Twelve months on from their grant award Sustainable Staveley is looking back on the progress they have made and future plans.

Last year Sustainable Staveley (SENS) was given a big boost with a £9,500 grant award from the Together for Our Planet lottery fund to transition to net zero for carbon emissions.

The aim has been to encourage local people to set up ‘green’ systems in their home or business, and to work together in our community for even greater impact.

“We were delighted to have been offered this money,” says Fran Richardson of SENS.

“It has meant we have delivered a year of brilliant activities to get more people working together to look after where we live and to reduce our carbon emissions.

“We estimate that we’ve reached about 200 newpeople over the course of the scheme, which is amazing.”

The award has been used to support practical events, training and resources to get people thinking and active in support of the transition to net zero.

The funding has covered all sorts of things from a set of children’s gardening tools and gazebo for use in community projects, planters for the village square, to running apple grafting workshops, repair cafes; a booking system and panniers for a local ebike share scheme to a series of leaflets about SENS, and our Clean River Kent Campaign.

The funding also paid for administrative support to improve SENS communication structures with improvements to their social media, website and newsletters.

Mark Kidd, Chair of Staveley Parish Council says: “Thanks to SENS and the lottery grant, our community has had the chance to take part in a wide variety of inspiring free events, and benefit from additional resources.

“The Parish Council is committed to building on these ‘green’ initiatives and have a range of projects in the pipeline, including a new community space in the centre of the village.”

SENS was formed in November 2007 to promote sustainability action in the village and raise awareness of and take action on climate change.

With a fifteen-year history of environmental activism SENS is currently active in the Clean River Kent campaign and an e-bike hire pilot in the local area along with other projects.

As a member of the Cumbria Sustainability Network and is committed to the target of net zero Cumbria by 2037, alongside 70 other organisations in the Zero Carbon Cumbria Partnership.

For more information about the organisation or the campaigns please visit www.sustainablestaveley.org.uk/