Chilthorne Domer have set up the Chilthorne Green Steps, a local Action Group, working in partnership with the Parish Council and Recreational Trust. Recent projects include:

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• a community e-newsletter;

• creating a wildflower area on a roadside verge in the village;

• planting a community apple orchard, and encouraging an area of unmown grass on the Recreational field;

• Taking part in SWT's Wilder Churches initiative, to help improve wildlife;

• Created community compost bins in the churchyard. In addition, the grass is left un-cut to encourage wildflowers;

• Circulated wildflower seeds to all houses in the village, whilst also producing DIY bee hotels for every household that requested one;

• The group also have plans for tree-planting projects, in collaboration with landowners.

St. Margaret’s CEVA Primary School have received a Gold award from the Woodland Trust’s Green Tree School Award. They have also been on BBC radio talking about their environmental projects, including growing their own fruit and vegetables, planting trees around the site, maintaining class planters, and they have recently received a grant to create a sensory garden at the front of the school for the use of pupils & the local community.

Pupils also helped to plant a Ginko tree to mark the start of Tintinhull’s Platinum Jubilee celebrations and to support The Queen’s Green Canopy project!

For details on how your school can get involved with green initiatives visit the link below.

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Ash PC purchased the 1 1/2 hectare site in 1998 to establish a community woodland and wildlife area. Following this, in 2012, a manager was appointed for the woodland and a management plan was produced to provide a coherent approach to the maintenance and management of the site. The strategy looked to increase diversity of habitats by managing the woodland and open spaces, as well as ensure accessibility.

Visit the website here or click below to read a case study on the project including a link to the Management Plan.

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A number of South Somerset Solar Streets community projects have been set up across the district, including in Somerton, Bruton & Castle Cary, Ham Hill Plus, Brue Valley, and Milborne Port, Solar Streets is a scheme where residents and businesses in a local area can come together and access discounted solar PV and generate clean electricity, cut carbon emissions and lower bills. Visit the website here for more details, and to learn about setting up a new scheme in your area. Also, read about the Bruton scheme below.

The Muchelney and Kingsbury Episcopi community have set up a project to promote and encourage cycling amongst local residents.

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‘Pedal for the Planet’ aims to deliver a series of free workshops and activities to promote safe and fun cycling for everyone.

By swapping car for bike for short, local journeys, we can make a real difference to our personal carbon emissions - and it is good for our health too. Local business HubLife will be delivering activities including bike maintenance and safe cycling workshops.

The Parishes are hoping to also map & digitise local cycling routes starting and ending in the parishes. Funding was granted from SSDC's Community Grant Scheme.

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Parish Environment Champion Alison Scott and the Haselbury Plucknett community completed the planting of 36 semi-mature oak and beech trees along Claycastle Lane.

Alison is a founder member of the Haselbury Wildlife and Habitats group. She received support from the Parish Council from the outset, from planning and getting permissions to implementation. The local land is intensively farmed in places, so it was good to be able to make small changes to improve local biodiversity. Residents were asked to sponsor a tree for £80. We were amazed when all the trees were quickly sponsored!

Next up are a wildflower area and a phosphate river monitoring project!

Barwick & Stoford PC, along with their Parish Environment Champion, have successfully trialled a verge conservation project. To hear more about how they achieved it and how you can do similar in your community, listen to our wildflower webinar. The presentations are at the following times within the video: Dr Kate Petty (Plantlife) discussing Verge Conservation (3:56 mins); SSDC horticultural lead discussing management techniques (41:16 mins); and Barwick and Stoford Parish Environment Champion discussing the successful verge conservation trial (1:08:52 mins).

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As part of its sustainable land management programme, SSDC hope to demonstrate that recreational and sporting facilities can go hand in hand with nature conservation and environmental sustainability, as well as showing that with the right design, even small areas of green space can provide benefits. Changes have been made to the grass cutting regime to encourage wildflowers, as well as reducing herbicide chemical usage. Click the link below to read the full case study and find out more!

The removal of litter bins at Ham Hill Country Park has been hailed a success after the amount of litter at the site fell by approximately 85% annually.

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After a spate of anti-social littering at the site, we were forced to rethink how to address an ever-increasing litter problem at the site.

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In June 2019, we made the decision to remove all 14 litter bins from the site, encouraging visitors to take responsibility for their own waste and asking them to take their rubbish home with them and recycle what they could.

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The response has been overwhelmingly positive and to find out more click below. 

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The removal of litter bins at Ham Hill is one of a number of initiatives being implemented as part of SSDC’s overarching Environment Strategy.

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Throughout January 2022, Somerset County Council (SCC) presented a series of short films showcasing local communities already doing amazing things to cut their carbon emissions in Somerset.

Click on the link below to watch some of the inspiring examples.

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Wedmore

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Good Vibe Veg

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Taunton E-Scooters

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Wells Cathedral

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Avalon Community Energy

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Recycle More

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Visit the website at the link below to find out more about these projects and more.

Trees, hedgerows and woods are an important part of our landscape, however they are at threat from disease, development and poor management. Baltonsborough Parish Council have produced a Parish Tree Policy to help manage how they work with trees in their community.

Click below to view their Parish Tree Policy, which can be adapted for your own parish. This is based on the Tree Policy template produced by Reimagining the Levels, which is supported by the Somerset Climate Emergency Strategy.  Also see the National Tree Charter for inspiration here.

Langport Town Council formally approved a Green Charter in 2012, which was revised in 2021. The aim was to formally agree a set of values and behaviours that the Town Council will follow with regards to the environment.

This example from Langport Town Council provides a template to follow if looking to implement a similar policy. It can be applied to cover business engagement and contracts, as well as to those hiring out council facilities.

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