December Review

 Burton Joyce Climate action and Biodiversity group

What has the Burton Joyce Climate action and Biodiversity group been up to?

Julia's article in the Parish Magazine for December

August  

A group of us met up with our Member of Parliament, Tom Randall, and Councillor Sam Smith in the beautiful (and Covid-safe) environment of the Grove to ask him if he will support a green and safe recovery. A copy of the Friends of the Earth proposals was given to him to read. This prioritises, amongst other things, people’s health and wellbeing and jobs in the green sector

Friends of the Earth Recovery Plan

We also discussed other areas including reducing plastic waste and also planning.
Tom clearly supported the idea of retaining green belt and maintaining the rural feel of the village. Which leads me on to:

September

We read through the enormous Greater Nottingham strategic Plan which is how the local area makes plans for future housing, business and infrastructure in the area, including Gedling. We made comments such as recommending that new housing is attached to areas which already have public transport, that housing is much better insulated, ensuring wildlife corridors are maintained, improving biodiversity in areas of development e.g. with planting and green spaces. We know that more housing is needed for our growing population, but there are ways of doing it to reduce damage to the environment and make our lives healthier. The consultation is now closed

October

We met with the Parish Council to discuss enhancing our local environment for pollinators.

Did you watch Jimmy’s Bee Rescue on the TV? Bees and other pollinators are amazing creatures on which we rely for our crops to be pollinated but they can’t cross large distances with no flowers. 

Did you know some of our favourite flowers, e.g. begonias, actually have no nectar for our insects? 

Did you know that all the mowing we do makes big flower-free deserts for our insects?

Pollinator numbers are declining but it’s actually very easy to give them a helping hand.

We talked about reducing mowing on the grass verges to allow flowers to develop, using pollinator friendly flowers in village flower beds, e.g. outside the library, and identified some possible areas in the cemetery for flowers to grow. We also discussed revitalising the lovely meadow area in the Grove and seeing if the Parish Council would pledge to make future planting bee/pollinator friendly.

We will hopefully get a chance to discuss these ideas at the next Parish Council meeting.

We also circulated information to Parish Council and our email group about the concerning new reforms of the UK Planning system that the Government is proposing, which aren’t good news for the climate, local communities or local democracy.

UK Planning reforms

Why not write to Tom Randall about it? 

December

Think about shopping locally for some presents and try and ditch the foil and sparkly wrapping paper which can’t be recycled!!

We all wish you a healthy and happy Christmas and New Year.
Best wishes from Burton Joyce Climate action and Biodiversity Group.

PS Please join us!
We’re always looking for new members
The more of us there are, the more we can achieve!!

Email: 
julia_smith24@yahoo.co.uk
philcolbourn@btinternet.com