If you would like to get involved with this initiative and help to shape and resource it, then contact  Andy Stokes (click here to email Andy)

The Land Trust is piloting a project locally that will provide training & support for self-build schemes in rural areas of South Devon (find out more here).

Come and learn more at the meeting at Buckfastleigh Town Hall on Friday 15th June at 7.30pm and find out if there are others interested in such a scheme in Buckfastleigh or nearby.

Please download a poster here to display and help publicise the event…

Find out More here

This fascinating film gives an overview of how reliant modern farming practices (and food in general) are on abundant fossil fuels, and what alternatives there are. Although the film is over three years old now, we are not the only group interested in this film, as the Devon Wildlife Trust held a similar event in Kilmington Village Hall, near Axminster the night before (where Rebecca Hosking attended the event).

After the film and a short break for refreshments, we held a discussion of the subjects raised by the film. Our Garden Share and Community Composting projects were mentioned, along with the Nature’s Round Co-op and a number of other issues.

As time was running out the subject of mulching using brushwood that has been faggotted and dried was raised. Watch this space, as we are hoping to arrange a workshop on this subject in the near future!

Thanks again to everyone who attended, and especially to the BTT members who helped to set up, run and tidy up after the event.

Frances answering questions about the LILAC Project

Firstly, those who attended the evening introduced themselves to give everyone an idea of who else is interested in this kind of project. Then, Frances gave some more details about the project and the short film on the project was shown. Some of the other attendees then gave overviews of the projects that they are involved in (including community housing at Baltic Wharf in Totnes).

After a break for refreshments, Frances answered questions from those present, and there was a general discussion about the issues involved in setting up and developing community housing.

We would like to express our sincere thanks to Frances for taking the time to come down and speak to us about this exciting project, and we wish LILAC (and all the other similar local projects) good luck in the future.

A Parish Poll will be taking place on Thursday 1st March. The question being asked is

Do you want Whitecleave Quarry in Buckfastleigh to be used for any handling, processing or storage of industrial waste and bottom ash from waste incineration? Yes or No?

The poll is open to all electors of the Parish of Buckfastleigh (which includes Buckfast). The only polling station is Buckfastleigh Town Hall. Voting takes place between 4pm and 9pm. There are no proxy votes and no postal votes.

Before then, you can vote in the Mid-Devon Advertiser’s latest online poll. The question for this poll is:

Should Whitecleaves Quarry, Buckfastleigh, be turned into a site for the storage and processing of industrial waste?

At the moment, 56% of responses are “Yes, suitable” as opposed to 44% saying “No, not suitable” (no-one has said that they “Don’t know”, which is not surprising as this subject is very polarising).

There are also a lot of comments from near (Gipsy Lane) and far (Norfolk) that are supportive of the proposed development. If you agree with these comments or not then you can also leave a comment.

More here

If you are interested in any aspect of sustainable or community housing, or in straw-bale building techniques, please come along. The talk will be followed by Questions & Answers/discussion and refreshments will be available. Price £2.00/£1.50.

Please download and display/distribute a flyer/poster here

To find out more about LILAC click here

Attendees discuss the topics raised by the film

More than 35 people travelled from Buckfastleigh, Buckfast, Ashburton, Buckland in the Moor and South Brent. They crammed into the room at Buckfastleigh Town Hall last Friday to watch the film, enjoy some refreshments and then discuss the topics raised by the film.

The discussions raised a number of subjects, including:

• Creating a local currency to cover the whole of Dartmoor.
• Trying to persuade local Co-operative stores to stock those items that are not sold by other local establishments, rather than competing with them.
• Getting the local Chamber(s) of Trade to work as a co-operative (local shops providing vouchers that can be used in other local shops).
• The pros and cons of local credit unions and microfinance.
• Setting up a local food sharing scheme.
• Local Exchange Trading Systems (LETS).
• The University of the Third Age.
• Lending your seldomly-used items to others (Streetbank).
• Planting fruit trees on unused land (sounds familiar!).

At the end of the evening a number of those people who were interested in possibly forming projects based on one of these topics swapped contact details. Keep your eyes peeled as we may be starting more projects soon!

We would like to thank all of those that came along to the event, and especially those that helped out on the evening!