Community action/West Sussex
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| Location | West Sussex, South East England |
| Coordinates | 50° 52' 16.87" N, 0° 0' 9.97" E |
The aim of this page is to recognise, celebrate and encourage the self-empowerment of community agency networks (CANs) and community groups' activism for climate, environment and many other sustainability topics across West Sussex.
News
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How a ‘dysfunctional’ English farm became a biodiversity hotspot, positive.news (Jan 16, 2026) — Two-decade ecological review of the Knepp rewilding estate in Sussex, finds 900% increase in breeding birds.- Legal challenge begins against Gatwick expansion, BBC News (Oct 15, 2025)
- Bottom trawling ban hailed by fishing groups, BBC News (Sep 29, 2025) — Fishing campaigners say a bottom trawling ban in West Sussex could be a "blueprint of success" for other parts of the South East
- Record-breaking heat and dry spring leave parts of England without water, reuters.com (May 29, 2026)
- Quarter of England at risk of water shortages (Mar 28, 2026) — less water in the system than planners are currently preparing for will have a knock-on effect on new housing developments
- What happens when the taps run dry? England is about to find out, Aditya Chakrabortty, theguardian.com (Jan 22, 2026)
- Record-breaking heat and dry spring leave parts of England without water, reuters.com (May 29, 2026)
- Britain’s green transition should belong to everyone. Why is Labour so intent on stopping us having our say? George Monbiot, theguardian.com (May 27, 2026)
- The English restaurant turning hospitality on its head, positive.news (May 27, 2026) — At a pay-as-you-can restaurant in Stroud, radical hospitality and good food are bringing strangers together
- Amsterdam, along with other major European cities, bans public adverts for meat and fossil fuels [BBC], Daily Alternative (May 22, 2026)
- How reindeer herds, nature and Sámi culture can thrive when forests are restored across northern Europe, theconversation.com (May 15, 2026)
- Rewilding giants: captive elephants rehomed in Europe’s first sanctuary, theguardian.com (May 07, 2026)
- Amsterdam, along with other major European cities, bans public adverts for meat and fossil fuels [BBC], Daily Alternative (May 22, 2026)
- Solidarity fields in Syria: Reviving local seed production, globalvoices.org (May 21, 2026) — A community garden on Damascus's edge is quietly rebuilding Syria's agricultural memory
- How reindeer herds, nature and Sámi culture can thrive when forests are restored across northern Europe, theconversation.com (May 15, 2026)
Networks and sustainability initiatives
[edit | edit source]- Transition Chichester
- Transition Town Worthing
- Transition Horsham on facebook.com
UK and international events
[edit | edit source]UK events
Jun 1 - 7, 2026 (Mon - Sun) — Volunteers Week, celebrating and saying thank you to the millions of volunteers across the UK, volunteersweek.org- Jun 1 - 7, 2026 (Mon - Sun) — Neighbourhood Watch Week, ourwatch.org.uk
- Jun 5 - 8, 2026 (Fri - Mon) — The Big Lunch, the first weekend in June every year, everyone is invited, anyone can join in and whatever food people bring to the table is there to be shared, edenprojectcommunities.com
- Jun 6 - 14, 2026 (Sat-Sun) — Great Big Green Week, celebrating communities taking action to tackle climate change and protect green spaces, greatbiggreenweek.com
- Jun 07, 2026 (Sun) — Open Farm Sunday, farmsunday.org
- Jun 8 - 14, 2026 (Mon - Sun) — Bike Week, annual celebration showcasing cycling and how brilliant it is!, cyclinguk.org
- Jun 8 - 14, 2026 (Mon - Sun) — Carers Week, carersweek.org
- Jun 15 - 21, 2026 (Mon - Sun) — Loneliness Awareness Week, lonelinessawarenessweek.org
- Jun 15 - 21, 2026 (Mon - Sun) — Better Transport Week, annual, week-long celebration of sustainable transport, bettertransport.org.uk
- Jun 15 - 21, 2026 (Mon - Sun) — Refugee Week, refugeeweek.org.uk
- Jun 18, 2026 (Thu) — Clean Air Day, actionforcleanair.org.uk
- Jun 19 - 21, 2026 (Fri - Sun) — The Great Get Together, annual celebration organised by The Jo Cox Foundation, helping unite people, bridge divides, and tackle loneliness, while showing the collective power we have as a community, jocoxfoundation.org
- Jun 29 - Jul 3, 2026 (Mon - Fri) — National Co-production Week, scie.org.uk
Global or international events
- Jun 03, 2026 (Wed) — World Bicycle Day, The bicycle is a "symbol of sustainable transport and conveys a positive message to foster sustainable consumption and production, and has a positive impact on climate." (United Nations), June 3 each year, un.org
- Jun 05, 2026 (Fri) — World Environment Day, June 5, annually, worldenvironmentday.global
- Jun 08, 2026 (Mon) — World Oceans Day, June 8 each year, worldoceanday.org
- Jun 12, 2026 (Fri) — World Day Against Child Labour, every year on June 12, ilo.org
- Jun 17, 2026 (Wed) — World Day to Combat Desertification and Drought, each June 17, un.org
- Jun 21 and all of June — World Localization Day, worldlocalizationday.org
- Jun 22, 2026 (Mon) — World Rainforest Day, June 22 is World Rainforest Day, worldrainforestday.org
2021-2030, UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration, International community action events
CDC videos
[edit | edit source]Each week 3 different short videos from across the UK or world.
Rural sustainability UK, Community energy UK, Community action/Argyll and Bute / ...This week's featured Global videos / ... read more about Cosmolocalism
West Sussex video
[edit | edit source]
Food activism
[edit | edit source]Community energy
[edit | edit source]- Ferry Farm community solar, added 16:44, 9 April 2020 (UTC)
- Meadow Blue Community Energy
- REPOWERBalcombe, community project to generate enough clean, renewable energy locally to meet all of the village's electricity needs.
Housing and land
[edit | edit source]- Sussex Community Housing Hub, established to provide essential support for communities across Sussex wishing to pursue successful community led housing projects. 'added 16:20, 17 December 2021 (UTC)
See also: Towards a more democratic and climate friendly way of meeting housing need across England, Housing UK news
Climate action
[edit | edit source]- Climate Resilience Centre Worthing, charity formed from an association of local groups working together to help deliver events, information and workshops on climate justice and a wide variety of other topics, added 16:46, 11 March 2024 (UTC)
- Adur and Worthing Climate Assembly, September and December 2020. 18 recommendations covering biodiversity, education, energy use, planning, transport, waste reduction and recycling put before leaders of Adur & Worthing Councils' at the Joint Strategic Committee, in January 2021...Adur and Worthing Councils, Jan 5, 2021.
Sustainable transport activism
[edit | edit source]Walking: Wikipedia: Footpaths in West Sussex (category), South Downs Way
Waterways: The River Wey and Wey Navigations Community Site, non-commercial site of over 200,000 words all about the River Wey including information and images about the source of the Wey at Black Down in West Sussex - The Wey & Arun Canal Trust - Wikipedia: Wey and Arun Canal
Ecosystem retoration
[edit | edit source]- Sussex Bay, vision: "100 miles of coastline where our seascape and rivers flourish. A healthy blue ecosystem in which nature, people and local economy can thrive." Video: Sussex Bay - official channel on youtube.com
Biodiversity
[edit | edit source]Community projects
- Wilder Horsham District, sussexwildlifetrust.org.uk, 5 year project, begun in October 2020, working closely with local communities and landowners to deliver a Nature Recovery Network for Horsham District.
- Gatwick Greenspace Partnership, sussexwildlifetrust.org.uk, community project working to benefit people, wildlife and the countryside between Horsham, Crawley, Horley, Reigate and Dorking.
Sussex Wildlife Trust
The Sussex Wildlife Trust (SWT) is a conservation charity which aims to protect natural life in Sussex. It was founded in 1961 and is one of 46 wildlife trusts across the UK and the Isle of Man and Alderney. As of 2024, it had 38,000 members and manages 2,000 hectares (5,000 acres) of land for nature. It is a registered charity and in the year to 31 March 2019 it had an income of £5.7 million and expenditure of £4 million, resulting in net income of £1.7 million.
The SWT manages twenty-six nature reserves in the county. Nineteen are Sites of Special Scientific Interest, one is a national nature reserve, eleven are local nature reserves, eight are Special Areas of Conservation, three are Special Protection Areas, three are Ramsar sites and seven are Nature Conservation Review sites. Its headquarters at Woods Mill, south of Henfield, is also a nature reserve with a lake, woodland and meadows.
The historic county of Sussex is divided into the administrative counties of East Sussex and West Sussex. The South Downs stretches across the county from west to east. This area is chalk and to the north is the Weald, which is composed of heavy clays and sand. The coast has a succession of holiday towns such as Brighton, Eastbourne, Bognor Regis and Worthing.
Rewilding
[edit | edit source]Knepp Wildland is the first major lowland rewilding project in England. It comprises 1,400 hectares (3,500 acres) of former arable and dairy farmland in the grounds of Knepp Castle, in West Sussex.
Since 2000 when the conversion from intensive agriculture started, the land now supports many rare species including turtle doves, barbastelle bats, slow-worms and barred grass snakes; it has become a major nesting site for nightingales; a breeding hotspot for purple emperor butterflies; the site of the first white stork chicks raised in the wild in England for 600 years, and is home to the first beavers living in the wild in Sussex for 400 years. On 17 November 2021, the very rare vagrant emperor dragonfly (Anax ephippiger) was discovered in one field.
- knepp.co.uk, added 17:43, 6 December 2021 (UTC)
Coastal community activism
[edit | edit source]- Wild Coast Sussex, sussexwildlifetrust.org.uk/
- Sussex Kelp Restoration Project, sussexwildlifetrust.org.uk
News archive
[edit | edit source]- Legal challenge begins against Gatwick expansion, BBC News (Oct 15, 2025)
- Bottom trawling ban hailed by fishing groups, BBC News (Sep 29, 2025) — Fishing campaigners say a bottom trawling ban in West Sussex could be a "blueprint of success" for other parts of the South East
- South East hosepipe ban comes into force, BBC News (Jul 18, 2025)
- Storrington joins Knepp to become UK’s European Stork Village, storrington.org.uk (Mar 17, 2025)
- How restoring rivers' natural curves can prevent flooding, BBC Future (Sep 19, 2024)
- ‘Give nature space and it will come back’: rewilding returns endangered species to UK’s south coast, theguardian.com (Jun 27, 2024)
- ‘Does rewilding sort climate change? Yes!’: UK expert says nature can save planet and not harm farming, theguardian.com (Feb 25, 2024)
- Kent and Sussex hosepipe ban announced amid water shortage, BBC News (Jun 19, 2023)
- The ‘lost’ underwater forests that came back from the dead, positive.news (Jun 06, 2023)
- Hosepipe ban announced for Kent and Sussex, BBC News (Aug 03, 2022)
- How Sussex farmers plan to rewild a nature-rich green corridor to the sea, The Guardian (Jul 22, 2022)
- Appeal for water customers to be mindful when turning on the tap, southeastwater.co.uk (Jul 11, 2022) — South East Water is asking people to be mindful of the amount of water they are using as hot temperatures push up demand beyond levels expected for the time of year. Water latest, southeastwater.co.uk
The activist entrepreneurs running zero-waste shops, Aug 6, 2021...bbc.co.uk/news
- West Sussex community solar farm delivers 5MW to grid, Jun 28, 2016...businessgreen.com
- Balcombe 'fracking village' gets green light to go 100% solar, October 1, 2015...The Guardian
- Crawley Council sees itself as a carbon cutting champion, August 10, 2015...crawley.gov.uk, press release. The council is keen to hear public suggestions for CO2 reduction across the town and is asking people to get their thinking caps on and email in bright ideas.
- Local Food in Chichester; Report published online, May 5, 2014...Transition Chichester
About West Sussex
[edit | edit source]Past events
- April 12 - 13, 2014, Eco Open Houses Worthing
Campaigns
- A green new deal for Gatwick, greennewdealuk.org, 25 November 2020
- Save Our South Coast Alliance an alliance of individuals and groups involved in promoting the environment, community, and economy of Chichester's coastal plain. "...excessive centrally allocated housing quotas handed down from government threaten our ability and ambition to protect our communities, environment, wildlife and economy from the inevitable impact of climate change on our low lying coastal plain." added 17:46, 24 August 2020 (UTC)
West Sussex is a ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Surrey to the north, East Sussex to the east, the English Channel to the south, and Hampshire to the west. The largest settlement is Crawley.
The county has a land area of 1,991 square kilometres (769 sq mi) and an estimated population of 915,037 in 2024. The largest settlements are on the coast, and include the towns of Bognor Regis, Littlehampton, and Worthing; the last two are part of the Brighton and Hove built-up area, which extends into East Sussex. The interior of the county is generally rural, and contains the towns of Crawley and Horsham in the north-east and the city of Chichester in the south-west. For local government purposes West Sussex is a non-metropolitan county with seven districts. West Sussex and East Sussex were historically a single county, Sussex.
The South Downs are a defining feature of the county, crossing it from east to west and dividing the north and south. The downs are a chalk escarpment which falls away sharply into the Weald to the north and more gently toward the south, where there is a narrow strip of flat land between the hills and the coast. The coastal strip widens to the west, where it is punctuated by Chichester Harbour, a ria.
| Authors | Phil Green |
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| License | CC-BY-SA-3.0 |
| Cite as | Philralph (2014–2026). "Community action/West Sussex". Appropedia. Retrieved June 4, 2026. |