Congleton becomes an official Transition Town!

Well, so what? What does that mean? It means that we the Congleton Sustainability Group, part of Congleton Partnership, have worked on behalf of the Town to become accepted as members of the UK-wide group of communities, who are collectively known as the ‘Transition Network’.

 

Why? Members of the Transition Network believe there might just be a more sympathetic way of life than the one most of us are living just now – by working to be more sympathetic towards each other and more sympathetic to the environment around us.

Congleton Sustainability Group came into being last year as part of the ‘Regeneration and Development Strategy for the Town of Congleton’, launched by the Partnership, which had the vision that Congleton should seek to re-establish itself as an attractive a location to work and shop as it is to live, by promoting itself as an enterprising and sustainable Town.

Sustainability is a much abused word whose meaning is rapidly becoming debased – so we have adopted the definition proscribed by belonging to the Transition movement.

If you believe only half of the stories about climate change, you’ll know something is happening to the world around us, it’s there for us all to see. We know we can only use oil and gas for so long before they run out; after all they are finite resources. Is it really fair to our children and grandchildren not to find viable practical alternatives? Of course not!!

Transition communities are about finding positive, practical and fun alternatives. Such as using our cars less; shopping, playing and working more locally; growing more of our own food; adopting renewable energy schemes to save money.

Congleton Sustainability Group is made up of members of local schools, community groups, campaigners and talented residents working together to create ideas that will initiate change. It is important to emphasis that with all our projects our prime focus is helping people save money, whether it is by growing their own food, installing solar water or photovoltaic panels to reduce energy costs or improving cycle paths to save fuel.

Congleton schools have a very impressive record of progress as Eco-Schools – Congleton boasts five of the ten Green Flags in Cheshire East,  with the remaining schools at silver level, so your children and grandchildren are part of it; working to move on to ‘Sustainable Schools’ status. We keep pressure on implementing schemes that improve children’s ability to walk or cycle to school safely.

Congleton Cycling Campaign is a group of people working to improve conditions for cycling in and around Congleton for workers, shoppers and school children. The campaign has produced a handy cycling map to help cyclists plan trips around and through Congleton. There has been investment in cycle paths recently and work towards implementing phase 3 of the Dane Walkway next spring.

Bromley Farm Community Development Trust has provided allotments in Hillary Avenue, funded by the Town Council, and is now working with Plus Dane to establish a community farm and orchard for that area of the Town employing local people producing more local food.

The Dane Valley Renewable Energy Projects have just succeeded in the first stage to access Rural Carbon Challenge Funds to provide grant support for its proposed hydro micro-generation scheme on the Old Weir in Congleton Park. When successful it will be the first of several renewable energy projects generating power in the Town through a community trust which will be established to distribute its surplus earnings to community energy efficiency projects.

The ‘Congleton Abundant Local Food Campaign’ seeking out surplus produce, making Congleton Apple Juice last year, and already this year Congleton Jams and Chutneys and once in season more apple juice. Most of Congleton’s schools have at least four fruit trees and many are growing vegetables in their school gardens.

We took over the Community Gardens at the Food Festival – if you visited us thank you; great to see you. We were joined in the gardens by Plus Dane's chef Sam Newton; Hillary Avenue Allotment Society, Love Food Hate Waste, the Master Composting team, Bromley Farm Development Trust, Linda our Rainstick Maker, our own produce maker Purple Laura and of course the fabulous Mbollou Music drumming team with our new Mayor David Brown joining in!

At the Food Festival we launched this year’s range of Congleton produce with the first of our abundance campaign rhubarb & ginger jam and rhubarb chutneys made for us by Purple Laura from Congleton-grown rhubarb, food miles about three. These are small beginnings on the road to growing more and more of our food locally.

Right now I guess you wished you’d got even more water butts to keep the garden watered!!

And that’s what a Transition Town is about: it isn’t a process defined by people who have all the answers. We truly don't know if this will work. The Transition Network is a community experiment on a massive scale.

What we are all convinced of is this:

• if we wait for the governments, it'll be too little, too late
• if we act as individuals, it'll be too little
• but if we act as communities, it might just be enough, just in time.

 

Everything that you read about Transition communities is the result of real work undertaken in the real world with community engagement at its heart. No great political strategy. There's not an ivory tower in sight, no professors in musty oak-panelled studies churning out erudite papers, no slavish adherence to a model carved in stone.

Congleton Sustainability Group, just like the other transition communities, is made up of people who are actively engaged in transition in a community. People who are learning by doing - and learning all the time. People who understand that we can't sit back and wait for someone else to do the work. People like you, perhaps...