Climate & Ecological Emergency Committee Newsletter March 2024

Report from the Climate & Ecological Emergency Committee, CEEC

You heard it here first! - last month’s I led with the alarming ‘breach’ of the 1.5 degrees rise in global temperature. Just last week, this briefly became a global news item. It’s doubtless already lost in the unendingly refreshed news cycling, but it is worth repeating. Why? you might say - it’s so depressing, and there's nothing I can do about it. But if we are brave enough to face up to that unbearable despair, then we’re better equipped to find something to do about it - something near to hand, something ‘local’.

Mr Phil Martin, for example - a retired engineer - has designed, built and tirelessly promoted, an ingenious semi-mobile container device, making use of upcycled materials, to house flowering plants appropriate to sustain bees by extending the wildlife corridor project into areas that are bereft of wildflowers You will see an example of these down at the longshed at the centre of the seating area. He explains:

“Woodbridge Town Council have funded 8 new Bee Cafes that are on target to start feeding Woodbridge's bees from 1st March. Bee Cafes are stackable wooden planters packed with pollen rich blooms from March to October while the bees need them. They are placed to form an urban wildlife corridor allowing bees to move around and find new sources of food.”

This is surely an idea that will grow out and beyond our locality and to the benefit of pollinator insects as far as they need to go. Act local, go global? At the last CEEC we noted that the District Council has an “emergency planning” group and our chair, David Adelson agreed to explore possibilities of collaboration and mutual contribution on behalf of Woodbridge.

We also noted that Woodbridge will again be celebrating “Earth day” on April 20th mostly down in the Whisstocks area. More info to follow, but reserve that date. I am already considering my contribution - do you have any? Here’s a quote from the organisation’s website.
 
“The first Earth Day in 1970 mobilised millions of Americans from all walks of life to birth the modern environmental movement. Since then, Earth Day has evolved into the largest civic event on Earth, activating billions across 192 countries to safeguard our planet and fight for a brighter future”.

Clearly, just our being present is a contribution that counts!

And on this very day (article deadline day!) I had the pleasure of involvement with the distribution of the “Trees for the avenues”; bringing this CEEC project to fruition on a day that felt like early spring. Edwin and Warwick avenues in the Farlingaye ward will benefit from beautiful, organic, carbon capture devices, some of them fruiting, as well cleaning the atmosphere, for years to come. The Twist family here from Warwick Avenue along with Rob Berry, Woodbridge Town Council handyperson, civi-member of CEEC committee, local resident and delivery driver - welcoming their apple tree!

We were happy to invest CEEC budget in this way and consider it a successful pilot project for future larger scale investment. Perhaps in other wards as well? Anyone over in Kyson interested?

We are also considering further rewilding possibilities in Elmhurst park - and want to draw your attention to Groundworks East’s project that started in February and will run on in the park through March with meetings on 6,13,20,& 27 between 10.30-12.30. It’s a family event called grow it, cook it, share it. Fully booked now, but may be interesting to go see what they are doing together to skill up for the future?

The CEEC have a working party called ‘modal shift’ - our intention being to encourage greater flexibility around how people get around our locality. What mode of transport do you choose - and particularly seeking to help people become less dependent upon their personally owned fossil-fuelled means of transport. The Active Woodbridge consultation is now open and requesting feedback around a set of more specific plans to make our environment more accessible for pedestrians, mobility devices, walking and cycling and
 
we hope to collaborate with them in their efforts to have an effective, respectful and inclusive gathering of local opinion.

Another of our civi-members of committee spoke out in support of our pre-existing public transport! This was eye-opener for me, carrying, as I had, a somewhat unexamined opinion that public transport has been shamefully neglected to the point of being unusable with the exception of large urban areas. Jan pointed out that Woodbridge IS relatively well served, that she had made a deliberate choice to dispose of her car since coming to live here and explained how much she values the less stressed, less expensive modes of transport. Using a free app on the smartphone she can track the bus services she needs, and the rail connections up and down our branchline keep her connected with both London and the beautiful coastal nature area available to us here. She advises - “Use it or lose it” and I guess that is the case. Personally, I find the combination of a folding bike and a train to Liverpool St give me all the access I could need to London and saves stressing about congestion, parking and ULEZ zones. But I am also now encouraged to make better use of our local bus services.

All the best to all,

Councillor Martin Wilks, CEEC councillorwilks@woodbridge-suffolk.gov.uk PS. Pass it on