‘Building something better’: the UK residents retrofitting their homes amid the climate crisis, theguardian.com (Aug 03, 2024) — From weekly skills-sharing to rewilding streets, communities are working to improve the planet while bolstering the health of people- High-street regeneration has to start with community trust and care, theconversation.com (Nov 21, 2023)
- Revealed: the UK’s ‘best’ new buildings, positive.news (Oct 23, 2023)
Community action Projects[edit | edit source]
Networks and sustainability initiatives[edit | edit source]
- BuildHUB, social network aimed at the self-build community, link checked 11:58, 5 August 2023 (UTC)
Resources[edit | edit source]
Video[edit | edit source]
more video:
Invest in Green Infrastructure on youtube
3Space - Turning Empty Space into an Opportunity on youtube
How to's[edit | edit source]
- How to Create Streets: a communities' guide createstreets.com
- How to CREATE STRETS - a councillors' guide, createstreets.com
- HowToPopUp, Empty Shops wiki
- How To Get Planning Permission on Non-Development Land, Permaculture Magazine, 2012
- Local Sustainable Homes, How to Make Them Happen in Your Community, Chris Bird, October 2010
Book reviews
- 'How to Save Town Centres' by Julian Dobson. Transition Network, March 31, 2015
Maps[edit | edit source]
Citizens data initiative[edit | edit source]
- Where could a parklet be installed to improve access to green space and give streets back to people and nature? Parklet Plotter from wearepossible.org, added 09:33, 23 September 2022 (UTC)
Past events[edit | edit source]
Sep 25, 2022 (Sun) — Pop up Parklets Day 2022, theparkletscampaign.com
Other resources[edit | edit source]
- 100 ways to help the high street, information from the Local Government Association
- Cheap (potentially free) to build & free to run houses, Permaculture Magazine, 2013
- Collaborative Planning for All guide published by Civic Voice with support from JTP
- Green Infrastructure Valuation Toolkit, Green Infrastructure North West
- Permeable surfacing of front gardens: guidance, information from Gov.uk
- Planning Aid provides free urban and environmental planning advice to individuals and community groups who cannot afford to pay a professional consultant, via a number of charitable organizations throughout the UK. W
- Spinwatch report on lobbying & abuses in planning, Anna Minton, March 2013 (PDF)
- Susdrain, Free interactive community supporting the delivery of sustainable drainage (managed by CIRIA) W
- Ten simple ways to make your street a safe and green place to live, sustrans.org.uk
Rainwater harvesting[edit | edit source]
Rainwater harvesting in the United Kingdom is a practice of growing importance. Rainwater harvesting in the UK is both a traditional and reviving technique for collecting water for domestic uses and is generally used for non-hygienic purposes like watering gardens, flushing toilets, and washing clothes. In commercial premises like supermarkets it is used for things like toilet flushing where larger tank systems can be used collecting between 1000 and 7500 litres of water. It is claimed that in the South East of England there is less water available per person than in many Mediterranean countries.
Rainwater is almost always collected strictly from the roof, then heavily filtered using either a filter attached to the down pipe, a fine basket filter or for more expensive systems like self-cleaning filters placed in an underground tank. UK homes using some form of rainwater harvesting system can reduce their mains water usage by 50% or more, although a 20-30% saving is more common. At the present time (depending upon where you live in the UK) mains water delivery and equivalent waste water and sewerage processing costs about £2 per cubic metre. Reducing mains-water metered volumes also reduces the sewerage and sewage disposal costs in the same proportion, because water company billing assumes that all water taken into the house is discharged into the sewers.
In recent years, rainwater harvesting has become more common due to increasing water prices. While rainwater harvesting has been employed in high-profile facilities like the velodrome of the London Olympic Park, the UK's ongoing revival has lagged behind other countries such as Germany (the present world leader in modern rainwater harvesting). At present, only about 400 RWH systems are installed in the UK every year. Water butts are often found in domestic gardens and on allotments to collect rainwater, which is then used to water the garden. Rainwater harvesting at large scale may well be appropriate for farms as part of a catchment management strategy to decrease flood risk and diffuse pollution. W
See also: Rainwater harvesting
Neighbourhood Planning[edit | edit source]
- Neighbourhood planning in a climate emergency, cse.org.uk, Feb 2020, added 16:30, 5 December 2020 (UTC)
- Low Carbon Neighbourhood Planning
Since 2012, (and as of Sep 2017) over 2,200 groups have started the neighbourhood planning process, covering areas of nearly 12 million people across England. Over 400 successful neighbourhood planning referendums have now taken place, with an average 'yes' vote of 88%.[1]
- Neighbourhood Planning, Planning Aid England
- Neighbourhood Planning, information from My Community
- Affordable and community-led housing, information from My Community
- Neighbourhood planning, Woodland Trust
- Crowd-sourced #NeighbourhoodPlanning Bibliography
- A Transition Guide to Neighbourhood Plans
Campaigns[edit | edit source]
- Empty Homes, works to help people create homes from empty properties and campaigns for more empty homes to be brought into use for the benefit of those in housing need. W
See also[edit | edit source]
- Housing UK community action resources
- Community resources UK
- Cycling UK
- Food UK
- Localism UK
- Road safety UK
- Rural sustainability UK
- Sharing UK
- Sustainable transport UK
- Towards a more democratic and climate friendly way of meeting housing need across England
local information can be found, or shared, via our many UK location pages
External links
- Wikipedia: Rainwater harvesting in the United Kingdom, Town and country planning in the United Kingdom (category)
- 3space
- Association for Environment Conscious Building, network for sustainable building professionals in the United Kingdom. Membership of the AECB includes local authorities, housing associations, builders, architects, designers, consultants and manufacturers. The Association was Founded in 1989 to increase awareness within the construction industry of the need to respect, protect, preserve and enhance the environment and to develop, share and promote best practice in environmentally sustainable building. W
- Centre for Accessible Environments
- Cittaslow UK
- Civic Voice
- CommuniTree
- Create Streets
- Empty Shops Network
- Landscape Institute W
- livingroofs.org
- National Custom & Self Build Association
- NOVUS/Public Planners
- PublicRealm.org, create elegant, practical, safe streets
- Town and Country Planning Association, independent charity which campaigns for the reform of the UK's planning system to make it more responsive to people's needs and aspirations and to promote sustainable development. Representing the views of membership organizations and individuals from local authorities, planning academics and practitioners under the policy guidance of its Policy Council, the TCPA claims to put social justice and the environment at the heart of policy debate and aims to inspire government, industry and campaigners to take a fresh perspective on major issues. W
References
