I hope that you are all coping with our English Summer, I know that I have been colder some days and nights than in Winter, oh and the rain , wow and we still don’t have enough water to go around.
Recently I entered the scary world of North Dorset Planning Committee hearings and it was a real eye opener.
How are we ever going to marry the needs of the many to those of well meaning dissenting groups who oppose so many renewable projects. ? I just do not know! Whilst respecting everyone’s right to have their say, at some stage there has to be a notion “For the good of all the Community” brought back into play.
Dorset’s approach to Sustainability and renewable energy in particular have left us languishing far behind other Counties in Britiain. In many cases the planners have stood in the way of good projects because of the need to keep small pockets of voters happy. Equally the projects themselves have failed to inspire local interest, participation and excitement. Good communication has been woefully lacking and its time to make a real effort to sort this out.
Its time we in Dorset stood up and opened our eyes to the responsibility we all share and the need for greater emphasis on renewable energy.
To do this we need groups, communities to work with planners, project installers, funders so that together they can create their own local sustainable projects that all add towards the collective good of our Countries commitments.
We in Sturminster connected to Transition Town Sturminster Newton and SQ have formed a small group called Energize Stur Valley who will are strongly supportive of community lead activity. Support for renewables on farm buildings, industrial sites and schools along with solar energy on households, and of course wind turbines where the icing is right, is all part of our brief.
We hope to be able to announce an overall strategy going forward in due course after talks and consultation with local Parish and Town Councils.
The time is now, get involved take a look at our Dorset Energized website, support your local Energy Groups but above all do something!
Please ‘share’ this blog post to spread the word about this website to light up our County, and make us top of the UK league and not bottom!
