What’s your vision for Sidmouth over the coming decade?
The VGS collaborates on several events this year to help create a more sustainable future.
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The Town Council’s Environment Committee is forging ahead with its programme:
Town Council Environment Committee’s new working group
As is the Science Festival:
The Clean Growth project from the Science Festival
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And in parallel to these initiatives, the Vision Group for Sidmouth has put together a programme of events to engage the wider public.
Here’s the press release just out:
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‘Sidmouth 2020’ project launch:
Would you like to see Sidmouth and the Sid Valley become a greener, better place to live over the coming decade? And what sort of things can we do this year to help that happen? In the context of recent news, should we be reducing our travel and our imports? Should we be learning to become more resilient and more self-sufficient?
The Vision Group for Sidmouth is launching a project to focus on the key issues – and on the positive ways ahead. The ‘Sidmouth 2020’ project will be looking at the sort of things we can do together this year which will be helpful to all of us in the coming years – whether it’s biodiversity, food, climate change, energy or our built environment.
And collaboration is the key to success. The VGS was set up some 15 years ago by two bodies coming together, the Town Council and the SVA, to create a ‘vision’ for the Sid Valley. This was taken further, when the Vision Group for Sidmouth became part of the wider Transition Town movement. This global initiative has a vision of a sustainable future through building a low-carbon society, a resilient local economy and a healthy environment.
It is with this history in mind that the VGS has launched the ‘Sidmouth 2020’ project, focussing on the issues which will be vital to us over the next ten years. Several events have been planned for 2020, to help us create a more sustainable future.
This will include an evening where environmental professionals will talk to us about ‘How the Sid Valley can enhance its biodiversity over the next decade’ in our gardens, our parks and our countryside. This event has been put together with the support of the Arboretum and the Science Festival: Biodiversity in the Sid Valley
There will also be an event celebrating local food, with mini-presentations from producers, caterers and retailers, including free samples of their produce – in collaboration with Kennaway House and their summer Food Festival: Celebrating local food
Later in the year, there will be a session looking at the built environment, whether it’s about self-build, retrofitting or getting a good deal on renewable energy for your house – again involving several other key groups: How architecture shapes society Other events we are planning include a look at subjects as diverse as energy and food waste.
The message from all of this is that we must work together to build a sustainable future in the Sid Valley – which is what the ‘Sidmouth 2020’ project is all about.
As always, these meetings will be free and open to everyone, but any donations to help with expenses will be gratefully received. The VGS does not receive any funding for its work and website.
If you’d like to get involved in the project, do get in touch at: https://visionforsidmouth.org/contact/
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