noting its viability and the potential for local energy clubs. Cllr. Stuart raised concerns about the need for increased electricity generation to support electrification efforts. The conversation ended with an introduction to Katherine, the new sustainability officer for Weymouth Town Council, who expressed interest in the group's work. *** ### Chat: 00:25:47 David Newman (Blackbird Leys): How come Crianlarich ins in Stirling and not with Oban?\ 01:05:43 Garry Ford - Corsham Town Council: 20 hours of daylight during the summer.\ 01:06:39 David Newman (Blackbird Leys): I've been to Cruachan. Got there on my electric motorbike.\ 01:10:35 frank deas, Killearn: Reacted to "I've been to Cruacha..." with 👍 *** ### Audio-transcript: (for AI Search engine) 164\ 00:17:37.940 --> 00:17:40.210\ frank deas, Killearn: So… 165\ 00:17:40.870 --> 00:17:56.760\ frank deas, Killearn: Southwest Australian Climate Action Network. We've been going since, about January, end of January, early February this year was when we got our official status from OSCAR, which is the Scottish Charity Regulator, as a SKU, Scottish Charitable Incorporated Organization. 166\ 00:17:56.860 --> 00:18:17.880\ frank deas, Killearn: We weren't sure when we were trying to set up what structure we should go for or what we should do, and we got some very helpful advice from Sterling Volunteer Enterprise, which runs as a third sector engagement in this neck of the woods, and they were really helpful at explaining the benefits of going for a proper constitution and setup, and talking us through what that process was. 167\ 00:18:17.880 --> 00:18:30.340\ frank deas, Killearn: And I think it will pay dividends for us going forward, both in terms of attracting funders, in terms of our engagement with some other partners, and as we'll go through, we'll see it also allowed us to actually have an official status. 168\ 00:18:30.430 --> 00:18:49.190\ frank deas, Killearn: We're in southwest Stirling, people don't know the geography. That patch of water that you can see in the sort of further background is Loch Lomond, one of the largest Scottish lochs. The little villages that are in between us and the loch are some of our catchment villages, so we live in a lovely part of the country. 169\ 00:18:49.520 --> 00:19:03.470\ frank deas, Killearn: Which is good in the sense of persuading people to try and join in and understand what we want to do and why we want to preserve it. I'll just try and quickly go through my understanding of what the differences are between Scotland and England. 170\ 00:19:03.470 --> 00:19:15.980\ frank deas, Killearn: And I've just realized that, that in… we've both got Westminster as our, as our ultimate government, but in Holyrood, we have a Scottish Parliament, which has devolved powers. 171\ 00:19:15.980 --> 00:19:28.709\ frank deas, Killearn: Until the Westminster Parliament says it doesn't. So, for instance, we thought we were going to have a recycling scheme for bottles, and then suddenly we weren't, because it was a legally challenged. So, as well as tripping themselves up, we also get tripping occasionally from Westminster. 172\ 00:19:28.710 --> 00:19:37.089\ frank deas, Killearn: Down below that, though, we have a much simpler structure, possibly because we've got this extra parliament, of regional councils dropping down to community councils. 173\ 00:19:37.090 --> 00:19:44.029\ frank deas, Killearn: So our regional councils are probably similar to the unitary authorities that there are in England. They're responsible for everything across the board. 174\ 00:19:44.030 --> 00:19:59.590\ frank deas, Killearn: Except fire and police services, which are national, so they report directly into Hollywood. We don't have regional fire areas or regional… we used to, but as we've gone through the evolution, they now just report in. So our unity authorities do social work, education. 175\ 00:20:00.020 --> 00:20:03.540\ frank deas, Killearn: Road repairs, litter collection, all those things. 176\ 00:20:03.660 --> 00:20:12.860\ frank deas, Killearn: And therefore, we don't have the County Council, District, Borough Council, City Councils that all of you work within and work with. 177\ 00:20:12.900 --> 00:20:30.470\ frank deas, Killearn: We have community councils that are probably the nearest equivalent to the parish councils, but I think, as far as I can understand, parish councils have a more specific role. You have some financial scope, you can asset manage and own local halls, you have a level of capital spend because of that. 178\ 00:20:30.500 --> 00:20:49.760\ frank deas, Killearn: you can run an operation of fines for littering and so on. I think certainly all those things seem to be things that parish councils can do. In Scotland, community councils can't do any of that. We get a grant to help us, actually, with our secretariat of running meetings, but that's it. We don't have any other sort of funding. But otherwise, very similar. They're staffed by 179\ 00:20:50.080 --> 00:20:56.189\ frank deas, Killearn: Community councillors who, like parish councillors, are volunteers with a commitment to the community of trying to get it right. 180\ 00:20:56.890 --> 00:21:13.879\ frank deas, Killearn: I'll try and quickly go through, then, the difference in planning structures, because I think it's just relevant to what we've tried to do as an organization in SWS can. So, in England, you've got the National Planning Policy Framework as the overriding thing that Westminster's done. 181\ 00:21:14.180 --> 00:21:18.959\ frank deas, Killearn: But it's, it's, it's regulatory in the sense that it guides 182\ 00:21:19.340 --> 00:21:35.209\ frank deas, Killearn: what other people do for planning. It doesn't actually say what you do for planning, compared with, in Scotland, we have National Planning Framework 4, which actually sets out specifics of things that have to happen in terms of planning. So it's slightly more detailed and slightly more regulatory and statutory. 183\ 00:21:36.380 --> 00:21:55.600\ frank deas, Killearn: I'm not sure, but I think, and do correct me if I'm wrong on this one, the local planning decisions, or the local plans that inform local decisions, would be made by all those areas, so unitary authorities, county councils, city councils, district councils, all may produce local plans saying what's happening in their patch. 184\ 00:21:55.720 --> 00:22:13.959\ frank deas, Killearn: and what buildings are approved and not approved, and how land is to be used. In Scotland, in the regional councils, it's just a local development plan. We have 32 local authorities, each one of them, which is a local development plan that says what's going to happen in their area, referencing it back to NPF4 to say, here's what should happen. 185\ 00:22:14.130 --> 00:22:16.220\ frank deas, Killearn: And then dropping down from that. 186\ 00:22:16.290 --> 00:22:28.880\ frank deas, Killearn: Parish Council, my understanding, is produced neighborhood plans, and that sets the tone for what you want to happen on your particular patch in terms of asset management, in terms of future planning. 187\ 00:22:28.880 --> 00:22:42.360\ frank deas, Killearn: Our community councils have local place plans, and that's a comparatively recent thing. The Scottish Parliament's been working towards greater community empowerment, so for the first time, we're in a cycle where 188\ 00:22:42.420 --> 00:22:45.280\ frank deas, Killearn: Villages have been encouraged to produce a local place plan. 189\ 00:22:45.510 --> 00:23:01.600\ frank deas, Killearn: that, by statute, the regional council will have to consider. They don't have to adopt it, they can consider it and reject it outright, but they do have to consider it, and it will hopefully give slightly more teeth to community councils in saying what happens and what they want to do. 190\ 00:23:02.140 --> 00:23:09.579\ frank deas, Killearn: Where all that fitted together is in Sterling, which is our county, and again. 191\ 00:23:09.940 --> 00:23:13.579\ frank deas, Killearn: recommend it to visitors, it's a lovely part of the world. 192\ 00:23:14.030 --> 00:23:26.870\ frank deas, Killearn: Sterling produces its local development plan, and we, in the bottom, as the name implies in the tin, we're the southwest, so we're Kippen, McClyivie, Belfront, Killerne, Drummond, those areas in the southwest, are the Climate Action Network. 193\ 00:23:27.700 --> 00:23:37.250\ frank deas, Killearn: we have, and it's a sort of chip on my shoulder all the time, we have what I term a Pareto Council. So, if you look at that particular map. 194\ 00:23:37.250 --> 00:23:52.869\ frank deas, Killearn: the blue line, or actual line in the bottom right, is the M9, the motorway that goes up to past Sterling, and then becomes the A9 and goes on further up. And in those villages, Dunblain, Bridge of Allen, Stirling, and Bannockburn. 195\ 00:23:53.550 --> 00:24:00.820\ frank deas, Killearn: The right-hand side, the space to the right of that blue line, has 80% of the population of the County of Serling. 196\ 00:24:01.700 --> 00:24:06.409\ frank deas, Killearn: The left-hand side, which is all the rest of the land, has 80% of the land. 197\ 00:24:06.470 --> 00:24:23.759\ frank deas, Killearn: So we have this unbelievable thing that Sterling should… first of all, should never have been allowed to call itself Sterling, it should have been Stirling and Trossach as part of Ross or Dupre Saint Galloway. But it's called Sterling, it's got 80% of the population in a built-up conurbation area, and it keeps thinking it's a city council. 198\ 00:24:23.780 --> 00:24:38.910\ frank deas, Killearn: And in fact, we have this vast area of land over to the… to the left, and we have to try and keep reminding them that, no, we're… we're… you're a rural council as well as a city council, and you need to actually listen to rural voices and address rural issues. So there are challenges for us. 199\ 00:24:38.910 --> 00:24:48.269\ frank deas, Killearn: What that meant was that there was a level of impetus and effort that we could put behind setting up the South West Australian Climate Action Network. 200\ 00:24:48.370 --> 00:24:49.940\ frank deas, Killearn: So basically. 201\ 00:24:49.940 --> 00:25:14.899\ frank deas, Killearn: One of the things that I've always enjoyed and taken comfort from is the banter sessions are a great way of restoring your morale or restoring your emotional batteries. You come on and think, well, actually, I'm not the only Berke who believes all these things are important. There are other people out there who are doing it too, and we get that sort of, okay, I'm not alone in this, it's an uphill battle, people don't seem to be listening, but other people across the country are listening 202\ 00:25:14.900 --> 00:25:27.360\ frank deas, Killearn: and that's important. And we found that within our village networks, that in each village, we had two or three people who believed that this was important, to believe something had to happen, something had to change, and were able to get mutual support. 203\ 00:25:27.620 --> 00:25:39.209\ frank deas, Killearn: by working together. We've met two or three times, as the Scottish Government is putting in a thing called Climate Action Hubs, so we have 32 local authorities. 204\ 00:25:39.320 --> 00:25:55.890\ frank deas, Killearn: We have, I think it's at the last count, about 18 climate action hubs, so it's not as many as local authorities, and they're designed to give seed funding to local community action groups, they're designed to hold the council to account. 205\ 00:25:55.890 --> 00:25:59.550\ frank deas, Killearn: They're designed to try and drive things forward. 206\ 00:25:59.690 --> 00:26:05.369\ frank deas, Killearn: While they were doing… setting those up, there was a level of engagement that happened across, 207\ 00:26:05.860 --> 00:26:21.050\ frank deas, Killearn: local communities, and it was through that that we all kind of found each other as the voices in each village were interested in doing this. While we met at their engagement sessions, we decided that we'd keep in touch and try and build up and create something, and by the end of last year, I realized that 208\ 00:26:21.050 --> 00:26:32.500\ frank deas, Killearn: we had to step up and become an organization, otherwise we'd just be a group of pals getting together, chatting, saying, do you know, someone should be doing something about that. We recognized that maybe it was us who needed to do something about it. 209\ 00:26:32.550 --> 00:26:36.009\ frank deas, Killearn: So we set up Southwest Australian Climate Action Network. 210\ 00:26:36.560 --> 00:26:49.499\ frank deas, Killearn: We try and support actions across our communities, sharing ideas, learning what works, promoting cross-promotion across the villages, collaborating on actions, things like active travel paths. 211\ 00:26:50.260 --> 00:27:05.500\ frank deas, Killearn: have traditionally happened at, sort of, community council level or community development trust level. The problem with that is, a really good active travel path links communities, so you relied on communities talking to other communities to work together. And when you look at something like a retrofit program. 212\ 00:27:05.560 --> 00:27:22.889\ frank deas, Killearn: or a food localization program, they're quite often much, much more effective, cost-effective, and efficient if you can emit them at a multi-billet or regional level, rather than just one space. And then lastly, to try and be an advocate for our communities, to pressurize local authorities on climate sustainability issues. 213\ 00:27:23.260 --> 00:27:34.000\ frank deas, Killearn: And that's… that last one was where we suddenly realized that we kind of want to watch by setting ourselves up as a SCIO, Scottish Charitable Incorporated Organization. 214\ 00:27:34.510 --> 00:27:48.969\ frank deas, Killearn: We had, it meant that we could then satisfy the requirements of the Section 19 of the Community of Birmingtack Scotland, of being a properly constituted community body who could submit its own local place plan. 215\ 00:27:49.160 --> 00:27:53.159\ frank deas, Killearn: So, while, we have… 216\ 00:27:53.420 --> 00:28:03.609\ frank deas, Killearn: And hopefully that map will come through reason clearly. While each of the villages in blue, Tippin, McClivie, Drummond, Buffron, Cologne, Swift Lane, all did their own local place plan. 217\ 00:28:04.050 --> 00:28:08.830\ frank deas, Killearn: Their community councils agreed to become members of SWSCAN, 218\ 00:28:08.950 --> 00:28:13.040\ frank deas, Killearn: As did the development trusts in each of the 3 or 4 of the villages that have them. 219\ 00:28:13.160 --> 00:28:23.509\ frank deas, Killearn: And therefore, that gave us our constituency to go back to the Sterling Council and say, we're a community organization, we represent these areas, we want to submit our own local place plan. 220\ 00:28:23.630 --> 00:28:36.330\ frank deas, Killearn: It has yet to be validated, but we're very, very hopeful that we've met all the requirements, we've ticked all the boxes. Certainly, the discussion we've had so far, it should mean that we get our local place plan in. 221\ 00:28:37.090 --> 00:28:49.040\ frank deas, Killearn: It's been good in its own right, so we've got a range of climate action and climate considerations, and we'll come on to the next slide, that we've managed to put in front of Australian Council now and say, here's what we want you to work with. 222\ 00:28:49.140 --> 00:28:50.860\ frank deas, Killearn: It's a slightly… 223\ 00:28:51.090 --> 00:28:57.859\ frank deas, Killearn: twisted list, in the sense that a local place plan is meant to be about what the council should do in relation to assets and land. 224\ 00:28:57.960 --> 00:29:12.810\ frank deas, Killearn: So we had to kind of tweak it and say, this is why all assets in the land go of honest. But, you know, as climate things do tend to go slightly broader than that. What's also been really, really helpful, because we've been lobbied and engaged with the community councils. 225\ 00:29:12.820 --> 00:29:32.729\ frank deas, Killearn: Each of them has mentioned SWSCAN in their place plan, saying that they look forward to working in collaboration with Sterling Council and SWSCAN on climate matters. So, not only have we got our own place plan that we've driven forward, but we've helped ensure that climate change is on the place plans of all the other community councils that we're members with. 226\ 00:29:33.350 --> 00:29:38.290\ frank deas, Killearn: The legislative requirements say that you have to 227\ 00:29:38.850 --> 00:29:46.379\ frank deas, Killearn: have a notice… an information notice and copy of the plan for a 28-day consultation period to every adjacent community council. 228\ 00:29:46.490 --> 00:29:51.259\ frank deas, Killearn: So we have this slightly surreal thing. I mean, normally that just means 3 or 4 board being councils. 229\ 00:29:51.400 --> 00:30:06.409\ frank deas, Killearn: Because we have so many councils, the ones in blue in our area, all the councils in red have received notification notices saying, here's what we're doing, here's who we are, here's why we're doing it. And what has happened is, in two or three cases, they've got back in touch with us saying. 230\ 00:30:06.410 --> 00:30:16.570\ frank deas, Killearn: well, we're not in your catchment, but can we keep in touch and compare notes? Or, actually, we are in your potential catchment, can we join in? So it's been a really positive thing in terms of 231\ 00:30:18.810 --> 00:30:21.750\ frank deas, Killearn: Making those links and getting people on board. 232\ 00:30:23.510 --> 00:30:27.680\ frank deas, Killearn: What we… what we've got are basically five proposals. 233\ 00:30:28.310 --> 00:30:31.889\ frank deas, Killearn: I'll go through each one of them. And energy… 234\ 00:30:32.660 --> 00:30:49.690\ frank deas, Killearn: Localized energy development, we want the Council to be clear on what the planning procedures are, if people want to use wind turbines or solar. One of the few real strengths I think rural communities should have is the ability to start looking at self-sufficiency and energy. So. 235\ 00:30:49.960 --> 00:30:55.969\ frank deas, Killearn: And, you know, we have a lot of wind stations up here already. There's one or two solar. 236\ 00:30:56.550 --> 00:31:12.990\ frank deas, Killearn: And I know it sort of seems surprising for Scotland, but if you angle them right, you can get some very good results. So, we want to see a world where we're producing energy locally, and also getting the legislative changes that allow us to sell it locally. At the moment, there's this surreal thing that we have to… if you produce energy, you have to sell it to 237\ 00:31:12.990 --> 00:31:26.790\ frank deas, Killearn: electricity, who then sell it back to your community. We've got to get past that so we can sell locally. Certainly, I believe that if you… if we are serious in our commitment to electric vehicles and gerosource heat pumps. 238\ 00:31:26.960 --> 00:31:45.869\ frank deas, Killearn: the grid will not sustain the level of demand that that's going to create. So having local energy clubs with local renewables doing the production, and local people consuming that energy has to be a way forward, but it will require some legislative changes, but we also want to make sure the council's not going to put planning impediments in place. 239\ 00:31:46.210 --> 00:31:56.909\ frank deas, Killearn: The other concern we had about the Council's approach was around, conservation. So, most of our villages have conservation areas. Some of them have listed buildings outside those areas. 240\ 00:31:57.820 --> 00:32:06.180\ frank deas, Killearn: At the moment, the Selling Council's planning guidance on listed buildings in conservation areas says, had you thought about thicker curtains? 241\ 00:32:06.380 --> 00:32:16.619\ frank deas, Killearn: And that's it. You know, they've gone for the very easy opt-out thing, but not wanting to upset historic Scotland, of saying, yes, you don't want to do anything structural to your building. 242\ 00:32:16.620 --> 00:32:26.800\ frank deas, Killearn: maybe a couple of blinds, thicker curtains, and the old draft excluder, and you're home dry. And those are all good suggestions, but they shouldn't be the only suggestions. It's particularly problematic 243\ 00:32:26.820 --> 00:32:44.669\ frank deas, Killearn: We're very, very fortunate. Most of our villages, while there are pockets of poverty and people facing fuel poverty, food poverty, generally, most of the people living in these villages are the upper end of prosperity. They're in owned homes. 244\ 00:32:45.040 --> 00:33:02.179\ frank deas, Killearn: we need to persuade them that they should be doing things through their home that aren't necessarily instantly in their financial interest, but have a better long-term future for the planet. Ideally, we want them to be in their financial interest too, so one of the things you need to do is ensure there are very few barriers to them doing something. 245\ 00:33:02.400 --> 00:33:13.290\ frank deas, Killearn: So at the moment, if you were wavering about whether or not you should be putting in extra insulation, or putting on solar panels, or putting on whatever else to improve the retrofit in your house. 246\ 00:33:13.290 --> 00:33:25.170\ frank deas, Killearn: You'd go onto the council website and see that planning was actually making life very difficult for you, and there's very little you should be doing, and you'd use that as an excuse to say, well, fine, I'll just carry on paying high fuel bills. Not worth the hassle. 247\ 00:33:25.170 --> 00:33:39.049\ frank deas, Killearn: So we've got to get past that and actually make sure that planning guidance encourages homeowners to put their hands in their pockets and actually come up with things that will improve the health, their own health, hopefully will reduce the financial benefits for all of them and be better for the planet. 248\ 00:33:39.970 --> 00:33:59.299\ frank deas, Killearn: In terms of resilience, again, we've just faced some major issues, I know, in different parts of the country around storms and snow this time, rather than flooding. But we had Owen, we had Amy a few weeks ago. Up here, it's not in any sense unusual for the PAR to go, and for you to have two or three days without power. 249\ 00:33:59.720 --> 00:34:03.039\ frank deas, Killearn: And that's been for a long, long time. 250\ 00:34:03.260 --> 00:34:16.849\ frank deas, Killearn: the things that have changed, one, storms that were once in a generation became once in a decade, the storms that were once in a decade became once a year, and storms that once a year become every season. So we know that there's going to be increased frequency of storms. 251\ 00:34:17.230 --> 00:34:30.050\ frank deas, Killearn: The other thing that has been an unintended consequence, the switch by BT and other telecom providers to internet telephony means that once your power goes, that's it, you're gobbed. 252\ 00:34:30.440 --> 00:34:36.219\ frank deas, Killearn: And so we suddenly found lots of our villages had no means of communicating with the outside world. 253\ 00:34:36.770 --> 00:34:43.610\ frank deas, Killearn: we needed to set up. It was… it was, really, as far as I'm aware, we didn't have any real serious casualties. 254\ 00:34:44.260 --> 00:35:03.480\ frank deas, Killearn: But communities that had been so good at having their telephone trees and their systems for COVID and helping people, and sorting things out and so on, and were incredibly resilient, suddenly were just kneecapped because they had no idea what to do. You weren't able to get in touch with people, you weren't able to publicize notices, we didn't have 255\ 00:35:03.500 --> 00:35:20.759\ frank deas, Killearn: neighborhood watch volunteers walking up and down the street saying who's got a red card in their windows saying they needed help. We didn't have satellite phones or airways, the measures, the radio system police use, in each community village hall, saying, here's how you can get in touch if you need someone. So, we want to work on that. 256\ 00:35:20.950 --> 00:35:24.030\ frank deas, Killearn: It's something, again, it's something that… 257\ 00:35:24.350 --> 00:35:31.540\ frank deas, Killearn: I'm hopeful will help drive a more positive response to climate change action, because 258\ 00:35:31.540 --> 00:35:48.529\ frank deas, Killearn: even if you can't actually buy into active travel or can't buy into energy retrofit, you can buy into the fact that we need to be able to call an ambulance if someone is going into labor or has a heart attack or whatever else. So I think there's a general community support for saying, yes, let's sort that out. 259\ 00:35:49.410 --> 00:36:01.200\ frank deas, Killearn: Active travel, again, all of you will be… will have those in your own area. We have this, like, that's a real thing, we have our high school with 8 satellite village schools that feed into it. 260\ 00:36:01.720 --> 00:36:17.399\ frank deas, Killearn: But there's no active travel links between any of those 8 schools and the high school. The high school recently, through the support of another charity, have been running a cycling club. They train students on bike repairs, so they do bike repairs for students, for teachers, it's a really good process. 261\ 00:36:17.400 --> 00:36:27.349\ frank deas, Killearn: But it only covers the kids who actually live in Buffron. If you live further afield, you're not going to be able to recycle school because it's just not safe. So we need to create that active travel link and help people understand that. 262\ 00:36:29.420 --> 00:36:47.880\ frank deas, Killearn: Orchards are just a sweet spot for me. I always think of orchards as being a sort of gateway drug into sustainability, because if you've got a good community orchard, you're looking at food sustainability, food sovereignty, you're looking at biodiversity, and you're looking at just engaging with your community. 263\ 00:36:48.190 --> 00:36:53.639\ frank deas, Killearn: We had a program, the Fourth Eye Archer program that ran 2006-2010, 264\ 00:36:54.180 --> 00:37:02.789\ frank deas, Killearn: And there were grants for planting trees, so lots of fruit trees were planted. And then, in about 2012, the funding stopped, it all fell off a cliff. 265\ 00:37:02.950 --> 00:37:15.630\ frank deas, Killearn: Our experience, looking around our neighborhoods here is that orchards work for the lifespan of the enthusiast slash grower who tends that orchard. And sadly, when they, and, you know. 266\ 00:37:17.620 --> 00:37:26.349\ frank deas, Killearn: the, the, the, the, in general, sorry, in, in gen… In general, Where… 267\ 00:37:26.730 --> 00:37:43.720\ frank deas, Killearn: of a slightly older generation, when we look around the table at these banter sessions. In orchard sessions, the same thing applied, and we had some excellent people who set up orchards, but they're no longer with us, and the orchards fall into neglect. So, across the villages of the map I just showed you in blue. 268\ 00:37:43.720 --> 00:37:47.210\ frank deas, Killearn: There are actually 8 community orchards. 269\ 00:37:47.210 --> 00:38:02.679\ frank deas, Killearn: Only one of which has been actively tendied. Some of them are in primary schools, some of them are in community spaces. We have a real challenge with the Council at the moment in just trying to understand one orchard that's in a community space, is that the Council acknowledged its council land. 270\ 00:38:02.720 --> 00:38:18.720\ frank deas, Killearn: But they don't know or won't tell us whether it's owned by the housing account of the council, or the general fund account of the council, and until we know that, we can't actually get the correct permissions to actually tend the fruit trees. So we've got people lined up wanting to tend the fruit trees, we just don't have permission to help them yet. 271\ 00:38:18.720 --> 00:38:23.400\ frank deas, Killearn: In the village that's doing the orchard stuff, what we're seeing are really, really good things happening. 272\ 00:38:23.400 --> 00:38:41.469\ frank deas, Killearn: They're getting the community out, families are adopting fruit trees within the orchard, so they actually take a real interest in, how's my tree doing, what's happening? There are a couple of community pruning days a year, there's a community apple pressing day, and all of those things are really, really good community engagement things, as well as being fun events in their own right. 273\ 00:38:41.480 --> 00:38:57.039\ frank deas, Killearn: We've been doing apple pressing, community apple pressing is just where people bring along their own fruit in the villages for the last 2 or 3 years. The first time we did them, we had a whole lot of stuff set up. That's how we keep the kids entertained while we were doing all the apple pressing and apple scratching and so on. 274\ 00:38:57.470 --> 00:39:15.470\ frank deas, Killearn: and found the kids, all the kids wanted to do was turn the handle on the scratcher, or turn the wheel in the press. It was, you know, and they were enwrapped to see something going from apple to apple juice, and to be able to taste fresh apple juice. So, you know, it's a real eye-opener for us, but it's certainly something that we're very, very keen to try and drive forward. 275\ 00:39:15.840 --> 00:39:31.300\ frank deas, Killearn: And then the last proposal is around, local nature conservation sites. So, again, trying to do my homework in this. I think these are either SINCs in parts of England and Will, sites of importance for nature conservation, or local nature reserves, L\&Rs. 276\ 00:39:31.300 --> 00:39:38.369\ frank deas, Killearn: But there are sites that are not statute, they're not like SSIs, but they are additionally protected. 277\ 00:39:38.380 --> 00:39:42.160\ frank deas, Killearn: We have a real challenge at the moment that the council 278\ 00:39:42.360 --> 00:40:00.209\ frank deas, Killearn: lost its biodiversity officer in May 2023, the nature restoration officer, the change of job profile slightly, who replaced him, didn't start until May 2025, so we had two years where they just didn't have the officer in place, and nothing happened on these. And we're… 279\ 00:40:01.250 --> 00:40:07.630\ frank deas, Killearn: because I'm just a narky person, I've done a couple of Freedom of Information requests to try and find out what, if anything, has happened. 280\ 00:40:08.230 --> 00:40:22.530\ frank deas, Killearn: And they had difficulty in answering those, so I've now stick to the Information Commission for Scotland on them over the fact that they took 49 days to… rather than 29 to respond, and the response was ineffective. But we have a real concern that 281\ 00:40:22.530 --> 00:40:35.219\ frank deas, Killearn: the Council, because it's taken in these local place plans from each of the communities, and it's put a call out to landowners and developers for expressions of interest in future development, a call for sites. 282\ 00:40:35.540 --> 00:40:42.559\ frank deas, Killearn: And there's nothing on the local nature conservation side. So, you know, it really offends me that we can try and do 283\ 00:40:42.590 --> 00:40:55.610\ frank deas, Killearn: where do we want to build, and not in the same breath saying, and where do we want to protect? So we're desperately trying to bring forward the, the areas that we think should be looked after and are important. 284\ 00:40:55.670 --> 00:41:11.390\ frank deas, Killearn: They had, theoretically, a long, long time ago, they had these provisional local nature conservation sites, but we did a kind of spot check, and one that was an upland birchwood, and it's now a Sitka spruce plantation. So basically, no one's been paying attention to it, and damage has set in. 285\ 00:41:13.050 --> 00:41:18.539\ frank deas, Killearn: That's what we're doing. We've also done other stuff about energy retrofit, we're doing stuff about, 286\ 00:41:19.290 --> 00:41:25.190\ frank deas, Killearn: sushi food and so on. Happy to sort of chat and take questions on anything. 287\ 00:41:25.500 --> 00:41:26.760\ frank deas, Killearn: So basically. 288\ 00:41:27.090 --> 00:41:35.939\ frank deas, Killearn: So lots to be done. Good bunch of people to work with. Work seems worthwhile. You meet like-minded people along the way, either physically or online, like today. 289\ 00:41:35.980 --> 00:41:44.629\ frank deas, Killearn: And that's what we're about. Our website, our email are there. That's me with one of my colleagues doing an apple pressing. 290\ 00:41:44.630 --> 00:42:00.479\ frank deas, Killearn: The biggest risk at Apple pressings, you'll see it's one of those bar and windless pressies, is dads desperately trying to do each other to see if they can turn the press an extra quarter turn, which means that we end up with bent bars and wrecked presses, so we've had to sort of sit 291\ 00:42:00.480 --> 00:42:11.039\ frank deas, Killearn: dissuade fathers from using it as a test for a strength machine. Maybe we'll have to have out one of those hammer things that ring the bell on the side for that fathers to demonstrate their parents with. 292\ 00:42:11.740 --> 00:42:14.260\ frank deas, Killearn: I'll stop sharing now, but… but… 293\ 00:42:14.450 --> 00:42:17.789\ frank deas, Killearn: Happy to answer any questions, or we just generally have a discussion. 294\ 00:42:18.460 --> 00:42:27.730\ Graham Stoddart-Stones - Great Collaboration - Bembridge: Frank, thanks very, very much for that. It's, as you said, it's very encouraging to hear that other people in other parts of the country are having the same sort of issues that we're all… 295\ 00:42:27.790 --> 00:42:41.880\ Graham Stoddart-Stones - Great Collaboration - Bembridge: So, you know, the ideas are able to be spread everywhere. I did have a couple of questions that came to mind, and the first was about your community orchards. Are they self-sustaining financially? Do you sell the products? 296\ 00:42:41.880 --> 00:42:43.630\ frank deas, Killearn: No, so, so there, there are no… 297\ 00:42:44.200 --> 00:42:48.740\ frank deas, Killearn: They're not really orchards, certainly as you would understand them. 298\ 00:42:48.940 --> 00:43:02.879\ frank deas, Killearn: In your next woods, where you will have 60, 80 trees, these are a dozen trees, or 8 trees that have been planted either in a school… school grounds, or in the community… in our community land. 299\ 00:43:03.180 --> 00:43:10.600\ frank deas, Killearn: So, they're… they're not… they're not really self-sustaining in the sense of fruit. The fruit's community fruit, so we encourage people to pick and enjoy, 300\ 00:43:11.110 --> 00:43:16.419\ frank deas, Killearn: Where… I don't think they'll ever be self-self-sustaining 301\ 00:43:16.640 --> 00:43:23.199\ frank deas, Killearn: Because we'd rather see the people get the fruit for free than anything happen with it. 302\ 00:43:23.530 --> 00:43:30.730\ frank deas, Killearn: And likewise, when we do the pressings, we give away the juice, so I think it's more a community engagement venture than a… 303\ 00:43:31.270 --> 00:43:34.729\ Graham Stoddart-Stones - Great Collaboration - Bembridge: I was thinking in terms of conservation with, 304\ 00:43:34.970 --> 00:43:41.989\ Graham Stoddart-Stones - Great Collaboration - Bembridge: weed killer, or whatever you need to look after the trees, or a tree surgeon has to come and look at them, somehow the money's got to be raised for that. 305\ 00:43:41.990 --> 00:43:53.829\ frank deas, Killearn: We will, so we'll… we'll do some… some funding, applications specifically. We want… we have funding applications that we're preparing at the moment to look at, at, 306\ 00:43:53.970 --> 00:43:56.739\ frank deas, Killearn: Training people within each village, so… 307\ 00:43:56.820 --> 00:44:15.610\ frank deas, Killearn: My vision is that you will have an expert in each village who actually has the knowledge to say, yes, this is how you prune trees, this is a concern. They'll know enough to know what they don't know, and then we'll have an expert that we can call in to give us help, potentially paid help at that level. 308\ 00:44:15.610 --> 00:44:27.439\ frank deas, Killearn: But they'll know what… the ordinary person will know what they need to do on a day-to-day basis, and get volunteers to help and drive that forward. But particularly, because we exist as SWS can. 309\ 00:44:27.480 --> 00:44:39.409\ frank deas, Killearn: And because you can link people up with things like WhatsApp groups, we can have a situation that if a village gets hit by a particular storm, and that trees are damaged, or if the lead orchard person 310\ 00:44:39.410 --> 00:44:53.319\ frank deas, Killearn: sadly dies or moves away, the neighboring villages can support until that orchard gets back in its feet again. So I think that's… that's what I'm hoping is going to make the difference, is having that resilience built in, because you've got that continuity. 311\ 00:44:54.340 --> 00:45:10.079\ Graham Stoddart-Stones - Great Collaboration - Bembridge: And the other question I had was… this sort of shows up my ignorance of the way that you've governed up there. Do you have the same requirement as we have down south on the biodiversity net gain that developers have got to come up with 10% improvement? 312\ 00:45:10.080 --> 00:45:13.320\ frank deas, Killearn: It… it's… it's not… it… it is similar, so… 313\ 00:45:13.450 --> 00:45:18.990\ frank deas, Killearn: Mppf has that… it actually calls it net gain, and sets up what it is. 314\ 00:45:19.030 --> 00:45:34.250\ frank deas, Killearn: MPF4 doesn't detail it in quite the same way. It says that there should be no harmful impact on biodiversity. It says that there should be an evaluation of what the impact might be and steps taken to compensate for that. 315\ 00:45:34.260 --> 00:45:48.749\ frank deas, Killearn: But it stops short of making a sort of zero-sum game, I would say, or even a positive-sum game of saying, if you're taking away that, you have to do this. I have a real concern, it's one of the reasons I'm trying to drive forward the LNCS program as much. 316\ 00:45:50.070 --> 00:45:53.630\ frank deas, Killearn: I'm slightly concerned that the net gain issue 317\ 00:45:54.000 --> 00:46:05.250\ frank deas, Killearn: Has created an environment in which it's even more in a developer or landowner's interest to intentionally degrade the biodiversity of an area prior to submitting an application. 318\ 00:46:06.090 --> 00:46:19.440\ frank deas, Killearn: We have, and I know that might seem slightly far-fetched, but we have, as a very micro example, just down the road in Killerne, there is a house that used to be called Two Oaks. 319\ 00:46:19.830 --> 00:46:34.050\ frank deas, Killearn: And it was a big old house, and it had a big old couple hundred-year oaks in the garden. And the garden was big enough that they wanted to infill and build another house in the garden. So, tree surgeons were called in, they took down the oak, a couple of beech trees, a lime. 320\ 00:46:34.440 --> 00:46:35.740\ frank deas, Killearn: All taken down. 321\ 00:46:36.010 --> 00:46:54.760\ frank deas, Killearn: Then, he had the audacity to get someone in to do an environmental survey and tree survey, submitted the tree survey to the council with his planning application to do the infill build, together with a method work statement showing how to protect these trees and look after them. Now, technically, he was outside the conservation area of the village. 322\ 00:46:54.760 --> 00:47:10.899\ frank deas, Killearn: there was no tree preservation order in place, no laws had been broken, but given that you only had to go onto Google Maps and see the difference between the aerial shot, with all the trees were there, and the photos he was submitting as part of the application. 323\ 00:47:11.030 --> 00:47:19.449\ frank deas, Killearn: the evidence was there, but as I say, no laws were broken, nothing could be done. So we do need to put in place the greater enforcement. It's also… 324\ 00:47:19.650 --> 00:47:21.749\ frank deas, Killearn: I mean, one of the challenges that we have 325\ 00:47:22.110 --> 00:47:25.139\ frank deas, Killearn: And I think it's probably somewhere that I said. 326\ 00:47:25.540 --> 00:47:42.140\ frank deas, Killearn: Everyone loves silver bullet solutions. So, in the way I talked about condensing boilers, and then it was cavity wall insulation and loft insulation, and now we've got appalling problems with people scared of their houses being unsaleable. Air source heat pumps are not the only solution, so what do we do in those areas? 327\ 00:47:42.350 --> 00:47:47.700\ frank deas, Killearn: So the same thing is, up here, everything's planting trees. Trees are our answer, let's plant more trees. 328\ 00:47:47.750 --> 00:47:53.870\ frank deas, Killearn: But actually, there's lots of parts of Scotland, and in fairness, Scottish Forestry's begin to learn this, where the peat bogs 329\ 00:47:53.910 --> 00:48:03.280\ frank deas, Killearn: We're capturing more carbon than the trees would in 80 to 100 years, so restoring peat bogs and preserving them means you've got more captured carbon. 330\ 00:48:03.300 --> 00:48:21.339\ frank deas, Killearn: there's a site just down the road from us in Struth Blaine that has 30 species of waxcap. Now, I'm not a myceli… a fungi expert, but my understanding is it makes it one of the greatest waxcap sites in the UK. The mycelium layer underneath that ancient grassland 331\ 00:48:21.530 --> 00:48:37.129\ frank deas, Killearn: it has lots and lots of captured carbon, but at the moment, we're fighting a… I think we'll get there, but we're fighting a battle with the landowner who wanted to plant up, put in drainage, and plant trees, because that would help our carbon capture, even though it would, you know, destroy 332\ 00:48:37.380 --> 00:48:38.989\ frank deas, Killearn: Existing carbon source. 333\ 00:48:40.390 --> 00:48:46.160\ frank deas, Killearn: Actually, there's hands up, so, so I think, well, Gary, you were perhaps first? 334\ 00:48:47.340 --> 00:48:49.010\ Graham Stoddart-Stones - Great Collaboration - Bembridge: I think David, 335\ 00:48:49.010 --> 00:48:50.399\ frank deas, Killearn: Oh, David's favorite, Rob? 336\ 00:48:51.920 --> 00:48:52.940\ David Newman (Blackbird Leys): Yeah. 337\ 00:48:53.980 --> 00:48:59.199\ David Newman (Blackbird Leys): How did you… Work with the community councils. Who did what? 338\ 00:48:59.910 --> 00:49:06.239\ frank deas, Killearn: I, I, so, in some cases, I just went along, as, as… 339\ 00:49:06.340 --> 00:49:16.089\ frank deas, Killearn: perhaps is becoming apparent, I'm very happy to talk about these things, and so I would go along and explain and say, look, here's what's important. In most cases, there were… 340\ 00:49:16.510 --> 00:49:28.579\ frank deas, Killearn: the local initiatives that you could reference and say, you know, you've already got a sustainability group that's doing great things, or you've got a wildlife sanctuary and that's really good. But here are some other things you could think about. 341\ 00:49:29.710 --> 00:49:46.089\ frank deas, Killearn: in a couple of our villages, so one of my… we have, seven trustees. One of the trustees is also the chair of Driven Community Development Trust and on Driven Community Council. Another one of the trustees is on Buffalo Community Council. So. 342\ 00:49:46.090 --> 00:49:52.520\ frank deas, Killearn: the community councillors, in some cases, crossed over with ourselves. I think 343\ 00:49:52.520 --> 00:49:57.020\ frank deas, Killearn: they're, in most cases, very, very happy if I've… 344\ 00:49:57.070 --> 00:50:11.619\ frank deas, Killearn: cornered the market on climate change expertise and feed that back to them. So, if they… I know certainly in Killar, in my own village, I'll be going to a community council meeting this evening. I'm not a community councillor, but I attend most sessions when I can. 345\ 00:50:11.890 --> 00:50:28.209\ frank deas, Killearn: And if there's a climate thing crops up, it gets thrown in my direction as, well, Franco Keeper's right there, what, you know, what do you think? What should we be doing? So I think if you've got a… I would suggest if you've got a community councillor who's already an expert, or knowledgeable or competent in climate change. 346\ 00:50:28.350 --> 00:50:38.599\ frank deas, Killearn: make them part of your network, and if there's no one in the community council in that role, offer them the sort of team expert assistance and say, here's how we can help. 347\ 00:50:39.890 --> 00:50:48.410\ David Newman (Blackbird Leys): And, So… Who does the research, and who writes the documents that end up going to Sterling? 348\ 00:50:48.530 --> 00:50:49.580\ David Newman (Blackbird Leys): Council. 349\ 00:50:49.580 --> 00:50:56.239\ frank deas, Killearn: That would be me at the moment. I think, I mean, it is… 350\ 00:50:56.480 --> 00:51:14.329\ frank deas, Killearn: So, it was me, I… we got a grant from… from FEL, or the Climate Action Hub, which I used to employ someone who's an expert in place plans, because one of the things a place plan has to do is link back to the relevant parts of MPF4 and to the Council's strategy and development plans. 351\ 00:51:14.480 --> 00:51:33.640\ frank deas, Killearn: And I knew I didn't have that expertise, so it was worthwhile employing someone to do that, because he ensured that we were putting the right hooks in, and were more likely to be validated by the Council. But in general terms, I wrote a lot of it. I had help 352\ 00:51:34.100 --> 00:51:44.789\ frank deas, Killearn: again, within our village, we have a couple of zoology professors from University of Glasgow who are experts on different aspects of nature conservation. 353\ 00:51:44.860 --> 00:52:02.469\ frank deas, Killearn: We've got, our husband and wife, Jackie and Sally and Nigel Pope, who, as Mario Media, do programs like Scotland the Wild, and we have the moth recorder for Stirling Council area, all live in our village. So you can tap into those people and either say, can you give me 354\ 00:52:02.470 --> 00:52:14.170\ frank deas, Killearn: 80 words on such and such, or can you read these words and see whether they do the right thing? On energy, I'm really lucky to have someone who's a trained conservation architect and rich predecessor, who, again. 355\ 00:52:14.170 --> 00:52:20.679\ frank deas, Killearn: will either draft stuff for me, or keep me right in terms of what I'm drafting. So it is… it's very much… 356\ 00:52:21.170 --> 00:52:23.509\ frank deas, Killearn: Finding the expertise and, and 357\ 00:52:23.760 --> 00:52:29.249\ frank deas, Killearn: Breaking it down into bite-sized chunks so you're not trying to overwhelm them with what the ask is. 358\ 00:52:30.270 --> 00:52:45.430\ frank deas, Killearn: I think it helps that I had no particular background or expertise in this area, so my work life was all change management, consultancy, those sorts of areas. But that meant, hopefully, I'm really good at working with people and identifying 359\ 00:52:45.560 --> 00:52:57.729\ frank deas, Killearn: the win-wins in situations, and encouraging people to work around. And then finding the experts who have real expertise, but don't necessarily have the change management skills to… so hopefully there's a good marriage there. 360\ 00:52:59.020 --> 00:53:00.360\ David Newman (Blackbird Leys): Okay, thanks. 361\ 00:53:00.810 --> 00:53:03.050\ Graham Stoddart-Stones - Great Collaboration - Bembridge: Gary, peace. 362\ 00:53:05.870 --> 00:53:18.459\ Garry Ford - Corsham Town Council: Hi, Frank. Hopefully my, sound is coming through. I've got some new headphones, so I'm not sure if these actually work or not, but it's great that they do. So first of all, I actually spent 2 years living 363\ 00:53:18.960 --> 00:53:23.090\ Garry Ford - Corsham Town Council: around Stirling, and working in Sterling for Keep Scotland Beautiful. 364\ 00:53:23.300 --> 00:53:39.759\ Garry Ford - Corsham Town Council: when they were running their Climate Challenge Fund on behalf of the Scottish Government. Unfortunately, that's gone, because that would have been a great source of potential funding for you. One of the other organizations I worked for in Scotland was a retrofit organization, Changeworks, out of Edinburgh. 365\ 00:53:40.010 --> 00:53:43.150\ Garry Ford - Corsham Town Council: Have you looked at approaching these organizations? 366\ 00:53:43.150 --> 00:53:45.530\ frank deas, Killearn: So we've had a couple of meetings with Changeworks. 367\ 00:53:45.750 --> 00:53:48.670\ frank deas, Killearn: And they're, they're, they're good people. 368\ 00:53:48.840 --> 00:53:59.210\ frank deas, Killearn: they're… I'm slightly concerned, or the fit isn't quite there, because we're all about localization. 369\ 00:54:00.140 --> 00:54:13.369\ frank deas, Killearn: and Changeworks is all about, we're Edinburgh-based, and we can serve as the whole country. And I'm not sure that's what we need most. There are… it is interesting to see what's happening, and I suspect there's similar 370\ 00:54:13.620 --> 00:54:15.490\ frank deas, Killearn: Events being played out down south. 371\ 00:54:15.590 --> 00:54:32.430\ frank deas, Killearn: We have, NESFIT up in Aberdeenshire, we have local homes in, south of Glasgow, and these are either community interest companies or co-ops that have been formed around retrofit that bring together homeowners, assessors, and contractors. 372\ 00:54:32.430 --> 00:54:47.989\ frank deas, Killearn: And the idea is that you buy into, you buy some shares in the company, that entices you to get a discount on your assessment, you, you use one of the approved contractors who are also members, and that gives you confidence in the quality of the work. So that… and ideally. 373\ 00:54:48.230 --> 00:54:53.190\ frank deas, Killearn: If we actually get momentum going on a continuous rhetoric company. 374\ 00:54:53.600 --> 00:55:13.459\ frank deas, Killearn: use local contractors. We're always conscious that if you employ contractors that need special skills for, they're going to come across from Edinburgh or from Stirling or from Glasgow, and what we want to do is get contractors who are based in Blainefield or Balfron, and ensure there's a pipeline of work for them. That means that they'll actually create local apprenticeships, because 375\ 00:55:13.810 --> 00:55:27.349\ frank deas, Killearn: we've heard from politicians for years about green jobs, the green economy, but I certainly think if we can get retrofit right, it has the capacity to be a community wealth-building activity. And I don't know whether 376\ 00:55:27.640 --> 00:55:31.070\ frank deas, Killearn: Our southwest captured area is big enough for its own retrofit hub. 377\ 00:55:31.350 --> 00:55:46.100\ frank deas, Killearn: what's been lovely to see, and I take no credit for this, because it's good ideas to spring up simultaneously, but in North West Sterling, there's now an organization called McLaren Community Futures, which is based around McLaren High School and Callender, and covers all of North West Stirling. 378\ 00:55:46.490 --> 00:55:55.159\ frank deas, Killearn: the Carson-Serling Partnership, which covers the sort of river plain before you get to Serling, is looking at change 379\ 00:55:55.530 --> 00:56:02.710\ frank deas, Killearn: change climate… climate change, adaptation and mitigation. So we're going to have three organizations. If we think back to that map 380\ 00:56:02.970 --> 00:56:20.320\ frank deas, Killearn: where there's all that area to the left of the motorway, there are now three organizations that will basically cover all of that map with a certain level of overlap. I've been able to speak with one voice on climate, and I think that's going to be, hopefully, a really powerful thing. So, slightly more of a longer answer than you thought. Change works are good, I'm happy to work with them. 381\ 00:56:20.560 --> 00:56:22.319\ frank deas, Killearn: I'm just not sure what… 382\ 00:56:22.710 --> 00:56:29.879\ frank deas, Killearn: they will add, compared with what Home Energy Scotland is doing, or Energy Saving Trust does, and I want to be as local as possible. 383\ 00:56:30.640 --> 00:56:33.129\ Garry Ford - Corsham Town Council: Yeah, they're just pretty good at, like, kind of… 384\ 00:56:33.560 --> 00:56:38.530\ Garry Ford - Corsham Town Council: Just being aware of what all the solutions are in terms of retrofitting, like you say, like, 385\ 00:56:38.730 --> 00:56:58.280\ Garry Ford - Corsham Town Council: Especially, like, restricted properties and stuff, you know, they talk about internal wall insulation, that kind of stuff. They're just, like, experts, you can call them. Also, Frank, I just wanted to ask you another question, was, what are your plans for next year? What are you hoping to achieve in 2026? 386\ 00:56:59.460 --> 00:57:01.339\ frank deas, Killearn: So, so… 387\ 00:57:01.750 --> 00:57:13.050\ frank deas, Killearn: one of the key things we have to do, as I say, we haven't been going for a year yet, so let's get to our AGM, get that sorted out, understand what our funding needs are. I think that this is… 388\ 00:57:13.190 --> 00:57:15.200\ frank deas, Killearn: Either optimistic or naive. 389\ 00:57:15.540 --> 00:57:18.880\ frank deas, Killearn: Because we're, networked. 390\ 00:57:19.140 --> 00:57:32.110\ frank deas, Killearn: we're not actually going to try and do that much. We're going to try and enable and encourage and support community development trusts or community sustainability groups to do things and link them with each other. 391\ 00:57:32.110 --> 00:57:40.569\ frank deas, Killearn: So, our funding requirements should be compared to light. It will be our insurance, our website costs, our, you know, those basic things. 392\ 00:57:40.570 --> 00:57:52.449\ frank deas, Killearn: And I would hope we'll be able to do that through crowdfunding. So, we'll get specific project funding to do, individual pieces of work, such as looking at energy retrofits and how we roll out our responsibilities. 393\ 00:57:52.650 --> 00:57:56.560\ frank deas, Killearn: But in terms of our data operational costs, I hope we could crowdfund them. 394\ 00:57:56.670 --> 00:58:13.860\ frank deas, Killearn: We're looking at setting up our thematic groups, so I mentioned the experts in our village on biodiversity. They're similar experts in other villages. I want to get them together. We've got experts in renewables, and as I mentioned, in energy conservation, get them together. So have thematic groups that will set the strategy and direction 395\ 00:58:13.860 --> 00:58:21.349\ frank deas, Killearn: For, for the kind of five main themes, foods, biodiversity, energy, resource management, and active travel. 396\ 00:58:23.060 --> 00:58:38.669\ frank deas, Killearn: there are slower burden things, so resource management, it would be ideal to have repair cafes. We've blurted with them, we've tried them once or twice, they've not quite taken off. Some villages I know do them successfully, so there should be a market for that. 397\ 00:58:38.810 --> 00:58:43.150\ frank deas, Killearn: The other thing, I'm really, really keen to do is 398\ 00:58:43.270 --> 00:58:46.900\ frank deas, Killearn: I will talk about the active travel of both Ron High School and the satellite schools. 399\ 00:58:47.060 --> 00:58:56.819\ frank deas, Killearn: One of my other hats that I wear is the operations officer for a group called On The Verge that sold wildfire seeds. So we work with primary schools and secondary schools. 400\ 00:58:56.820 --> 00:59:10.080\ frank deas, Killearn: go in, clear a patch, soil wildflower seeds, give them a bit of chat about the importance of pollinators, the importance of nature restoration. It gives the agency to children about actually doing something about climate. It helps, back to that thing of if you can grab them when they're young. 401\ 00:59:10.370 --> 00:59:26.420\ frank deas, Killearn: One of the things that we've had challenges with, and again, we mentioned Keep Scotland Beautiful, I think it runs the green flag program for schools, and that's really, really good. But we're not leveraging that, so two-thirds of our primary schools have green flag status, and our high school has green flag status. 402\ 00:59:26.910 --> 00:59:36.049\ frank deas, Killearn: I want to get to a point, hopefully by the end of this educational year, probably starting probably at the end 26, 27, 403\ 00:59:36.740 --> 00:59:41.599\ frank deas, Killearn: the Eco Club at our high school I work with, so I go along from time to time, they help me do different stuff. 404\ 00:59:41.860 --> 00:59:57.459\ frank deas, Killearn: One of the things I'm trying to get them to do is a local recycling thing for each village. So, in our village, the pharmacist recycles blister packs for pills, and Baffron, the optician recycles spectacles. So, we want a local guy for each village saying, here's what you can and can't recycle. 405\ 00:59:58.470 --> 01:00:00.750\ frank deas, Killearn: but I also want to use the Eco Club. 406\ 01:00:01.040 --> 01:00:07.839\ frank deas, Killearn: When, when it's, zero food waste week, or, no plastic suite, or some other campaign like that. 407\ 01:00:08.110 --> 01:00:22.250\ frank deas, Killearn: I want to train the Eco Club in doing a presentation on that, and give them the confidence and the facts at their fingertips, then send them back to the primary schools that they left 2 or 3 years before, because in those primary schools. 408\ 01:00:22.550 --> 01:00:36.859\ frank deas, Killearn: secondary school pupils are gods, you know, they're the ones who made it, they're really important, and have them take assemblies in those primary schools and tell the younger kids why it's important that we avoid food waste, why it's important that we move away from plastics. 409\ 01:00:36.950 --> 01:00:44.439\ frank deas, Killearn: And because we've got the Community Council, Community Development Trust on board as well, we will have a parallel campaign and village Facebook pages 410\ 01:00:44.440 --> 01:01:03.290\ frank deas, Killearn: covering food waste, or covering zero plastics. So you're actually getting the high schools, the junior schools, and the communities simultaneously. And I think if we get that to work, it will be something that will really unlock the potential that the moment we're just not getting. At the moment, the challenge has always been, that I could see. 411\ 01:01:03.520 --> 01:01:08.720\ frank deas, Killearn: Kids go to high school, but then they lose the links of their local communities. 412\ 01:01:09.100 --> 01:01:14.599\ frank deas, Killearn: And so it's finding a way to make that a closed-loop thing so that they haven't lost that community, they're still part of it. 413\ 01:01:16.580 --> 01:01:17.569\ Graham Stoddart-Stones - Great Collaboration - Bembridge: Opening fan. 414\ 01:01:18.670 --> 01:01:19.830\ frank deas, Killearn: Well, hopefully. 415\ 01:01:19.830 --> 01:01:22.219\ Graham Stoddart-Stones - Great Collaboration - Bembridge: Does anybody else have a question for Frank? 416\ 01:01:22.220 --> 01:01:31.749\ frank deas, Killearn: David's asked about Creoleuric. It is bizarre. There are… if you look… So, Scotland went… 417\ 01:01:33.210 --> 01:01:49.279\ frank deas, Killearn: So, I had this thing, as I'm being honest about Sterling not being a city council, it's being a regional council. Argyle and the Isles, Argyle and Butte, takes everything to the west of Loch Lomond, and it was, like, a judgment call which way Korean Lagrid went. 418\ 01:01:49.310 --> 01:02:02.279\ frank deas, Killearn: Our villages in southwest Stirling are all G63 postcodes, so most people think we're in Glasgow, including some of our councillors, rather than in Stirling, which is an FK postcode. 419\ 01:02:03.030 --> 01:02:06.200\ frank deas, Killearn: If you… but in general, when… when… 420\ 01:02:06.320 --> 01:02:16.310\ frank deas, Killearn: Scottish Parliament was created, it had to break up the regional councils, it used to be Central, Strathclyde, Lothian and Borders, it had to break them up because they'd have been too powerful to deal with. 421\ 01:02:16.520 --> 01:02:24.410\ frank deas, Killearn: So it broke them up into smaller things. You've got Glasgow City Council, Eastern Bartonshire, Western Bartenshire, Stirling, Folker, Clacks, and so on. 422\ 01:02:25.230 --> 01:02:38.490\ frank deas, Killearn: it is an exercise in gerrymandering. I mean, it's very hard not to be cynical about politics. If you look at the map of the council areas for Glasgow in particular, you will see that deals were done 423\ 01:02:38.490 --> 01:02:50.260\ frank deas, Killearn: that in eastern Bartonshire, it got Bears Den and Mulgae, which are quite posh suburbs, and would be reliably going to vote Conservative, so that eastern Bartenshire could keep a Conservative administration. 424\ 01:02:50.260 --> 01:03:08.720\ frank deas, Killearn: And areas, like Drum Chapel, which are not at all posh, were left in Glasgow, and they would vote Labour, and Glasgow would have a Labour administration. But the county boundaries literally zigzag up and down to take in or leave out communities based on socioeconomic profiling. 425\ 01:03:08.810 --> 01:03:09.630\ Graham Stoddart-Stones - Great Collaboration - Bembridge: Okay. 426\ 01:03:09.630 --> 01:03:10.519\ frank deas, Killearn: Babes aren't. 427\ 01:03:10.850 --> 01:03:12.190\ frank deas, Killearn: It's true. 428\ 01:03:13.480 --> 01:03:30.529\ Cllr.Stuart Withington, Gt Dunmow TC, Essex: Yeah, thanks for a very interesting talk, and I'm going to congratulate your enthusiasm and patience in keeping going. It's more of a question, really. How well does solar PV work, up in Scotland? 429\ 01:03:31.630 --> 01:03:43.959\ frank deas, Killearn: My understanding is it does work well. So, I think, as I hopefully have said, I don't claim to have an expertise in any of these things, I just know the right people to ask. But my understanding is that it is… it is good. 430\ 01:03:44.620 --> 01:03:46.640\ frank deas, Killearn: It's… It's… 431\ 01:03:47.090 --> 01:03:56.010\ frank deas, Killearn: It's particularly fine if you're not… if you're just using solar to try and pre-water heat, then that's great. But if you're wanting solar to actually power things. 432\ 01:03:56.220 --> 01:04:03.199\ frank deas, Killearn: Obviously, if you can get the right angle, if your roof happens to space the right way, that's a big help. 433\ 01:04:03.810 --> 01:04:17.030\ frank deas, Killearn: there are solar arrays in fields that are generating power and make a return in terms of power. So we do get enough sun. I mean, today is a beautifully sunny day. 434\ 01:04:17.270 --> 01:04:34.950\ frank deas, Killearn: it's cold, but there's lots of sunshine, so you would do your generation. I think, my understanding, and I need to get to the detail on this so I can preach it more effectively, but both the effectiveness and the cost of solar arrays and of batteries 435\ 01:04:35.070 --> 01:04:42.459\ frank deas, Killearn: have come… the quality's improved and prices come down, so they're now looking much, much more like a viable option. 436\ 01:04:42.730 --> 01:04:46.700\ frank deas, Killearn: For people who want to be entirely self-sufficient. 437\ 01:04:46.700 --> 01:05:06.409\ frank deas, Killearn: what we do want, but I see it as a solution that will then work in parallel with local energy clubs, so that if you are generating more and your battery's full, you feed it into the local tariff, as it were. But… I mean, there's a level of just naive optimism about this that we've got to try and understand. 438\ 01:05:06.780 --> 01:05:23.149\ frank deas, Killearn: SSE is putting in place another major hydro station, pumping hydro station. So, again, I don't know enough about these to be an effective advocate for them, but it might have at least two or three in Scotland where 439\ 01:05:23.180 --> 01:05:30.420\ frank deas, Killearn: there's Kruk and the Hollow Mountain is the most famous one, where there's a big lake at the… or a big pool of water at the top. 440\ 01:05:30.420 --> 01:05:43.240\ frank deas, Killearn: That you can, at the moment's notice, just flip the switch, and it will start generating electricity as it powers down the mountain into the lock below, and then when there's surplus electricity, you pump the water back up again, and that's the solution 441\ 01:05:43.320 --> 01:05:55.689\ frank deas, Killearn: for all the concerns that renewables are never there when you need them. What happens when it's not sunny? What happens when it's not windy? Well, if you've got gravity-fed pumping stations. 442\ 01:05:55.690 --> 01:06:04.639\ frank deas, Killearn: that then allow you to suddenly add to the grid at a moment's notice, that's the solution. And Scotland's blessed in that it's got lots of water and lots of hills. 443\ 01:06:04.660 --> 01:06:06.140\ frank deas, Killearn: We have… 444\ 01:06:07.460 --> 01:06:20.180\ frank deas, Killearn: like everywhere else, there's levels of nimbyism. I do sympathize. There are people protesting vigorously about pylons and electricity cable loans that are going across bits and parts of Scotland and Angus and Fife and Pershire. 445\ 01:06:20.510 --> 01:06:37.209\ frank deas, Killearn: People hate the idea of wind turbines, but they're usually the people who would have hated the idea of gas-fired power stations, or coal-fired power stations, or nuclear power stations, so I think you have to choose. Do we live in a world where there is no electricity, or do we try and do it in the way that's least detrimental? 446\ 01:06:38.710 --> 01:06:45.700\ Cllr.Stuart Withington, Gt Dunmow TC, Essex: Thank you. I did hear a worrying fact a few days ago. I was in a meeting with, 447\ 01:06:45.850 --> 01:06:50.020\ Cllr.Stuart Withington, Gt Dunmow TC, Essex: NESO, the National Energy Systems Operator. 448\ 01:06:50.770 --> 01:06:54.640\ Cllr.Stuart Withington, Gt Dunmow TC, Essex: And they were saying only about 20% 449\ 01:06:54.830 --> 01:06:59.549\ Cllr.Stuart Withington, Gt Dunmow TC, Essex: Of the country's total energy is provided by electricity. 450\ 01:07:00.090 --> 01:07:08.800\ Cllr.Stuart Withington, Gt Dunmow TC, Essex: So, I think if we're trying to electrify anything, everything, we're gonna have to generate a hell of a lot more electricity. 451\ 01:07:09.700 --> 01:07:15.799\ frank deas, Killearn: Absolutely, but I think that's where that local, I… I think… 452\ 01:07:15.800 --> 01:07:30.300\ frank deas, Killearn: So, it depends how long Scotland carries on being part of the happy family of the UK, and so there's all sorts of challenges in there. For Scotland to be self-sufficient in renewables is kind of… should be a no-brainer. 453\ 01:07:30.430 --> 01:07:32.430\ frank deas, Killearn: I'm not sure if England has the… 454\ 01:07:32.540 --> 01:07:46.049\ frank deas, Killearn: the space to put in enough things for renewables. I think there's things like Tide Power and WavePower and so on that will have to play a role as well. But again, how many areas of coast do you have that you'd be allowed to get away with doing that? 455\ 01:07:46.740 --> 01:08:03.049\ frank deas, Killearn: And so, the mini nuclear setup, I'm not really sure I like that, but I'm not sure there's no other answer to it. But we do need to accept that if we're going to have electric vehicles, if we're going to have air source heat pumps. 456\ 01:08:03.360 --> 01:08:07.400\ frank deas, Killearn: We're gonna have to have a lot more electricity, 457\ 01:08:07.860 --> 01:08:08.490\ Cllr.Stuart Withington, Gt Dunmow TC, Essex: Yep. 458\ 01:08:09.940 --> 01:08:26.390\ frank deas, Killearn: And also, we have to decouple it from the gas price. So, at the moment, there's this bizarre thing that renewal generators are getting windfall profits because it's been… their price is pegged, and people aren't seeing the return. So… 459\ 01:08:26.439 --> 01:08:38.239\ frank deas, Killearn: If you genuinely went green in your electricity provider, and were able to buy cheaper electricity, people might be less specific about saying, well, it's all a con, there's no real benefit in renewable electricity. 460\ 01:08:40.000 --> 01:08:40.720\ Cllr.Stuart Withington, Gt Dunmow TC, Essex: Yes. 461\ 01:08:41.410 --> 01:08:42.340\ Cllr.Stuart Withington, Gt Dunmow TC, Essex: Agree with it. 462\ 01:08:42.800 --> 01:09:00.150\ Graham Stoddart-Stones - Great Collaboration - Bembridge: Well, Pray, thank you very, very much. It's been tremendous, and I enjoyed it, and you obviously sparked some questions from people. Next week, we are talking, or being talked to, by Duxford, who are going to explain what their local nature plan is. 463\ 01:09:00.160 --> 01:09:10.979\ Graham Stoddart-Stones - Great Collaboration - Bembridge: So do please come along for that. And if you can spare 30 seconds, Catherine, I'd love to know whether this is of any interest to you. What are you doing with the Town Council in Weymouth? 464\ 01:09:12.359 --> 01:09:31.269\ Katherine Stott - Weymouth TC: Hi, yeah, so I'm relatively new in post. Weymouth Town Council created a role of sustainability officer, and that's to deliver environmental initiatives and projects relating to their, climate and ecological emergency plan. 465\ 01:09:31.450 --> 01:09:36.359\ Katherine Stott - Weymouth TC: We have a climate and ecological emergency group that meets once a month. 466\ 01:09:36.620 --> 01:09:41.150\ Katherine Stott - Weymouth TC: To manage the tasks on the plan, and we're currently 467\ 01:09:41.710 --> 01:09:45.639\ Katherine Stott - Weymouth TC: prioritizing those tasks, so I'm looking at quite, 468\ 01:09:46.080 --> 01:09:53.229\ Katherine Stott - Weymouth TC: Broad range of topic areas, from waste to transport to energy. 469\ 01:09:53.510 --> 01:10:06.480\ Katherine Stott - Weymouth TC: And many of the things that we have ambitions to do relate not just to within, like, the Town Council's scope, but outside, so I'm currently kind of, like, casting the net quite wide and looking at 470\ 01:10:07.020 --> 01:10:23.890\ Katherine Stott - Weymouth TC: yeah, what scope we have to get involved and make a difference, how we can input and shape things, that relate to Weymouth and sustainability. So I've been recommended to… that this group is, like, an interesting forum to share 471\ 01:10:24.210 --> 01:10:34.030\ Katherine Stott - Weymouth TC: all sorts of different information, and it would be good if I just… I just sort of see what… see what's going on, and yeah, join in. It's been interesting. 472\ 01:10:34.030 --> 01:10:38.479\ Graham Stoddart-Stones - Great Collaboration - Bembridge: Congratulations on your new job, and I hope it comes out very successfully. 473\ 01:10:38.480 --> 01:10:41.650\ Katherine Stott - Weymouth TC: Thanks, yeah, maybe I'll do… for you sometime. 474\ 01:10:42.470 --> 01:10:51.829\ Graham Stoddart-Stones - Great Collaboration - Bembridge: Yes, that would be very good. Well, thank you all for your time and trouble. Thanks, Frank, in particular, and look forward to seeing people next week. Have a good afternoon. 475\ 01:10:52.340 --> 01:10:53.050\ Graham Stoddart-Stones - Great Collaboration - Bembridge: Bye-bye. 476\ 01:10:53.320 --> 01:10:53.680\ Katherine Stott - Weymouth TC: Bye. *** ### Markdown copy of the presentation: ## Slide 1 ## Slide 2 * England and Scotland - ## Slide 3 * England and Scotland - * Neighbouhood Plan * Local Development Plan * Local Plan * Local Place * Plan * N P F 4 * N P P F ## Slide 4 * Where we are ## Slide 5 * What we do * Build mutual support for climate/sustainability actions across our communities. * Share knowledge, skills and ideas; learning from each other what works. * Promote each other’s initiatives (eg, on raising awareness). * Collaborate on actions (eg, active travel) or issues (eg, energy and retrofit) where it makes sense to apply for resources at a regional rather than village level. * Advocate for SWS communities on climate/sustainability issues; pressurising local authorities and others to make the changes needed. ## Slide 6 * Where we are * Local Place Plan ## Slide 7 * Local Place Plan Proposals ## Slide 8 * Still lots to done * * but good bunch of people to work with * * and the work seems worthwhile * * and you meet some nice like-minded folk along the way * * * Questions ?? * Website SWScan.org * Email