Wadebridge the solar town – watch the video

Find out how a bunch of enthusiasts in the small Cornish town of Wadebridge intend to put a photovoltaic solar panel on every suitable roof.

Wadebridge Renewable Energy Network (WREN) want to create Britain’s first solar town in Cornwall. They aim to harness the sun and the wind to generate at least a third of its electricity by 2015.

Discover more at WREN’s inaugural general meeting this Monday 23 May at 7pm in the Town Hall.

Watch how they’re doing so far…

Producer / director: Charlotte Webster, Dorothea Gibbs
Camera: Santiago Posada
Picture editor: Belal Ladkini

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Cornwall councillors ready to make decision on Wadebridge superstore war

Cornwall planners will decide next Monday 24 January whether to approve three giant supermarket applications on the outskirts of Wadebridge.

Protest group lovewadebridge.com is fiercely opposing the proposed developments, which would encircle this thriving Cornish market town.

Both Morrison’s and Sainsbury’s want to build brand new superstores on the east side of Wadebridge – Sainsbury’s on council land. Tesco has applied to expand its existing store at the top of West Hill.

Planning officers are recommending that councillors give the go-ahead to both Sainsbury’s and Tesco’s proposals. But they want them to reject the Morrison’s application, which involves moving Wadebridge Town Football Club to a new site outside the town’s boundary on the road to Rock and Polzeath.

Lovewadebridge.com was set up by local residents and traders concerned that all three out-of-town developments are against national, regional and development plan policies and would damage the heart of Wadebridge - its character, economy and quality of life. 

Group members maintain there are already an adequate number of supermarkets in the area and the proposed superstores could turn Wadebridge into a ghost town.

They argue that more would have an adverse effect on the vitality of Wadebridge town centre and the viability of small, independent businesses in the town and surrounding villages in north Cornwall.

More than 577 supermarkets have been approved in the UK in the last two years, leading to accusations that the “big four” are distorting local food markets and putting independent traders out of business.

Update: Tesco’s expansion was given the go-ahead; both Sainsbury’s and Morrision’s applications were turned down during a marathon six-hour council meeting.

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Wadebridge wants to produce a third of its own electricity from Cornish sun and wind

A solar panel on every suitable roof – that’s the dream of a new community-wide initiative in the nearby town of Wadebridge in north Cornwall.

Wadebridge Renewable Energy Network (WREN) wants to harness the sun and wind to generate 30% of the town’s electricity consumption by 2015.

It intends to offer householders and businesses the opportunity to host photovoltaic solar panels on their roofs. This will help reduce their own electricity bills, provide local employment and build up a substantial community fund for investment in community projects.

The project has the support of North Cornwall MP Dan Rogerson, town councillors, Cornwall councillors, and Wadebridge Chamber of Commerce.

The launch event is this Saturday 22 January in Wadebridge Town Hall between 10am and 4pm when there will be a public exhibition and displays. Local MP Dan Rogerson, renewable energy experts, local councillors and business leaders will be giving talks and answering residents’ questions from 2pm onwards.

WREN is a not-for-profit cooperative. It intends the financial gains to stay in Wadebridge so jobs and other benefits are brought to every section of the immediate community.

Cornwall has experienced a rush in recent months from developers and landowners wanting to set up solar energy farms and take advantage of the Government’s generous solar electricity feed-in tariff.

Camel CSA’s landowners - Benbole Farm, St Kew Highway – are due to start work any day on the county’s first solar farm beside the A39 near Wadebridge just across the road from our veg plot.

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Dormice threaten to scupper superstore plans

The battle of the supermarkets in the nearby town of Wadebridge, north Cornwall has developed an unexpected twist in the tale.

The possible presence of dormice, a European Protected Species, could put a stop to one of the three proposed out-of-town superstores.

Morrison’s wants to build its supermarket on the site of Wadebridge Town Football Club. It’s offering to provide a replacement ground, practice pitches, changing rooms, floodlights and car park in open countryside at Bodieve.

Sainsbury’s has applied to develop a superstore next to the council offices, while Tesco wants to expand its store on the west side of the town.

Unfortunately for Morrison’s, Cornwall Council planning officer Gavin Smith is recommending that permission for the football club plan be refused.

Interestingly, the fact that no dormice have been seen on the proposed new football club site is not the issue. Cornwall Wildlife Trust has recorded them nearby and it’s illegal to disturb this shy and delightful animal.

As a BBC blog post on the supermarket issue points out: “Absence of evidence is not evidence of absence.”

Significantly, Cornwall Council and the wildlife trust are partners in the Camel Valley Dormouse Project which has been calling for people to become “dormouse detectives” in the Wadebridge area. It’s encouraging local residents to hunt for nibbled hazelnut shells that have tell-tale toothmarks and a neat round hole on one side.

Dormouse picture: courtesy of David Chapman Wildlife Photography

Update: A decision on the planning application has been deferred to await the results of the dormice survey and to investigate “serious” concerns about noise from the football ground.

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It’s all down to us, stupid

It’s a case of first come, first served.  Admission is free when the Regal Cinema in Wadebridge screens The Age of Stupid this Sunday 29 November at 8.15 pm.  

Oscar-nominated Pete Postlethwaite stars as a man living alone in the devastated future world of 2055.  He looks at old footage from 2008 and asks a simple question:  Why didn’t we stop climate change when we had the chance? 

Camel Friends of the Earth is bringing the film to Wadebridge as part of the Indie Screenings distribution system which allows anyone anywhere to screen it.

This much talked-about movie was released earlier this year.  It spawned the 10:10 campaign, which aims to cut 10 per cent of our carbon emissions in 2010.

In it, the Archivist (Pete Postlethwaite) says:  “We could have saved ourselves, but we didn’t. It’s amazing. What state of mind were we in, to face extinction and simply shrug it off? 

“We wouldn’t be the first life form to make itself extinct. But what would be unique about us is that we did it knowingly. What does that say about us?”

Watch the official trailer here -

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Make local food work in Wadebridge

Hope you’re going to the Lovewadebridge public meeting this Friday 30 October.  Wadebridge: Options for the Future, chaired by Dan Rogerson MP for North Cornwall, is at 7pm in Wadebridge Town Hall.

The initiative arises out of concerns about the impact of another supermarket on the town.  Sainsbury’s wants to develop the former North Cornwall District Council offices at the eastern edge of Wadebridge into a superstore.  

From our perspective as a community vegetable growing enterprise, Camel Community Supported Agriculture wants to make local food work. 

We support the retention of a range of independent retail outlets that sell seasonal, locally-produced food.

Supermarkets have a stranglehold on food supply chains in this country. They also rely on international markets to import out-of-season produce.  (Like rhubarb from New Zealand!)

This is detrimental to local food producers and the environment and is definitely not sustainable.

Needs

The timely Lovewadebridge campaign is encouraging people to really think about what our town needs, rather than what corporate business and big supermarkets want.

As Jeremy Rowe, Cornwall councillor for Egloshayle, St Breock, St Ervan, St Eval, St Issey, St Mabyn & St Tudy, points out on his blog (and on Twitter):

“If a new supermarket was to be built…Would Wadebridge still be able to support two butchers, a greengrocers, two bakeries, two newsagents and all the other ‘niche’ businesses in town?”

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We love Wadebridge

The Lovewadebridge website was set up last week to enable the people of Wadebridge to air their feelings regarding the proposed new supermarket(s) on the eastern outskirts of the town.

This initiative has been prompted by the proposal that Cornwall Council should sell its office at Higher Trenant to Sainsbury’s. Sainsbury’s would demolish the building and create a superstore.

The demolition of this valuable building (built at great expense less than 20 years ago!) would be prompted by short-term financial considerations on the part of the council, and Sainsbury’s wish to access the substantial shopping spend in the town.

It would thus be a double slap in the face for Wadebridge.  The promise of extra jobs is bogus as supermarkets destroy as many jobs as they create.

Independent

Wadebridge has until now cleverly and quietly combined the best of the past while embracing what the present has to offer.

The key survival from the past, that keeps its modern heart beating, is the network of independent traders offering those everyday commodities that bring local people into its streets for supplies and sociability. 

That heart has been carved out of most towns of similar size in Cornwall by their circling superstores. In Wadebridge it is still beating strongly.  If we allowed our independent and local traders to be squeezed out, which would be the inevitable result of supermarket expansion, the future of Wadebridge would become drab and bland.

If you are interested in keeping things local, which if you are looking at the CSA website you undoubtedly are, then take a look at the website – lovewadebridge.com - have your say, and sign the petition.

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