New councils, new opportunities & more

All change: May 2nd is election day when we select from available candidates for Police & Crime Commissioner, Dorset Council, and for town councillors to represent East Ward.

8 out of the 9 candidates for the two seats representing Shaftesbury on Dorset Council participated in the hustings we hosted, independently chaired by Stuart Edwards, (thank you Stuart!). More than 40 townspeople were present to hear candidates introduce themselves and answer questions on topics from achieving Net Zero to food security and the bus gate. The session was well received by candidates and by voters, many of whom commented that they now had a better sense of how they'd like to vote. To hear a well-balanced summary of the proceedings reported by Keri Jones follow this link (report starts at 4:48): https://thisisalfred.com/podcast/the-alfred-daily-19th-april-2024/

Following the election, more than half (up to 10) of Shaftesbury's 15 town councillors will be new. How will they approach the newly adopted Sustainable Shaftesbury Vision and Action Plan? Town Clerk, Brie Logan, is meeting with volunteers in the Sustainable Shaftesbury Working Group on 2nd May to discuss how they can best offer structured support to the new council. One possibility to be thoroughly explored is that the group becomes formalised as a council Advisory Committee. We should know more, and be able to consider the implications and opportunities, by the time of our next meeting.

Planet Shaftesbury Meeting on selected Sustainability Projects

Thursday 9th May, 7.30pm

The Grosvenor Arms (in the snug)

The selected projects cover different themes from the Sustainable Shaftesbury Action Plan: come along, help to identify possible starting points or next steps.

Build support for a community climate resource space (hub) to encompass information on energy, recycling, repairs, sharing tools etc. See https://weymouthclimatehub.com/projects/

Planning: monitoring applications submitted and subsequent development to ensure that opportunities for enhancing biodiversity are recognised, commitments fulfilled and appropriate continuing management plans sustained. 

Promote sustainable local food producers, outlets and consumption, linking to the Wellness programme and food poverty initiatives. (Much of the relevant information was compiled during 2023 and this links to the Dorset-wide discussion of Sustainable Food Places.) 

Explore alternative local transport solutions to reducing car use such as car club, cycle taxis (eg. tuk tuk), electric shuttle bus, scooters. 

Implement a land mapping exercise for Shaftesbury & surrounding area to detail land use, area, ownership and other key information with the potential to identify opportunities and trade-offs for energy, nature, food, connectivity and other uses. 

Support the creation of a community interest company (CIC) to produce clean energy with profits used to benefit the community (eg. insulation retrofitting or PV installations). 

Support the council in improved land management and natural area maintenance to ensure that the philosophy that underpins (updated) management plans is embedded in the activities undertaken by staff and contractors. 

New on the Website:

The Dorset Climate Action Network (D-CAN) is concerned about Dorset Council's changed approach to the development of the Local Plan. Richard Thomas has contributed a blog post that describes the issues (thank you Richard). D-CAN's latest newsletter with other information from across the county is here.

Another recently-added blog post reflects on the impact of performance art and was triggered by Richard Foreman's participation, along with other locally-based 'Red Rebels', in the strikingly moving procession and mock Funeral for Nature in Bath on 20th April (two days before Earth Day and replicated in other cities around the world). There were other reports from participants on Alfred Daily on both 21st & 22nd April (this last describing a conversation between Sue Gibson and Chris Packham) and there's much more to see online, including a selection of pictures released by XR: www.coderedfornature.uk/afuneralfornature

Our website 'Spring Clean' is underway - apologies if you encounter broken links, old versions of the logo, or other signs of disruption. The process should be largely complete by the end of May!

Shaftesbury School invitation: Alex More has started planning for another one-day event devoted to sustainability workshops/talks for students aged 11-14 with the possibility of an outdoor project running alongside the indoor sessions. Date 5th June (World Environment Day), sessions from 9am to 3pm with an hour for lunch. Opportunities to offer a workshop, support someone to run a workshop, or volunteer help to staff on what will be a demanding but rewarding day. To be put in touch with Alex please email planetshaftesbury@gmail.com

Wildlife-Friendly Open Gardens are amongst upcoming events featured in the latest newsletter from Dorset Wildlife Trust. The nearest one to Shaftesbury is The Old Vicarage, East Orchard which is open 2-5pm on Sunday 2nd June. More information here

Chase & Chalke Landscape Partnership Scheme have launched this year's Nurturing Nature programme which offers various sessions from April to June. These sessions guide members of the public to collect valuable information, as survey work requires boots on the ground. Find out more at their volunteer training hub.

Want to know more about No Mow May?

Please send news or event details to planetshaftesbury@gmail.com for sharing across our network