Shared Resources and Templates

The Centre for Sustainable Energy have created a series of 3 Youtube webinars for communities to use to share introductory knowledge of what Retrofit is all about. Sharing knowledge of what retrofit is will help encourage homeowners to embark on their retrofit journey to reduce energy bills, climate change emissions and make homes a more comfortable and heathy place to live.

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Transformative adaption is the requirement to adapt in a manner that is bold and forward Looking.

By mitigating the effects of dangerous Climate Change and working with nature not against, we can transform society in the direction it needs to.

This will enable us to cope with the impacts of climate change and ecological breakdown that is already inevitable while potentially IMPROVING our society and our future.

This pack has been designed to help prepare village halls for climate change.

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The Community Adaptation Toolkit (CATkit) for village halls has been designed by the Centre for Alternative Technology (CAT) for committees to carry out an audit of their halls in order to assess its vulnerability to the impacts of extreme weather brought about by climate change.

Download the toolkit below,

Undertaking a DIY energy survey is a sensible starting point when assessing how to reduce energy use in your community building.

Click below for details of the Energy Audit process to help you to identify and prioritise appropriate, cost-effective improvements. This can form the basis of a carbon reduction action plan for your hall. Watch the introductory video here.

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A list of funding sources to support improvements to community buildings is available here.

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On 12th January, our Environment Team was joined by Adrian Moore from our Locality service to inform how SSDC Community Grants can benefit local environment projects, including ciritera, how to apply and examples of previous projects funded by SSDC Community Grants.

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The purpose of the woodland and meadow management plan is to provide a coherent approach to the maintenance and management of the site. It aims to ensure the provision of a good quality space that is accessible and well connected to the surrounding area, attractive and safe, and contributes to local biodiversity. Click below to view an example 5-year  management plan from Ash Parish Council for the Millennium Wood. 

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Small and medium-sized companies are responsible for around half of the total carbon emissions from UK businesses. It doesn't have to be overwhelming. There are tangible and achievable steps that small businesses can take to play a role in tackling the climate emergency. If you're ready to start or improve the impact your business makes on the planet, visit the Plan It With Purpose campaign hub to discover tailored resources.

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We are encouraging Parish Councils to utilise the ‘Great Collaboration’ interactive online platform, which tracks and captures information about the carbon reduction actions that individuals, business, community groups and schools in your local community are taking and planning. A "personalised" platform for each participating parish council will be made available to communities as a link from a parish council’s existing local website. Click below for details!

As part of the Somerset Retrofit Accelerator project, this directory has been put together to help you find local businesses and services to help you with your eco retrofit project.

You can:

• Search local businesses for your retrofit project including architects, construction companies, insulation and renewable energy installers. There are currently over 90 listings!

• Learn about energy efficiency and low carbon retrofit through the Retrofit Resources

• Find out what some Somerset homeowners have already done to retrofit their homes, along with other news, in the Retrofit Stories

• If you are a business working to improve the energy efficiency of Somerset’s housing stock why not submit your own listing and join the Somerset Green Directory!

Contact: website@retrofitsomerset.info

Pulling on latest guidance and best practice, the Net Zero Carbon Toolkit is a practical, easy to follow guide to help plan a net zero housing project.

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Aimed at small or medium-sized house builders, architects, self-builders and consultants, the toolkit covers a range of steps - from pre-planning right through to construction - for delivering net-zero carbon, low-energy homes.

The toolkit also provides homeowners looking to retrofit or extend their existing property, guidance and advice on what they need to consider and how they can implement energy efficiency measures and begin the process of decarbonising their homes in a more affordable, phased approach.

Implementing the measures laid out in the new toolkit will help reduce the carbon footprint of new and existing buildings. Making significant reductions to a home’s carbon emissions also means lower energy bills for homeowners, more people out of fuel poverty and homes that are comfortable and healthier to live in.

This pack is for anyone who wants to improve biodiversity within a school setting, whilst also promoting nature-based learning and play. Making changes within schools can be challenging however, the benefits to children from introducing areas of wildlife are hugely impactful to their development and wellbeing.

This pack will guide you through the steps to consult, plan & implement a successful project with practical advice, ideas, and suggestions.

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Re-watch our presentation from David Ramsden MBE of his talk: 'Climate and Ecological Crisis? What's all the fuss about?'. There's been quite a lot in the news recently about extreme weather, and a lot of fuss is being made about 'climate change'. There are also people talking about an 'ecological crisis' which, they say, might even become a problem for us here in Britain. The talk provides an easy-to-follow introduction to the subject followed by a Q&A. Click below to watch!

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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 below to read more!

The purpose of a Green Charter is to formally agree a set of values and behaviours that a Parish or 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 council facilities.

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Small and medium-sized companies are responsible for around half of the total carbon emissions from UK businesses. It doesn't have to be overwhelming. There are tangible and achievable steps that small businesses can take to play a role in tackling the climate emergency. If you're ready to start or improve the impact your business makes on the planet, visit the Plan It With Purpose campaign hub to discover tailored resources.

Impact, the parish-level carbon emission estimator, gives parishes and small communities usable data on their carbon emissions that is easy to interpret and easy to share. It tells you how people in the parish travel and heat their homes, and other activities in the area that contribute to the local carbon emissions total. This tool was developed by the Centre for Sustainable Energy as part of their Climate Emergency Support Programme and as part of the South West Environment and Climate Action Network.

This free guide has been created to support event producers in making the switch from single-use disposable cups to reusable drink-serving systems.

As the much larger, mainstream festivals around the UK have already made positive in-roads to address this issue, this Guide will serve to specifically focus on targeting small-to-medium size events that have struggled to get started with reusable cups

Having talked about the ‘what’ and ‘why’ for Building Sustainably, Bradfords Construction are delighted to present their first event focusing on the ‘how’. Join Bradford's and Trustmark for an evening of understanding how you can go about building sustainably.

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Speakers at the event covered green finance, upcoming legislation and grants, and practical examples of designing sustainability into construction projects.

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The South Somerset Community Biodiversity Tookit has been developed to allow communities to take the lead in defining & restoring biodiversity in their community. Designed for use by community groups, local landowners, Parish and Town Councils, schools and youth groups it provides a structure for how local communities can better understand what they already have in terms of biodiverse habitats as well as how to plan for developing greater biodiversity and nature based carbon sequestration in the future. ​The Toolkit also signposts to other organisations which can assist communities in delivering their aims and objectives.

The following tips could help you reduce the amount of energy used in your community building for
little or no cost and cut the amount of money you spend on fuel bills.

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Many of these tips will require
building users to change their behaviour so you might want to consider putting up signs around the building to reinforce your message. Others require installing small and inexpensive energy efficiency measures.

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The purpose of the woodland and meadow management plan is to provide a coherent approach to the maintenance and management of the site. It aims to ensure the provision of a good quality space that is accessible and well connected to the surrounding area, attractive and safe, and contributes to local biodiversity. Click below to view an example 5-year  management plan from Ash Parish Council for the Millennium Wood. 

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Click below to read a summary of the FSBs recent virtual conference on SMEs: The Journey to Net Zero. A recent FSB study found that 69% of SMEs are committed to tackling the climate emergency - but good intentions often clash with the reality of business and there is a lot of work still to do! The summary includes detail of opportunities, grants and case-studies from a variety of business sectors.

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We know many of our residents and Environment Champions have great ecological knowledge, but following a catch-up with our countryside rangers, we decided to pull together a short pack that covers the subjects that might be worth considering during Spring each year. The ideas are designed to help if you need them and cover topics such as tree planting, preparing ground for wildflowers, & providing space for wildlife ponds.