GCdCS’ Chairman, Alan Nicholson attended YHACS (Yorkshire and Humber Association of Civic Societies) recent AGM and his report is below:
Introductions were by YHACS Chairman, Kevin Trickett, followed by presentation by Harrogate CS to launch their Brown Plaque website www.harrogateplaques.org. The Brown Plaque scheme, was launched in 1983 and all 84 are now on the website – one of which is at the site of Brunswick Railway Station in the town, near the Stray, most of which is underground in tunnels. There is a generic application form on Wakefield CS website for Blue Plaques.
AGM Business followed:
SPEAKERS
Prof. Rick Batterbee FRS, “One Planet Living”. Due to Climate Change, we have to move quickly to sustainable living. A mixture of population growth, food waste, land usage and burning of fossil fuels are feeding global warming. Politicians are only paying lip service to the problems, leaving it to organisations like Extinction Rebellion to actually do something. Wildlife is threatened, especially coldwater species. Too much water is taken out of the system for irrigation, consumption etc, destroying natural water courses. Western lifestyle is becoming unsustainable, we take too much out of our planet than we are entitled to, preventing poorer countries from developing sustainably. The future of the earth means that it cannot be “Business as Usual”. Everybody needs to respond progressively. His CS, Addingham is working towards Zero Carbon; wildlife is a priority, and supporting Young People Power, but we are up against it with the Privatised utilities. 2025 Zero Carbon target is not achievable, but 2050 will be too late, we will all be dead.
Joan Humble, Civic Voice Report
Planning house building needs to prioritise environment issues: where needed, and to what standards etc.
Civic Voice has been in existence for 10 years, with 32 Societies in Yorks. & Humber area.
Survey carried out resulted in a majority saying that Central Government & developers have too much power & Local Government, not enough. Final “Building Better” Commission Report published. Joan had questioned the late Roger Scruton about why Civic Voice had not been included in discussions. Since then, Civic Voice has been the only Community Group involved. Kit Malthouse is one Government Minister who has listened to Civic Voice concerns, such as: ‘How can we transfer individual developments into developments that are required by the community? Only business leaders had been in talks at High Street Task Force, CV got community involvement included in National Design Guide; Civic Societies now named in guidance and have to be included. A good response to the Civic Voice Manifesto. 1St & 2nd May is Blackpool Conference, and Civic Day is 22nd June.
Jemima Parker, Chair of Harrogate Zero Carbon.
“Why & How your Local Area Group could become Zero Carbon”
Interactive graph from 1880 to 2017 shows the temperature of 50+ countries each year being fairly constant up to around 15 years ago, to virtually all turning entirely red. Zero Carbon Harrogate is providing a vision, involving public and political engagement, and is part of Zero Carbon Yorkshire, which has come out of the work being done at Machyncleth. We need to become carbon literate, and budget our carbon emissions. To stay below the criteria of 1.5 C warning, we have to remain globally below 420 Billion Tonnes CO2, Harrogate District 9.6 million Tonnes, and each individual in the area, 60 tonnes. Carrying on as we are, personal budgets will be used up in 8 years. Using 3 scenarios:
- a car idling for 2 minutes emits 700g of CO2
- a large Latte, 340g CO2
- a plastic bag, 10g CO2
The average UK person is worst at food waste, but is best at waste and recycling but this doesn’t take into consideration aviation and transport. Motorway pollution is biggest problem in Harrogate. We have to get to a position where we don't use oil or gas to generate power and new homes built to a higher standard, with lower carbon usage. Pedestrians need to be prioritised over car drivers who should be at the bottom of priority. We need to create woodland 2-3 times the size of The Stray in Harrogate within 30 yrs.
YHACS’ Peter Spawforth Award* for 2019-20
No Commendations this year.
3rd Prize of £50 Wakefield CS “ Forgotten Women of Wakefield”
2nd Prize of £100 Pontefract CS “ Tour De Yorkshire Activities involving Community Groups”
1st Prize of £200 Addingham CS “Young People Are The Future”
*criteria: “running a successful campaign or carrying out a specific project”