country air 124

The newsletter of Rural Action Yorkshire Autumn 2012 Issue 124

Get the latest news online:

www.ruralyorkshire.org.uk www.twitter.com/ruralyorkshire

In this issue… What makes the perfect village? page 2- 3 New projects for RAY page 4 New online training page 5,8 Fuel poverty and staying warm page 10

Plus all the latest project updates and rural news.

Many country shows were rather wet this summer and sadly we were only able to spend a day at the Great Yorkshire Show. We also attended shows in Ryedale, Rosedale , Malton and Nidderdale and our theme was ‘what makes the perfect village?’ We asked visitors to help us paint a profile of the perfect village. Is a post office more important than a sports field, is a village hall a priority and how essential is a play area for older children? Our banner-making certainly added a splash of colour, but there was also a serious message about giving rural communities a voice.

A perfect village is not just about a scenic landscape; it’s about services and what is going on in that community. Several people mentioned having a focal point, such as a church, a shop, or a great pub. At the Ryedale Show one of the visitors stressed the need for affordable housing which was mixed with private housing, rather than in a separate area. We also got lots of feedback through Twitter and online too which repeatedly mentioned how important the people are to building a perfect village. Lots of residents want to have a say in

what services, activities and facilities are important to keep their village vibrant and viable. Asking everyone their views means they will be more likely to volunteer to help run the village shop, keep their library open, write a Parish Plan or provide support for their neighbours. One of the projects we featured at the Malton Show was the Discover Filey & Great Wolds Valley Heritage Trail, which has been supported by RAY and LEADER. The project has involved members of Scarborough & District Civic Society who are in the process of researching specific sites of interest in the Filey area. The aim is to create a Blue Plaque Trail which will be accompanied by an information leaflet and show visitors were very keen to find out more.

RAY Contacts Switchboard: 0845 313 0270 Leah Swain, Chief Officer .............. ext.236

Gillian McIntosh Head of Finance & Admin ................ ext.230

Rebecca Craven Marketing & PR Officer .................... ext.232

Paula Wilcox Operations Officer ........................... ext.221

Marilyn Bennett Operations & Finance Assistant ........ ext.222

Amy Robinson - 07963 533674 Project & Performance Manager........ ext.233

Tina Chamberlain - 07963 533675 Regional Manager .......................... ext: 235

Sarah Robinson - 07540 691028 N.Yorks Rural Network Co-ordinator ext: 223

Maggie Farey - 07825 380051 North Yorks Development Officer

Kathryn Chapman - 07825 380052 North Yorks Development Officer ...... ext.247

Mel McGeoch - 07722 127503 West Yorks Development Officer

Nick Butterworth - 07847 619388 Rural Capacity Building Officer

Amanda Kent - 07545 430977 Community & Neighbourhood Planning Officer

Active Communities ........................ ext.227

Melanie Swanwick - 07757 639929 South Yorks Development Officer

Joanna Bayton-Smith - 07834 322296

Snowdrop Project Co-ordinator........... ext. 234

Tess McMahon - 07540 691029

Community Hubs Development Officer.ext 226

Andy Ryland - 07722 127505 Community Buildings Network Development Officer North Yorks

02 The Newsletter of Rural Action Yorkshire

Disclaimer: Every effort is taken to provide accurate information. However, Rural Action Yorkshire accepts no responsibility for any error or omission in, or complaint arising from, items in this publication. The views expressed in Country Air do not necessarily represent those of Rural Action Yorkshire. The display of advertising material does not represent an endorsement.

Front page picture: detail from banners made at the Great Yorkshire Show.

Feature: What a

Summer?!

Despite the rain and mud, summer is a great time to celebrate the best bits of living in a rural community. Here we look back at the country shows and some of the work we have been involved in since the last issue.

Much of Rural Action Yorkshire’s work involves working closely with partners. Strengthening good working relationships between communities and local authorities is an important strand of our work, so we were delighted as discussions with Craven District Council developed into joint delivery of a series of Community Engagement events. Two successful events have already been held this summer: in Skipton and Grassington and a further 3 will be happening in Bentham, Sutton-in-Craven and Settle later in 2012. During the past year, RAY has been working with North Yorkshire and York Forum and the Active Communities project supporting communities to establish their own, fully volunteer-run libraries or additional volunteer-run services.

The level of dedication and commitment given by the groups has been astonishing and many have already launched and begun to run their services. An event was held in York at the end of September to bring the groups together as a prelude to establishing a network and discuss how this may best operate.

Digital Switchover 2012

On 27th September the analogue signal received by householders in North Yorkshire was switched off and the digital signal to these properties has been switched on. This has meant that for people in North Yorkshire watching television through an analogue aerial, that their screen simply went black. (cont…)

(...cont) To try and prevent this from happening Rural Action Yorkshire have been working with Digital UK to raise awareness throughout North Yorkshire of the switchover. Throughout July, August and September a team of officers have been touring around the area speaking to and recruiting community supporters from local shops, pubs, Post Offices, libraries and cafés, who may be aware of elderly, vulnerable or isolated members of their community who may not have received information about the switchover or who may have received it but don’t know what to do about it. The scheme has been very successful and officers have managed to speak to over 460 people, many of those people were willing to put up posters within their shop windows or have leaflets on the counter as well as coasters in the pubs and cafes. Officers also spoke to people who worked within the local community such as parish councilors and vicars. Revd Caroline Hewlett was once such vicar from the parish of Swaledele and Arkengarthdale. Caroline was in contact with many vulnerable parishioners through luncheon clubs and her church work and so was well placed to be able to identify those individuals who may have needed extra help.

The Newsletter of Rural Action Yorkshire 03

Snowdrop Project

- Do you know anyone who has suffered a loss and might benefit from practical support? - Are you willing to give time as a volunteer to offer support to someone who has lost their partner? If so we would love to hear from you. Rural Action Yorkshire has successfully secured funding from the ‘Silver Dreams Fund from the Big Lottery Fund’ in association with the Daily Mail, to deliver an innovative new project to provide practical support to recently bereaved individuals in rural Craven, Harrogate and Wakefield. When an older person loses their partner, not only do they lose their lifetime companion, they also lose the person that supported them in their day to day living. In a partnership or marriage, chores and activities in a shared life are often split, for example, one may take care of the bills, while another cooks. The project will provide support for single, older people to learn new skills from other people in a similar position, or to exchange services, such as a lift to go shopping. It will also pilot a skills exchange with younger people in the community and research possible credit exchange mechanisms to create a sustainable project beyond the lifetime of this project. Rural Action Yorkshire is delighted to be working with Age UK to deliver this work and support commenced in September. If you would like to become a volunteer offering practical support, such as cooking skills, IT or car maintenance, to a recently bereaved individual or know of someone who may benefit from this new service then please do get in touch. Please contact Joanna Bayton-Smith on 0845 313 0270.

Community Hubs

Rural Action Yorkshire is delighted to announce that it has received funding from North Yorkshire County Council to undertake an exciting new project. The funding received is to be used to provide preventative social care and early interventions through the establishment and support of 7 Community Hubs within the rural areas of North Yorkshire. The hubs will be developed within existing community buildings such as village halls, libraries and community centres, which currently act as a focal point for members of the local community and already have activities taking place. The project aims to build on the existing services within the local area, as well as developing new services, which will offer information, resources and community development support to vulnerable individuals and those more isolated members of the community. The project is keen to encourage new and innovative ideas and to support new services and activities identified by its users. Examples of services that may be encouraged to develop through this project would be activities such as: community cafés, allotments, drop-in centres, luncheon clubs, exercise classes, arts and crafts and other social activity groups. It is also hoped that the hubs could provide focused support for specific groups, such as those with dementia, mobility problems or the bereaved. As part of the project, RAY is in the process of setting up a small fund, to help hubs with some of the initial project set-up costs. We recognize that in the early stages of a project, it is often difficult to access funds to pay for things such as promotional material, printing and meeting room hire - we hope that access to small grants will encourage and give confidence to groups to consider and explore new initiatives. RAY has recently recruited a Community Hubs Development Officer, Tess McMahon, to work with groups and individuals and help develop and shape initiatives that meet their local needs. Tess will provide support to volunteers setting up projects within the indentified community hubs as well as helping the project steering groups devise a longer term plans to safeguard their project’s sustainability and promote a social enterprising approach. This will include assisting hub groups to make contact with local businesses, statutory organisations and both the private and public sector. To strengthen their focus on achieving sustainability, any groups who access funding from RAY will also be encouraged to repay a percentage of the initial costs. This will also have the benefit of putting money back into the pot for other groups to access in the future and extend the benefits derived. Tess is currently in the process of making contact with community buildings in North Yorkshire to identify which ones may be interested in the project and would like to establish a hub within their building. If your village hall, library, community centre or other community-based venue is interested in being part of this project, please contact Tess for more information. Details about the project can also be found on our website: www.ruralyorkshire.org.uk


Supported by:

CLP? DVD! WWW! Here at RAY, we receive many enquiries about community led planning and, with the recent introduction of Neighbourhood Planning, these have increased significantly. We recognised that there must be a certain frustration factor experienced by many of those seeking information when they realised they had to come back to us with further questions. Many of these were parish clerks who were relaying information to and from their parish councillors and who must have felt at times as if they were trying to piece together a rather difficult jigsaw puzzle. Those days are now gone! Thanks to funding from Basis South and West Yorkshire, RAY has created a CLP training DVD, which has been sent to all the parish councils in West and South Yorkshire. It has also been posted on the RAY website, so is freely available to access – visit our CLP pages online, or use your smartphone with the QR code below. Written and presented by RAY staff, the DVD aims to give a clear and comprehensive understanding about what community led planning is and what is involved in developing one. It contains seven ‘chapters’:

• What is CLP? • Getting started • Consulting your community • Prioritising and Planning • Drafting the Plan • Finalising and implementing actions • How RAY can help This format gives parish councils or other community groups interested in CLP the opportunity to access the information at their convenience and as often as they need. To really grasp the value of community led planning, having an idea of how communities can benefit should obviously be part of any parish council’s deliberations. To this end, we’ve included some examples of community actions resulting from development of CLPs – presented by Maggie Farey, our Officer in Ryedale.

The whole process of creating the DVD was new to those of us taking part and, it has to be said that, whilst it was undeniably a really interesting process, stepping in front of the camera is not for the faint-hearted – the lights were blinding and incredibly hot! (Though perhaps we should be grateful for at least one hot day this summer?)

In essence, the DVD aims to make our support to rural communities more accessible, whether they need the full picture or just want to be clear about a specific point. There will undoubtedly always be some elements of the process or details of our service you have questions about, which the DVD may not cover and we always welcome you getting in touch. Indeed, we look forward to hearing from you.


Community Rights

The new Community Rights within the Localism Act give communities more control about what happens in their local area. A package of support has been put in place for each of the Community Rights: Neighbourhood Planning –Local authorities can apply for £30,000 for each neighbourhood plan to help fund their support and pay towards the examination of plans and a local referendum. If you are thinking of undertaking a neighbourhood plan contact your local planning authority to discuss whether they are willing to apply for the funding. Community Right to Challenge – Pre-feasibility grants of up to £10,000 - are on offer to help organisations build internal capacity to take over a local service they believe they can run more effectively. Up to an additional £100,000 is then available to organisations that show strong potential to help compete in a procurement process. Community Right to Bid – Community groups can apply for grants to support them take on ownership of assets to be transferred from public ownership, for example village shops, pubs, community buildings, allotments and heritage libraries. Grants of between £10,000 and £100,000 are available. Community Right to Build – Support is available for communities wanting to deliver a development where the benefits will be retained by the community for the community. Community groups can apply for a share of £17.5m to development a proposal before the end of March 2015. For further information on funding available for the Right to Challenge, Bid or Build contact the Community Rights Service at www.communityrights.org.uk or call 0845 3454564. For more information on Neighbourhood Planning contact Amanda Kent at RAY on 0845 313 0270.

Broadening Broadband Register Your Interest North Yorkshire County Council (NYCC) recently signed a contract with BT to deploy fibre in the region. That means some 365,000 premises will have access to broadband speeds of up to 80Mbps by the end of 2014 and 90% getting access to speeds above 24Mbps. The remaining 10% of premises will also see a speed uplift as the project aims to deliver 2Mbps or more by the end of 2014 to all homes and businesses. With funding from the Active Communities Project and as a partner to the Superfast Broadband North Yorkshire project, RAY is currently working with the 7 NY District Councils and York City Council to engage those communities in the remaining 10%. By encouraging people to come forward to register their need and interest in having faster Broadband, NYCC will be able to present those communities’ needs as a commercially viable ‘package’ to the independent internet service providers (ISPs), who have undergone a rigorous selection process to qualify. The more attractive the ‘package’, the more interest there is likely to be by those ISPs in bidding for the contract to supply that particular community’s Broadband needs. A crucial element of engaging communities for this purpose rests on first identifying ‘Community Champions’ – those living and working in these areas, who have local knowledge and are willing to raise awareness among their friends and neighbours about the importance of securing faster broadband and the need for interest to be registered – a role fully supported by RAY and Council Officers and not, as some may think, requiring technical know-how. RAY has already worked with Selby region who were wonderfully supported by a strong team of Community Champions. They had great results from their information gathering; taking advantage of the Jubilee Weekend, they were able to speak to a lot of people in their villages at local celebrations. More recently, in the Esk Valley area, where the landscape is more challenging and villages are more dispersed, an event was held at Egton Village Hall to both raise awareness of the project and encourage more local people to become Community Champions. If you live in Arkengarthdale, Gargrave and Malhamdale and would like to champion faster Broadband for your community, please get in touch with us. An important tool is the ‘Broadband Speed Test and Demand Tool’ developed by NYCC. Now available on our website too, this will allow people to both test the ‘speed’ of Broadband they receive and register their interest in faster Broadband –a simple exercise that will provide invaluable information and help lead to the vital improvements.

Well Done Wilton

Rural Action Yorkshire was delighted to present Wilton Village Hall with their award at Ryedale’s award ceremony in September. RAY sponsored the Village Hall of the Year category as we believe it is so important to have a vibrant village hall. They are a place to meet and somewhere where the calendar of events in rural life take place. The village hall is at the heart of a community and provides a vital resource for support for many isolated people. There are also so many volunteers who give up their time freely to look after the building so that everyone in the community can have access to a warm and inviting place where a variety of activities can take place. These volunteers have such a big responsibility, keeping the building fit for purpose, making sure they keep up to date with legislation that is complex and difficult to understand and that’s before they start to make sure their hall is in a healthy financial state. So this award wasn’t just about the village hall of the year but much more about the village hall management

committee who keep it all going. We felt that Wilton Village Hall, which is still a work in progress, articulated their journey really well. They demonstrated that with vision, commitment and a hell of a lot of effort they could, in their own words, “turn itself around in a short period by people encouraging and motivating each other to achieve their aims”. The aim of this community was a hall that would serve their community and help it to thrive in the future and we are sure they will achieve


Charities: Check

Your Status

The Community Accounting Network North Yorkshire (CANNY) is urging local charities to check their status on the Charity Register after an investigation earlier this year uncovered nearly 200 registered charities, based in the York & North Yorkshire region, were listed as defaulting. Vin Mc Dermott, Lead Community Accountant for the project said “The investigation was carried out as part of our work towards improving compliance amongst local charities and we subsequently wrote to each of these charities offering our free support to put things right”. “In the vast majority of cases, these charities had failed to submit their Annual Return within the statutory 10 month deadline, triggering their entry onto the charity commission’s defaulter’s list of charities with due documents overdue” Submitting an Annual Return (or Annual Update) to the Charity Commission within 10 months of their financial year end is a regulatory requirement for all Registered Charities, regardless of turnover, and failure to do so can have significant consequences. This was highlighted recently after CANNY came across two local charities that were completely unaware they had been struck off the Charity Register by the Commission having failed to submit Annual Returns or respond to correspondence over a number of years. In both cases it turned out the registered contact details (those of a former trustee) had never been updated by the charity trustees. View the Charity Register at www.charity-commission.gov.uk or contact your local Community Accountant via www.canny.org.uk for more help.

A Celebration of Rural Life

Rural Action Yorkshire’s AGM 2012

We are now in the final stages of planning this year’s AGM where we will be celebrating rural life. The AGM will be part of a wider event where we will explore how to live more sustainably and live the ‘Good Life’ under increased financial constraints. The whole family is welcome to join us and enjoy demonstrations, meeting chickens and alpacas and learning more about getting involved in your rural community. Find out how to start a new project where you live: how can you set up allotments? An orchard? We can also help you with bigger projects such as improving broadband, running your own library, or running a big consultation in your village. Adults and youngsters alike can try traditional crafts such as weaving, rag rugs or wickerwork and there will be homemade cakes and refreshments available. Meet the bee-keepers, cider-makers and see a potter in action! The Good Life event runs 10am-1pm and there is no need to book for this. Everyone is welcome. Husthwaite Community Orchard (from Hambleton) will be showcasing their fruit juices and ciders at the event. Their project saw the planting of 500 trees and they now produce and sell their own products. Profits then benefit other village activities. Hovingham and Slingsby (both in Ryedale) received help from RAY to carry out Community Led Plans and a number of popular initiatives have since taken shape. The October event will include information on Hovingham’s award-winning market and Slingsby’s allotments. Our AGM will be chaired by our President, Lord Crathorne and following the meeting our Members can attend a choice of workshops: Neighbourhood Plans, Setting up a Farmers’ Market, Localism Rights and Rural Broadband. Leah Swain, Chief Officer said “there are many fantastic projects going on in Yorkshire’s rural communities and this is an opportunity to bring some of them together and hopefully to inspire others to have a go too. The chance to network is always popular at our events and this time the whole family can come along, get ideas and have a go at something new.” The event is being held on Saturday 20th October 2012 at Whixley Village Hall, North Yorkshire.


Yorkshire Venues

We are very pleased to be able to launch a newly created website to help bring together and share information about community run venues across North Yorkshire. This website has been created by the Lottery Funded North Yorkshire Rural Voice project. The project, running since 2009, has been supporting rural community groups to help them continue to access advice and training; and to influence policy. The project has been delivered by 8 partners: Ryedale Voluntary Action, Seachange, Rural Action Yorkshire, Ripon Council for Voluntary Service, Richmond Council for Voluntary Service, Northallerton and District Voluntary Services Association, Craven Council for Voluntary Service, York Racial Equality Network. During 2011 many community venues told us that they needed help to expand their client base and market themselves in an appropriate and cost effective manner. To enable this, Rural Voice Officers created venue directories across North Yorkshire. We then decided to bring these all together in one website for all to use. All of the venues on the existing directories were asked for their permission to add their details onto the site, and have received a log on account to enable them to update the content to suit their needs. They can add plenty of information to market the venue, including full facilities lists and photos. It should enable a venue to increase their client base and give the end user more options on where to hold an event. We particularly want to show potential users the benefits in terms of cost and location, of using a community run venue. In response to feedback from halls we hope to encourage users to consider these venues for weddings and business meetings. At present the website just covers North Yorkshire with the exception of the Selby District, but we would like to increase the coverage to all of Yorkshire in the future. For more information visit www.yorkshirevenues.org.uk or email [email protected]

RCB Training Modules Members can now take a look at our online training and find out what they need to know about managing a community building. The training is divided into 7 chapters and covers topics such as insurance, music licences and sale of alcohol. Over the last few years there has been a shift towards the ‘self-regulation’ of community buildings. This short series of training modules will take you through the changes to the regulations so that you can be confident you are doing things correctly. We have also created a series of How To Guides which cover topics such as Managing Volunteers, Governance, Finance and Energy Efficiency. Download them from the website or email [email protected]. These resources are all available free to members of RAY.

Join a Community

Buildings Network RAY is currently supporting a number of community buildings networks across Yorkshire. The networks, facilitated by RAY, allow groups to come together and share knowledge and experiences of managing community facilities and highlight issues and needs around training. The benefits of joining a network are:

• Increases your confidence.

• Raises the profile of your community building.

• Gives you the opportunity to meet new friends and gain a support system- it can be lonely on your own!

• Increases your knowledge through information-sharing with other community building committee members.

• Allows you to share your expertise- let others know your experiences.

• Discover new opportunities and increase the potential for increasing turnover.

The Rotherham Community Buildings Network met for the second time in October 2012 where the group received training on setting a vision, marketing of their community building and how to write a good funding application. The next meeting of the network will be 5th February 2013 at Aston Parish Hall. For more information about the network in Rotherham or for details of other networks across South Yorkshire, please contact Melanie on 07757 639929 or [email protected]. In North Yorkshire preliminary meetings have been held around Hovingham and Scagglethorpe, with interest also shown in having a Network around the East Rounton area. The good news is that North Yorkshire now has a part-time officer in post to take these initiatives forward. This has been resourced by the Lottery Basis funding allocated to the Rural Voice project. For more information about the networks in North Yorkshire, contact Sarah on 07540 691028 or email [email protected]


Pro-active Penistone People

Village Halls Campaign As we write this issue, ACRE, our national organisation, is leading a campaign that aims to raise awareness of and highlight what rural communities could lose if the support needs for volunteers and the halls they manage are not adequately addressed. This launched with a new publication on 24th September and culminates on 11th October. There are over 10,000 village halls in England each one providing a vital venue for services and activities to take place in their community. Demand for the skills, experience and knowledge that RAY and colleagues in other Counties can provide is increasing but face to face, community development type support services are reducing. The provision of electronic communications play an important role in today’s changing society but provision of websites and online training and advice should enhance the services already available not replace them. ACRE believes that Government, local authorities and other policy makers need to work together nationally and locally to decide how their reduced resources can be invested to maintain the delivery of RCAN’s valuable support service. ACRE and its 38 member organisations, of which we are one, have been asking that you support the campaign by passing on information locally to your local authority, MP, media outlets and also by making your users more aware of how the hall is managed. We will post an update from the campaign on our website.

Government’s Rural Statement

This has just been published and sets out Government’s support for

rural areas through a broad range of policies across Government

departments. Its three key priorities are:

Economic Growth; Rural Engagement ; Quality of Life.

Central to these priorities are initiatives such as work on rural

broadband and mobile phone networks to improve rural connectivity.

The Rural Statement also recognises that local Government, the

voluntary and private sectors each have a crucial role in delivering the

services that rural people depend upon and it highlights the policies and

good practice that are helping people to take local action, to meet their

own needs.

The statement makes clear that Government are working to ensure that

rural circumstances are understood in national policy-making; enabling

local authorities to deliver services more effectively on the ground; and

empowering communities to identify and address their own local

priorities.

The Statement sets out a positive new agenda for Rural England, a

contract with rural areas, so that the government can be accountable on

their promise to grow the rural economy and support thriving rural

communities.

Case Study:

Hatfield Hatfield is a village of around 4,000 people in the Doncaster area of South Yorkshire. The community of Hatfield decided to develop a village plan and formed the Hatfield Village Forum. There was over 50% participation by local residents and support from Hatfield Town Council. After almost a year of questionnaires and consultation with the community and with the help of RAY to analyse the data, Hatfield produced its Village Plan. The first large project to develop from the plan has been the Village Watch Scheme. Currently with over 60 member subscribers to the scheme can receive text messages to their mobile or landline about local criminal activity in the area. In this way members can possibly reduce their house insurance by being members and keep up to date with any issues happening in the village. Anne Hammond is the new full-time Community Development Worker for the Hatfield Town area. She is employed by Hatfield Town Council and is based at the Council Offices on Cuckoo Lane. Her role is to support groups in the villages of Dunscroft, Dunsville, Hatfield, Hatfield Woodhouse and Lindholme to reach their full potential. If you would like to discuss your project then pick up the phone and ring Anne on 01302 845413 or email [email protected] and she will try her best to help you. For more information on Community Led or Village Planning support from RAY contact Amanda Kent on 0845 313 0270. For support for rural groups in South Yorkshire contact Melanie Swanwick on 07757 639929.


(...cont) solutions of fuel poverty, the Green Deal and other energy saving initiatives. The Energy Days will be open to everyone to drop in and find more about energy saving ideas, renewable technologies, grants, how to set up an oil buying co-operative and lots of useful information about how to save money and keep warm. For more information contact Kathryn, tel: 0845 313 0270 or email: [email protected]

Green Deal and Eco The Green Deal programme starts in October, and the Government hopes it will encourage home owners to take out loans to improve the energy efficiency of their properties, to keep their homes warm and reduce their energy bills. The idea is that people will be able to pay for some or all of the work done with the savings expected on energy bills. ECO, a subsidy from the energy suppliers will provide extra help for those most in need and for properties which are hard to treat. This will be important as more and more households are being hit by the rising cost of gas, electricity and oil and it is commonly recognised that fuel-poor households use less energy than more affluent ones but are more likely to live in inefficient homes without double glazing, enough insulation or an inefficient boiler, many will not even have proper heating controls. How will the Green Deal work? There will be two assessments to help consumers see for themselves how much they stand to save. The first assessment will take account of the average energy use of the home, and the second will look at how the occupants use the home so they can enter the green deal knowing how best to maximise what they will save. The green deal charge will be fixed from the beginning and is designed to ensure money is saved based on existing energy prices, so if energy prices rise then savings will increase. To qualify for a loan the householder must satisfy the ‘Golden Rule’. The loan repayments made by the homeowner must be less than, or equal to, the savings on their energy bill. Measures can include upgrading loft insulation; insulating loft hatch and loft storage boards; upgrading cavity wall insulation; installing flue gas heat recovery in boilers; external wall insulation and renewable heat and energy generation products. However the expected income from the Feed-in Tariff cannot be used to help meet the Golden Rule and the Renewable Heat Incentive payments will be conditional on making Green Deal thermal efficiency improvements to the property.

North Yorkshire Village Hall Insulation Funding Yorkshire Energy Partnership can offer 75% towards the cost of the insulation - up to a maximum of £1,000, subject to survey. Call 01904 554408 for details.

Oil Buying Co-operatives We at Rural Action Yorkshire take fuel poverty very seriously which is why we offer a wide range of support to rural communities. Setting up an oil buying co-operative We can offer advice on how you can reduce the cost of heating oil by supporting the development of the co-operative and put you in touch with existing co-operatives. We have developed a tool kit which gives you step by step advice, templates and ideas of how to run it. Want to know more about Fuel Poverty and Affordable Warmth? We can also support communities with advice on how to get the best energy deal from energy suppliers, how to keep warm and save money, We have information on the causes and solutions to fuel poverty and work with a wide range of specialist support agencies to make sure we deliver up to date and accurate information and advice.

Calor FREE - Energy Advice Project The Calor FREE Project is a rural energy advice programme, aimed at communities that are not on the mains gas grid across the North Yorkshire area. The programme brings practical independent advice and information to residents regarding fuel choices, energy efficient technologies, and carbon reduction measures. As part of the Calor FREE project this Autumn and Winter we are working across the region, in off-grid areas. We will be working closely with National Energy Action (NEA) a charity campaigning on Fuel Poverty issues and together we will be holding three energy conferences and three energy days. The first conference is already taking shape and will be held in Nidderdale in October. The themes of the conferences will be looking at the causes and (cont...)


The Last Word... As summer fades into autumn, with the recognised chill in the air in the morning and evening, it reminds us to check our resources for winter. At least at home we can add an extra layer to take us through, whether an extra log on the fire or a scarf to wrap around us. But what extra resources does our community need? Can we still count on people both at local and regional level? Are there enough ‘bodies’ to help with the stalls at the fetes, jumble sales, coffee mornings or parish & church gatherings, is there surfeit of volunteers [I wish!!] or are we just relying on the people who have always ‘volunteered’. Are there new faces in your area, do they blend and mix into your community. Have they received any type of welcome? Or do we expect them to just be there. Our AGM at Whixley in October [RAY continues to use village or parish halls, that are members, for any of our events] is real chance for our communities to come along and glean first hand knowledge of local infrastructure. Should you be reading this after the event then I hope that the ‘Good Life event’ was able to inspire you to be involved or to reinforce your commitment to our rural life. RAY will also be putting the issues of our communities to the Rural Affairs Minister at the 25th Anniversary conference of ACRE – Action with Communities in Rural England, again in October. Linda Lloyd Chairman chairman@ ruralyorkshire. org.uk

Meet a Trustee: Mike Feist All RAY Members pay a subscription which supports the work of our charity. But who helps to run the organisation and gives their expertise and time to our Trustee Board? Mike Feist is one of RAY’s Trustees and has a background in town and country planning. CA Can you tell us more about your previous work? MF I spent over 40 years working with and advising government departments and related agencies, local authorities, voluntary organisations and the private sector across a wide spectrum of rural planning issues. I’ve always been interested in the countryside and the way of life of those who live and work there and planning has provided an ideal opportunity to contribute to rural well-being in its widest sense. I came to Yorkshire in 1984 when working for the Countryside Commission for whom, in addition to planning casework, I took on responsibility for the designation of both the Howardian Hills and Nidderdale AONBs, for piloting Village Design Statements and managing the Local Heritage Initiative programme in the region. CA How did you come to get involved with our charity? MF I had some involvement in the 1980s but my subsequent work with the Countryside Agency on sustainable development and affordable rural housing, led to greater contact and more so when I transferred to the Government Office for Yorkshire and the Humber, where one of my roles was to implement Defra’s Rural Social and Communities Programme. This aimed at helping organisations like RAY and partnerships like the Rural Affairs Forum ‘to operate more effectively’, government-speak for saying ‘with less government funding!’ CA The Government has made changes to planning recently. What are your views on this? MF I feel it is sending very mixed messages on planning. It has already increased fears that development proposals for new housing are regarded as necessary for economic recovery will trump all other planning considerations such as social mix, good design and environmental factors, including Green Belt status. In theory the government’s welcome initiative on Neighbourhood Plans could help to allay such fears but there remains considerable ambiguity on how far decision-making will really be devolved to the local level. Much will depend on how far communities are prepared to get collective hands dirty in actively planning for appropriate development, and in facing up to NIMBYism rather than leaving tough decisions to local authorities.


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