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Energy Fair Saturday 11th November 2023 At our last Pitlochry Community Action Trust (PCAT) meeting we discussed the success of the Energy Fair we (PCAT along with Sprout and The Heat Project) had approximately 50 attendees and 11 different businesses and community groups participating and provided support and advice to everyone who came along on the day. They were: The Heat Project, Pitlochry Garden Share, RW Bell Green Energy, Escape Route, Home Energy Scotland, Eolas Architects, Studio East Architects and IS Plumbing & Heating. UpperTay Transport couldnt make it on the day and we provided some information from Handam and Pitlochry Repair Cafe.
We plan to organise another two Eco Events in spring and autumn of 2024. I have spoken to Anna Sibbald from Aberfeldy Climate Cafe and the Warm Connections team (similar to The Heat Project) and they would be interested in being involved in a two day event - one day in Pitlochry and one in Aberfeldy. We thought the last weekend in April (Friday 26th, Saturday 27th or Sunday 28th) would be good. So if you would like to help please get in touch. Sprout Repair/Reuse/Upcycle Workshops (subsidised and in partnership with Pitlochry Repair Cafe) There will be three workshops organised over the next few months, (Mosaics, Re-Upholstery and Upcycling Furniture). The first of these is Christmas Mirror & Mosaic Mayhem with Katy Galbraith on Saturday 9th December, There are two sessions. One for adults and one for Family (one adult one child, one adult two children). £10 per mirror/board. I have attached a poster with more information and to book your place go on Eventbrite. Please share with anyone who may be interested. Sprout: Update on Burnside Toilets: We recently discovered that the site is in the process of being purchased by Osprey Charging Network who have installed ultra rapid EV charging units in Ballinluig. We presume they are going through planning now. However, with the ongoing PKC asset review we are looking into the Cloichard Depot as a possible premises for Sprout and the Men's Shed, maybe The Heat Project too. We will let you know what happens. News for 2024. Sustainable Fashion/Clothes Event Saturday 23rd March. The Climate Cafes in Pitlochry, Aberfeldy possibly Dunkeld & Birnam and Blairgowrie & Rattray are involved with the organising of this event along with Grandtully School and a number of local businesses. The venue is to be decided. It is hoped it will include a few presentations with people from the fashion industry, a fashion show with the school(s) a swap shop and alterations plus a number of businesses who are reusing, upcycling clothes and fabrics. If you would like to be involved and help please let me know. New Year Street Party January 2024 I have been chatting to the NYSP group about the new year street event regarding reducing and diverting recyclable waste from landfill bins. They would appreciate some help with this so I wondered if anyone would like to help steward bins at this event? We did it in Jan 2020 and diverted approximately 6 bins of recyclables and 4 bins of compostables which the Binns Groups uplifted and recycled/decomposed. Please let me know if you would like to help? Woodland Walk and Talk with O Melchizedek I would like to thank O for taking a group of us on a tour around part of Black Spout Wood in October and helping us to understand more about trees. It was very interesting and inspiring. There will be more walks and talks with O in 2024. Carol
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1: Concerns re single use plastics in sanitary products provided at Breadalbane Academy.
2: Concerns re vaping at the school in general, and the plastic waste it can generate Julie C raised this. She has a child who attends Breadalbane school. Sanitary products are now made available in all schools in Scotland. Obviously for hygiene reasons there needs to be individual wrapping, but nearly all involve single use plastic wrapping. We discussed alternatives. Compostable wrapping is probably an improvement but is still far from perfect, depending on which type is used. In the long run re-usable options such as moon-cups and washable pads are good but may be more difficult for girls to manage in the school setting. We were also not sure how many girls know about such options, and whether they are covered when girls are taught about menstruation and its management in schools. We also discussed vaping, which is apparently widespread at the school, despite the fact it is not allowed there. Concerns were expressed about the harm it can do, as well as the waste it creates. Julie will contact the school’s Parent Council to discuss sanitary products provided and to ask about education in their use and will also discuss vaping. She may also contact the Aberfeldy Climate Café which is now fully up and running again. Carol will contact members of the PKC Climate Action Team, in particular Viv Milford, from the Waste Management Team, to see what they know about sanitary products provided free in this area-or if they have any recommendations. The reply from Ana De Miguel PKC waste team – Single Use Sanitary products: Definitely the best option will be to change to reusables, however more education will be needed to explain the options, period pans, cups and reusable cloth pads. There is some information at the Zero Waste Scotland Website Trial Period | Zero Waste Scotland But the best option for information and more sustainable products is ‘Hey girls website’. They work specially with the Public Sector and Schools, providing education and products, see more in the link hey girls | Award Winning Period Product Social Enterprise Vaping: Vaping is a growing problem from the health and the environmental point of view. Earlier this week, Perth & Kinross Council voiced their support for a ban on single-use, disposable vapes. For now, they are asking people to dispose of the whole vaping kit with your electrical recycling at recycling centres.
There are already two regional hubs in existence, the Highlands and Islands Climate Hub, (covering the Highlands, Orkney and Shetland) and the NESCAN Hub (covering Aberdeen and Aberdeenshire) Both were set up in 2021. At the moment Perth and Kinross already has a network through the efforts of our PKC Climate Change & Sustainable Development team and Climate Cafes, but it is not formally aligned to SCCAN. During a number of discussions regarding either having a Tayside wide hub, or a Perth & Kinross Hub, Louise Harvey has mentioned Perth & Kinross can be a Hub too alongside all the others around Scotland. Discussions are still ongoing.
Dates for the rest of 2023: The recent Repair Cafe on Sunday 4th June is the last one before the summer break of 2 months to return again in September. Then they resume on 3rd September, 1st October, 5th November and 3rd December.
Pitlochry Station was shortlisted in the World Cup of Stations by Tim Dunn, Railway Historian. 1,200 stations in the UK have Community Groups, 100 were nominated and 48 made the shortlist, key to this is the Bookshop which has just raised £400,000 for its charities selling donated books.
Our Transportation and Development Team would like you to share your thoughts and experiences on the transport network to help identify further problems and opportunities as presented in our Let’s Talk Transport, main issues report. This will allow us to develop a robust evidence base to inform the draft Mobility Strategy. It would be greatly appreciated if the link is shared with colleagues, friends, and family to get as many participants as possible. This will allow for a robust evidence base to inform the draft Mobility Strategy. The Big Place Conversation – Let’s Talk Transport - Perth & Kinross Council Citizen Space - Citizen Space (pkc.gov.uk)
Edd Hiden – New Scottish Crannog centre - includes an Iron Age village,3 Crannogs, a new museum and future plans for coppicing and forest food gardens at the site of Dalerb on the North side of Loch Tay. This site was purchased in 2021 through a Community Asset Transfer.
They are starting an extensive volunteering program soon in regard to the building of their Iron Age Village. This will be using traditional methods and materials and they would like as many volunteers of all ages to be involved in this process as possible therefore they are running a volunteer drive to promote the new centre but also what will be available on site. If you would like to volunteer contact Rich Hiden at [email protected] with a brief bio including your interests, experience, and telephone number. No experience is needed. Insulate Pitlochry - The Energy Stall was back in the Coop on Saturday 15th April 10am to 2pm with volunteers from both Climate Cafe and Pitlochry Community Action Trust (PCAT) Environment & Sustainability (E & S) Group assisting Martin and acting as information gatherers again. It was decided from this stall that we should try a stall during the week as there were many visitors who past but didnt stop. During the week there would be moe chance of interacting with local residents. Martin organised 6 home visits from this event too. Energy Fair PCAT E & S group are also planning an Energy Fair on Saturday 2nd September again with Climate Café and the Heat Project. If you would like to help, please get in touch soon. Recyclosaurus Workshops – Drew Scott led this children’s upcycling event, Recyclosaurus on Saturday 15th April and everyone really enjoyed themselves so planning to offer some more in the future so look out for them. Earth Day – PKC organised an Earth Day Market at the Civic Hall in Perth. They invited local sustainable businesses and groups to take part and promote their work by hosting a stall. Locally, Climate Cafes, Wasted Degrees, Pitlochry Garden Share, local Repair Cafes, Tayside Biodiversity Partnership and The Heat Project to name a few were there. Regional Hubs- There followed a meeting about the setting up regional climate action hubs as part of the Scottish Government’s work on climate change engagement. Hubs will work to: build awareness of the climate emergency and actions local groups can take, develop local plans, help groups take up funding opportunities, facilitate networking, ensure a more joined-up approach to tackling climate change at a regional level. There are already two regional hubs in existence, the Highlands and Islands Climate Hub, (covering the Highlands, Orkney and Shetland) and the NESCAN Hub (covering Aberdeen and Aberdeenshire) Both were set up in 2021. It would be good to have a discussion at our next Climate Café about this to get everyone’s views on this as we have an option of either being part of a new Tayside wide Hub or due to the existing and growing network Perth and Kinross already have in place through the Climate Cafes and other environmental groups either collaborating or working along-side each other or there could be a separate P & K Hub. Sprout & Burnside Toilets Update. Thank you to everyone who has become a member of Sprout, our new community environmental organisation. We now have 76 members and at least 20 letters of support. The closing date for all offers for the toilets was Thursday 20th April. We know of at least one commercial offer has been made alongside our Community Asset Transfer Application. I have asked about the process from herein and they have told me our offer will now be assessed under a scoring matrix along with all the other offers received. I do not have any idea of time scales as PKC have never had a sale like this before. The site includes the building as well as the green space to the boundary of the stone wall. PKC are still happy to accept letters of support for our project so if you would like to send one in please send it to James Gardner at [email protected] Or if you would like to register a yes/no vote in favour of these plans please go to the Sprout Poll https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1WR0-FjWuh1QAtGRgaPUFJ1kXd-yVfH5rakx3gNcP78s/edit Or if you would like to become a member here is the form. Sprout Membership Form - https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1xTDVghaZoSDieGuCE5hIHGK_cfLUmHGbnNLnFk4PDjA/edit Our plan is to include a multi- use space, a workshop space, some publicly accessible toilets, possibly a shower and washing machine too. If planning allows, we would add a second floor to the ladies toilet side (as it would be on level with the Mens Shed building) for a Reuse Shop. The Multi use space would be used for information space, Repair Cafes, swap shops etc. Having this building and site for a community & social eco hub would create an area of businesses and community organisations along with Handam, Mens shed, the 3 charity shops and an outdoor space for workshops and social events etc whose main focus would be providing services to help people's mental health and wellbeing and to live more sustainably. There is also a growing number of sustainable businesses in the area too. I would also like to clarify something from last month’s emails in regard to Sprout as an Umbrella Group for all things sustainable in Pitlochry. I mentioned a few examples of groups that had been spoken about in the Climate Cafés. It was not until I looked back over my email, I realised I had inadvertently suggested that the Pitlochry Garden Share was under the umbrella of Sprout too, which it is not, so I apologise to everyone who thought that was what I meant. Biodiversity Town Catherine Lloyd – Tayside Biodiversity Partnership is currently liaising with PKC staff to see how they are placed in helping with a series of community mapping sessions. The session will likely be in June or early July now. Some people from the Pitlochry Community Action Trust E & S group are interested too. Climate Week and or Tattie Bogle Trail October – Drew Scott is interested in helping with this event this year so looking to see if anyone else would like to be involved? Guided tour Martin Mathers is doing a guided walk in Black Spout Woods on Sunday 7th May at 11am, through the Tayside Woodlands Partnership. Meet up in the bottom car park and dogs are welcome. Pitlochry Community Action Trust (PCAT) E & S group. The next meeting is on Thursday 18th May 7pm in the Library, and we will be chatting to Neil Barnes from Linlith-go-solar about their community energy project. https://trust-linlithgow.org.uk/projects/linlithgosolar/ Everyone is welcome. Next Climate Cafes are Tuesday 9th May 1pm and Thursday 11th May 7pm in the Pitlochry Library. Everyone is welcome. Climate Reality Presentation. Jess Pepper will be coming along to our Climate Cafes in June, Tuesday 6th and Thursday 8th to give us an updated presentation on the issues and solutions in regard to the Climate Crisis. Everyone is welcome. Questions for members of the PKC Climate Change and Sustainable Development Team.
Viv Milford (Climate Change and Sustainable Development Officer) attended the Climate Café. Questions and answers: -Planning permission difficulties, including for green initiatives such as solar panels etc. - Can you check with the planning dept re - installation of double or triple glazed windows, pv solar panels etc in conservation areas. Treatment of people wanting to do eco builds? It was raised at the last council climate change and sustainability committee meeting and the outcome of that motion was that Councillor Watters would write to the relevant Scottish Government minister to ask for a review in to permitted development rights within conservation areas. And then the council would complete a review of their own conservation areas and boundaries. - Pedestrian/bike access. Residents are complaining that people on foot or on bikes are not allowed to enter the recycling site. (Not only does this encourage car use, but it also prevents people without access to a car from recycling. Viv mentioned this was all due to having had pedestrian access at all sites and then there was a fatality of a pedestrian (local man) at Friarton, and along with there being less staff at recycling sites now, so PKC stopped people coming onto the site unless they were in a car or van. - Paint and chemicals can't be tipped here but can in other places, as has been the case for a few years. Paint in its liquid form is a chemical waste and they don’t have a licence to take them. There used to be places that took old paint, one being near Castle in Cupar in Fife but they found that so much of the paint was frost damaged so they could not recycle/reuse it and ended up with more paint going to land fill than being reused. It was too costly. We need to stop storing paint in garages and huts etc as its too cold for them. The recycling centre will only accept tins of paint that is either allowed to dry completely so it’s a solid lump or to pour sawdust, sand or ash and allow to dry out completely. Not a great solution. The best solution is to use up all your paint even if that means mixing it or sharing it with someone else. Maybe something for the Mens Shed? - Freegle store or charity items eg. PUSH at Friarton. Viv asked that we contact Ana De Miguel at PKC Waste team worked with Remake to get them reuse/storage containers in Crieff. They had a service agreement with PKC for taking the reuse items from the container. We could approach Ana and ask for her help in Pitlochry to find a site for a storage container etc and a space for stopping to drop off. Maybe at the PKC Waste Depot. She could give us some advice on what they did in Crieff to set this up. A recent source of funding for community projects of this type is SUEZ a dry mixed recycling and waste management service. (In the past they paid for things like the reuse containers, signage etc). What helps with the reuse of bigger items is locating reuse containers somewhere where people can stop to offload these items and most charity shops don’t have the space outside to offload and don’t have the storage space indoors. Remake works because it does and they are happy to diversify what they take in etc. - Is there any new information on possible sites for allotments and lack of an allotment officer/greenspace ranger? She wasn’t sure what was happening with the position as the full extent of the cuts has not been fully published yet. She did mention that PKC were looking for volunteers to help with keeping cemeteries clean and tidy. However, in terms of food growing, Rachel Robson [email protected] (Good Food Project Officer); Kim MacDonald [email protected] (Good Food Coordinator -Communities) would be good people to get in touch with. - Is the vacant land at the entrance to Lettoch Terrace PKC land and if so could we get permission to plant some fruit trees or bushes there? Susie Norris PKC is going to check to see who owns this piece of land and let us know if its ok to use. - Can we get permission to plant trees at Mount Zion to replace felled one. Viv is going to check this out as she knows there are two officers looking into this about replacing the trees etc. Update on CAP Steering Group - Just to keep you updated, the Community Action Plan steering group were informed on Monday 13th March that we are now a Development Trust - Pitlochry Community Action Trust. This will consist of members of the existing steering group becoming trustees until an EGM can be organised. However we are also looking to recruit new trustees of the Trust to join or even replace the current team. Becoming a trustee will be a very fulfilling and varied role. Insulate Pitlochry another event? As the event in January between PCAT Theme 5 group, the Climate Cafe and the Heat Project was so successful Martin (Heat Project) has suggested it would be good to have another event soon. There were 14 home surveys completed from that event. So the next event in the Co-op has been organised for Saturday 15th April 10am to 2pm. The event will focus on energy and insulation, and potentially be called ‘Insulate Pitlochry: A project of PCAT’ and again be supported by PCAT Theme 5, the Heat Project and Climate Café. On arrival volunteers parking at the Co-op should let staff know their licence plate number to avoid parking tickets. This event could also be used to launch a smart meter survey for a possible local community energy project and we are also investigating a Highland Perthshire Community Energy project which could include any or all communities in the Tay and A9 area. A few people are happy to help would anyone else like to help for an hour? Energy Fair PCAT Theme 5 group are also planning an Energy Fair on Saturday 2nd September again with Climate Café and the Heat Project. If you would like to help, please get in touch soon. Recyclosaurus and Escape Rooms Workshops – Drew Scott is offering a workshops. There is a children’s upcycling event, Recyclosaurus on Saturday 15th April just for some Easter fun. And a number of Escape room sessions as a part of Earth Day, Saturday 22nd April. Please check attached posters. Earth Day – PKC ha also organised an event in Perth and there will be a Climate Café Network stall there to help promote ourselves in Perth. The Big Place Conversation has begun! This is a conversation happening in Perth & Kinross communities throughout 2023 to find out what you love about your place, and what could be improved. We'll be talking about things like :
https://www.pkc.gov.uk/article/22957/The-Big-Place-Conversation Waste Reduction – I had contacted Etape, Pitlochry Highland Games and NYSP about waste reduction last year but didn’t get very far. Thought it might be an idea to ask them again this year as there is more time to do so. Would anyone like to help? Burnside Toilets Update. Thank you to everyone who has become a member of Sprout, our new community environmental organisation. The deadline has changed to 20th April due to Easter holidays so there is still time to support the project. We have 68 members and at least 8 letters of support now. Biodiversity Town? Catherine Lloyd – Tayside Biodiversity Partnership has been in touch with me regarding this as they have now received some funding to roll out the Biodiversity Villages, Towns & Neighbourhoods Initiative. The basic concepts behind the project are:
Presentations and workshops - I am going to sort a monthly talk or workshop for the Climate Cafe as I still have funding for this so any ideas would be appreciated. Climate Week and or Tattie Bogle Trail October – Drew Scott is interested in helping with this event this year so looking to see if anyone else would like to be involved. Guided tour Martin Mathers is doing a guided walk in Black Spout Woods on Sunday 7th May at 11am, through the Tayside Woodlands Partnership. Meet up in the bottom car park and dogs are welcome. Next Climate Cafes are Tuesday 11th April 1pm and Thursday 13th April 7pm in the Pitlochry Library. Everyone is welcome. Climate Café Tuesday 7th February 2023 1pm
The Energy Saving Trust (0808 808 2282. Weekdays 8-8, Saturday 9-5) is also a good source of advice.
-Planning permission difficulties, including for green initiatives such as solar panels etc. -Recycling Centre issues -Long term lack of progress on allotments and lack of an allotment officer.
Pitlochry Garden Share Update In December we became an unincorporated association with a Bank Account, a Chair, Treasurer and Secretary. We received our seed order (majority are non hybrid and heirlooms so we can start saving our own seed for future planting) and we will grow between 35 and 40 varieties of vegetables this season! We were awarded funding from PKC Community Investment Fund so we will be able to purchase a polytunnel and various other bits of equipment to help grow more veg to share with the community. The funding application is also to cover costs of the Open Kitchen events that started in September. The Open Kitchen is a branch of the Garden Share, we organise monthly informal cooking sessions where we use as much of the locally grown produce. We share recipes, cook and eat together and have a blether, and it is inter- generational! We recently organised a free Community Burn's Night in partnership with the Moulin Hall Committee and it was a great success thus becoming an annual event! The Garden Share has a project with the Food Bank to supply them with a veg box from our own produce, when we have enough surplus - we are planting with that in mind, to make sure we have plenty surplus but obviously can't guarantee until we harvest. We are still looking for a few more volunteer gardeners to join this season (need to be able to commit to 6 hours per month minimum), and also volunteer supporters (to help whenever you can). Get in touch via our Facebook page or email [email protected] We don't have a website yet, but it is on the agenda for this year. Next Climate Cafes are Tuesday 7th March 1pm amd Thursday 9th March 7pm in the Pitlochry Library. Everyone is welcome. Notes from Insulate Scotland
Home owner Lived there 1 year +, your main residence, low energy rating (D or worse), no prior funding from Warm Homes Scotland in last 5 years, in receipt of qualifying benefits: Personal Independence Payment (PIP) Adult Disability Payment (ADP) Disability Living Allowance (DLA)* Child Disability Payment (CDP)* Armed Forces Independence Payment/ War Disablement Payment Industrial Injuries Payment Carer’s Allowance Attendance Allowance Income-related benefits: Council tax benefit/reduction scheme (excluding 25% discount e.g. single person or student) Universal Credit Housing benefit/allowance Income based Employment and Support Allowance (ESA) Income based Job Seekers Allowance (JSA) Income Support Pension Credit (guarantee element) Working Tax Credit Child Tax Credit *If your household receives low or medium rate DLA/CDP you need to also have an income-related benefit Contact Home Energy Scotland. 30-45min call Survey visit from Warmer Homes Scotland Full cost of improvements met (if funds) or interest free loan for home owner’s contribution. The Heat Project for free home energy surveys, support and advice on heating, hot water, supply switching, condensation/dampness, renewables, saving money. All home owners Contact Home Energy Scotland. 30-45min call Free grant for energy efficiency improvements or renewable technologies such as heat pumps or biomass (pellet) boilers up to 75% of costs, up to maximum of £7,500 (or £9,000 for households which qualify for the rural uplift). 0% loan which can be used for the remaining costs, or for other technologies like solar PV panels and/or battery storage. The Heat Project for free home energy surveys, support and advice on heating, hot water, supply switching, condensation/dampness, renewables, saving money Private sector tenant Check landlord complies with legal requirements (EPC E or better for tenancies beginning from Oct 20, D from 31/3/22) Lived there 1 year +, your main residence, low energy rating, (D or worse) no prior funding from Warm Homes Scotland in last 5 years and in receipt of a passport benefit: Personal Independence Payment (PIP) Adult Disability Payment (ADP) Disability Living Allowance (DLA)* Child Disability Payment (CDP)* Armed Forces Independence Payment/ War Disablement Payment Industrial Injuries Payment Carer’s Allowance Attendance Allowance Income-related benefits: Council tax benefit/reduction scheme (excluding 25% discount e.g. single person or student) Universal Credit Housing benefit/allowance Income based Employment and Support Allowance (ESA) Income based Job Seekers Allowance (JSA) Income Support Pension Credit (guarantee element) Working Tax Credit Child Tax Credit *If your household receives low or medium rate DLA/CDP you need to also have an income-related benefit Contact Home Energy Scotland. 30-45 mins call Survey visit from Warmer Homes Scotland Get landlord’s approval for recommended work Full cost of improvements met (if funds) or interest free loan for contribution The Heat Project for free home energy surveys, support and advice on heating, hot water, supply switching, condensation/dampness, renewables, saving money. 07834 962361 Local Authority tenant La Flex Eco. Scheme by energy providers. Must get pension credit, universal credit, jobseekers allowance, ESA, income support, housing benefit or tax credits. Must have EPC of E, F or G. Tel: 07342 924 787, Paul Stewart. Or www.pridejoyhomeservices.co.uk/ The Heat Project for free home energy surveys, support and advice on heating, hot water, supply switching, condensation/dampness, renewables, saving money. 07834 962361 Landlords Check legal requirements (EPC E or better for tenancies beginning from Oct 20, D from 31/3/22, ALL private rented properties from 31/3/25) Must be individual or business, not agent, and registered as a landlord. Must have tenant in property. Contact Energy Saving Trust Loan. 0% + 1.5% admin fee. No interest if fewer than 5 properties 5 or more properties 3.5% APR interest The Heat Project 07834 962361 CAP ( Community Action Plan) Theme 5 Carol updated us re what has been going on with the CAP Theme 5 (Environment and Sustainability). A Community Renewable Energy Scheme is being discussed.
  Update - Insulate Pitlochry Event went really well with many people stopping to chat to us about all things sustainable regarding our homes. Some information for you. If you're struggling to heat your home and want to reduce your carbon footprint, free help is available. The Heat Project provides a free professional energy advice service to all households and small and medium businesses. Tel: 0783 4962 361 or [email protected]. Home owners can apply for grants of up to £9,000 from Home Energy Scotland. Tel: 0808 808 2282. For private sector tenants, check your landlord complies with legal requirements (EPC of E or better for tenancies beginning from Oct 2020, D from 31/3/22) then apply to Home Energy Scotland. For Local authority tenants should call 07342 924 787, Paul Stewart. Or http://www.pridejoyhomeservices.co.uk/ For landlords, a 0% (plus admin. fee) loan may be available. Business owners can get up to 50% of the cost of EV chargers. Energy Saving Trust. Email:[email protected]
In the mean-time advice will be taken from other organisations such as Local Energy Scotland. Also from other areas/organisations who have tried similar things, to try to learn from any mistakes. Eg Linlith-Go-Solar. It was mentioned that some individuals in Victorian houses in the Conservation Area are having problems getting planning permission etc for renewables such as solar panels on their homes. Land for community garden/orchard/allotments Things are still at an early stage, but this is looking more and more likely. The landowner is very keen for the community to use some land of her land and has already been deer-fenced. Planning permission may be needed for access/parking etc. There may also be tree planting opportunities in Black Spout wood, according to “O” Omungandr Melchizedik. Some of the small beech trees that have self planted will also be removed. Community Garden Share Doing very well. There are now 3 gardens in the share, and volunteers who help generally with the scheme, have come on board. The “open Kitchen” has also developed linked to this. Anna is going to give us an update soon. Sprout – The Community Eco-Hub and the Burnside Toilets Update Kaja and I started to investigate the toilets as a permanent venue for Climate Café and a new community eco hub early in 2021. After the Men's shed began in August 2021 we were approached by Andrew, and being a member of the Men's Shed, he mentioned they were also looking for a premises and about us sharing the toilets. Kaja, Pete (as Chair of Men’s Shed) and I spoke about this and it seemed like a good solution for both the Climate Café and Men’s Shed to share. That was before the Men’s Shed were offered in November last year, the old Handam shop as a permanent space for them to use and hopefully set up a tool library too. As they now have that space, and as we are still looking at the permanent space so the main group to take on the building would be Sprout to provide an advice and information hub on energy, transport, food etc, including Climate Cafes, workshops and monthly Repair Cafes, workshops, meeting space, swap shop, a remakery (Crieff Remake) etc. We would be using most of the space in the building with the Men’s Shed some workshop space for the Men’s Shed. And we would be able to include some publicly accessible toilets too. Outside the building would be an outdoor workspace and social space. Sprout will be formed by the end of February, and it will be Company Limited By Guarantee (CLG) and we are still hoping to interest more members to take the project forward. However, there are now 2 commercial businesses who are interested in the building, so it is now on sale on the open market. So we are also in the process of writing the application for a Community Asset Transfer to be submitted asap. Carol Aitken O has donated some woodland trees for planting at Dun Coillich and will have more in the future. Through a few discussions in the Climate Café, Alison R. along with The Delta Park group have planted 5 new fruit trees in the park this year for community use.
Community Garden share: Anna S and the Garden share volunteers now have 3 gardens participating. Volunteers attend these gardens with a view to growing fruit and vegetables to share with each other and with the community in the Food Larder. Since last year, Catherine Holmes brought together a team of volunteer fruit pickers, who with garden owners’ permission, gathered fruit (mainly apples) for free distribution in the community. Anna and volunteers also helped with the fruit picking this year and gathered 4 tons of apples that were taken to Wasted Degrees to be turned into cider. Repair Café: Has proved very popular as both a repair café and social space for our community to meet up. There is funding until March with more funding been applied for through Community Investment Fund to cover the following 12 months. Enchanted Forest: A meeting with Enchanted Forest is being organised to continue to develop ways to be more carbon neutral. Town centre recycling bins: A proposal that was discussed in the Climate Café and almost implemented in early 2020 is to be resurrected with PKC but the aim is to get some local sponsorship e.g. from Enchanted Forest. Men’s Shed Venue: They now have a premises which was previously occupied by Handam and there will have some space for a Tool Library. Old Toilet Block: Building in very bad condition. PKC’s valuation of the building should be completed soon awaited. Potential uses include some workshop space for Men’s Shed. A shower, toilet and chemical disposal toilet for camper vans who park in the local vicinity. Space for our Climate Café and Sprout, the community eco hub, which having a permanent location would allow us to create an information and meeting space, A Remakery, and where workshops and regular events could be staged. Sprout, The Community Eco Hub: has 45 members signed up as at date of meeting. Preference is for the organisation to become a CLG or charity so we can become an umbrella community organisation for other environmental groups and events such as the Remakery and the Repair Café etc. Pitlochry Eco Badge – Alison would like some help to contact Accommodation Providers to discuss this. Himalayan Balsam – Alison is interested in this along with a few other people and will be chatting to some people from Dunkeld about the issues etc. Updates on any actions from E & S Group ( CAP Theme 5) on 2nd November which was focused on Community Renewable Energy with *Martin Mathers and *John Ferguson. The main points are:
Process First Stage (about 12 months) - It's about getting a group of people together from many fields of expertise and any interested residents for conversations. Second Stage (about 18 months)- We would have an idea of what renewables scheme we would want, so funding and funding and hire energy consultants etc and to consider things like planning applications, would be next. Next Climate Cafés - The new venue for future Climate Cafes will be the Pitlochry Library Tuesday in the second week of the month so our first two are on 10th January 1pm & Thursday 12th January 7pm. Support for Climate Cafes and key for Library - O and Alison have offered to support all of us by taking some future Climate Cafes and being the responsible person for keys for library. *John Ferguson is the head of Strategy at the Binn Eco Innovation Park in Perthshire which its primary business themes are waste and resource management, renewable energy and food production. *Martin Mathers is the project manager for The Heat Project who provide free, professional energy advice service to households and (businesses) throughout Perth and Kinross to help them become more energy efficient and reduce their energy bills. Carol Aitken 1) Community Woodland update. Mark Aquilina has heard back from Pitlochry Estates He wrote to them to see if there may be any woodland available. Mr Charles Butter responded, and said that unfortunately there is no suitable land at present. So other options will have to be explored. The Woodland Group will meet again soon.
Allotments were discussed at Community Council on 11/4/22. No further forward at present. 2) Green badge to be set up locally for accommodation providers update. ECO business providers in Pitlochry will be able to apply for a Green badge in near future for their hotel/B&B/holiday let's etc. Meeting with Growbiz was very successful. Would anyone be interested in helping Alison Robb with this. Graeme Fish from Torrdarach House B&B is going to help Alison Robb with looking over the questionnaire for her. 3) Repair Cafe,and difficulties re premises for Repair Cafe, Men’s Shed and Sprout (Eco-Hub) Julia Harriman is particularly interested in trying to get this started up. A post on the local Pitlochry Community Facebook page produced quite a few responses from people with various skills, and one or two folk also expressed an interest at the recent Community Action Plan event at the Town Hall ( where the Climate Cafe had a table). A few people attended a virtual Repair Cafe workshop recently organised by Circular Communities Scotland. The Glasgow Repair Cafe may be designing a “start-up pack “ for new Repair Cafes which would be useful. It is hoped that the Repair Cafe could happen on a reasonably regular basis, eg once a month. Kaja feels that a Repair Cafe could operate out of Handam, especially if a gazebo could be put up outside the back of Handam to provide extra space and shelter. This would probably be at days or times when the Handam shop was closed. Also some workshops and events may happen in the Moulin Hall, and a Repair Cafe could be held at the same time. There are a few possibilities re premises. The toilet block behind Handam is an option and has been discussed with the PKC. However, the roof is now leaking and the price of fixing it could be considerable. The “Drama Hut” is another possibility but is very full of “stuff” with no alternative home. There is a possible space in the Townhall too 4) Community Action Plan Feedback March 25th/26th was very well attended. People very engaged and keen to see improvements in many aspects of environment and life generally in Pitlochry. Preliminary findings suggest especially concerns around lack of facilities for young people in the environment. Early findings to be reported on shortly. We included some posters with information on - What the Climate Café is. What Sprout the Community Eco Hub will be, A local Repair Café, Men’s Shed, Community Woodlands group etc and a list of workshops and presentations we have organised so they can be promoted to a wider audience. 5) Piffl Boxes Gothenberg. Deirdre Maceachern has relatives in Sweden where they have this system which enable people, young and old who don’t have of cant afford access to sports equipment and games to play in parks in the city. Equipment is stored in a large compartmented metal cabinets...ie Piffl box. They are accessed via an app and you need to input a credit card number although you wont be charged unless you keep the equipment. . Deirdre is hoping to find out more when she visits Sweden next month. This would seem to be a possible idea for Pitlochry. 6) Proposed New Forestry Road across Moulin Moor from the Ballyoukan Forest to join the A924 between Pitlochry and Kirkmichael See Carol Aitken’s recent email dated 7th April re this for more details. This issue was discussed at the Community Council meeting, Monday 11th April, and 10 members of the Climate Cafe attended. Councillors John Duff and Xander McDade were present. The main points of concern are: proposed timber extraction route over Moulin Moor, which is an SSSI. Possible disturbance to surrounding wildlife/plantlife, especially birds. Also potential damage to areas of deep peat and/or adverse affects on local water supply. An Environmental Impact Assessment has been carried out, but some further studies need to be completed re peat depth/quality and bird life. There is also great concern re the potential number of timber lorries passing along the A924 and then through Pitlochry. In view of the level of interest in this proposed road, The Community Council have contacted Neil White of Scottish Woodlands and organise a public meeting. 7) Hustings – prior to local elections a Hustings was held in Aberfeldy Town hall on 27th April 2022. Aberfeldy Climate Cafe organised this event and there were a few people from Pitlochry Climate Café attended. A question was asked about the proposed timber extraction from Ballyoukan Forest. Not much has happened yet but they are not going to start extracting timber until 2024 and they are looking at taking the timber lorries through Kirkmichael as the timber would be headed for the East Coast and Aberdeen. Not great for Kirkmichael and those who live along those roads. 8) Update on Sprout, The Community Eco Hub. The creation of Sprout is to help the Climate Café and other groups to apply for funding for any projects like a Repair Café. Workshops and Conversations. Carol is on the process of organise a number of events for the community. Events on Food waste to assist householders in reducing the amount of avoidable food waste. Along with other events on Energy, Water, childrens activities focused on recycling and climate change, gardens and biodiversity etc. Once the dates etc are sorted the list will be sent to you. Do you have any other ideas for topics for presentations and workshops you would like to see happen? 9) Earth Day 22nd April 2022: Deirdre organised an event in response to Earth Day and the Global Clean Up Project 2022. Eight people from our local Litter pick group and Climate Café volunteered to helped with the Big Sweep down Atholl Road from The Auld Smiddy to Escape Route. It was dirty and untidy but there was a great response from local people and visitors 10) Climate Fringe week late Sept, early October – What can we do to make it a week long event? Story telling and Science, Music, Quizzes…. Some events activities discussed were Food Waste Activities with PKC Yvonne Bell eg. Using up leftovers, freezing safely, foraging. Any ideas welcome. 11)PKC Managed for Wildlife Trials Public Consultation – October 2022 This year PKC will be managing some green areas in selected parks and open spaces in a special way - and they want to know your thoughts! Selected green areas will be managed on a trial basis with view to benefit native flowers, bees, butterflies and other wildlife. This will be achieved by allowing the grass to grow freely in some areas, while other areas will only have one single grass cutting this year, and the rest will see a combination of both methods. Let them know your comments on both the trials as a whole, and to tell us which areas matter most to you. You can read more information, view the trial areas, as well as fill in the survey, at the following link: https://consult.pkc.gov.uk/communities/managed-for-wildlife/ 12)The Green Lie Documentary interesting documentary looking at Palm oil and companies like Unilever and Nestle and the impact they are having on the biodiversity in countries like Indonesia. And how not green or sustainable these plantations are and its not just our spending power but talking action too. https://www.takeoneaction.org.uk/film/the-green-lie/ Purchase or free. There are other films too that I could look into for screening in Pitlochry. 13) Aberdeen's Climate Action Climate Cafe Event - What if your Pensions or Investment could change the world, Was Tuesday 1st March There is a copy on their FB page and youtube if anyone is interested https://www.facebook.com/aberdeenclimateaction/videos/4378500812250569 14) Street Bank tool exchange. Alison is part of this group and although it is small it is up and running. Would this be of interest to you so more people could share and borrow tools etc from each other and get to know their neighbours. There are also websites to help recycle, upcycle and pass on items such as Freegle, Trash Nothing, Gumtree and Facebook etc Next Climate Café:- Thursday 5th May and Tuesday 10th May Climate Cafes are either 1st Thursday in month from 7pm or 2nd Tuesday in month from 1 pm. (virtual or in person). All to be held in Moulin Hall. Over the two weeks of COP26, it was a busy time in Pitlochry with a number of events organised in response to it. The Pitlochry Community Tattie Bogle and Tumshie Festival, and two craft workshops on stone painting and bunting making with Pitlochry Community Support Group. Our Zero-waste Festival on Sunday 7th November, all of which have been great successes and were focussed on reusing resources. And there are more events to be organised over the coming months.
We want to finish our response to COP26 with the screening of the Australian Climate Solutions film, 2040. We realise some of you will have seen this documentary already but it is such a positive film that we wanted to re-screen it for everyone to enjoy again. There are 3 screenings, two in person screenings (Dates and Times are Saturday 27th Nov, 6.45pm and Sunday 28th Nov, 2.30pm) or a virtual screening (you can watch anytime between Saturday 27th Dec from 6.30pm to Sunday 28th Dec 6.30pm) so you can choose which version you are most comfortable with and the in person screenings will take place in the Atholl Centre as they have a screen and projector. Link to the Eventbrite pages are below to book your places and we have made it a free event for everyone. Any problems please come back to me. Please share with your family and friends as we have 100 tickets all together to use . I would like to add a reflection or two from some Climate Cafe experiences of the Global Day of Action March during COP26. “Glasgow on Saturday, 6th November was cold, wet and windy - a day to coorie in with a good book. But one hundred thousand people, fired up to call for real action on the climate crisis, chose otherwise and gathered in Kelvingrove Park to march through the city to Glasgow Green. The march was strongly multi-cultural, local people walking alongside others who had travelled thousands of miles to advocate for their countries, many of which were very seriously and immediately threatened. Multiple disparate groups were represented, all unified by a common passion and purpose. The grass roots climate movement is growing fast, dispelling the myth that individuals can make minimal impact in the face of political inertia and corporate power. On Saturday the turnout of people embracing the old adage “far better to light a candle than curse the darkness” testified to this. “ "It was obvious from the huge variety of groups attending how much climate change issues are bound up with Justice, politics and human rights” Our final Climate cafe meetings of 2021 were to be held on Thursday 2nd Dec, 7pm to 9pm and Tuesday 14th Dec, 1pm to 3pm both in the Moulin Hall. The CC on Tuesday 14th Dec was originally organised for Tuesday 7th Dec but will now take place the following week. To come along and watch 2040 in person on Saturday 27th November 6.45pm, please use this link: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/cop26-pitlochry-district-climate-cafe-event-the-film-2040-tickets-207373578957 To come along and watch 2040 in person on Sunday 28th November 2.30pm, please use this link: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/cop26-pitlochry-district-climate-cafe-event-the-film-2040-tickets-207400379117 To watch 2040 virtually. The 24 hour virtual Screening from Saturday 27th November 6.30pm to Sunday 28th November 6,30pm, please use this link: https://2040pdcc.eventbrite.co.uk Ruth Hunter Pepper. Recycling our Waste: While we know that PKC have installed recycling bins in different places for people to use which are then manually and mechanically sorted through elsewhere, and the waste team spend time educating people on how to recycle more effectively, in other councils like East Lothian they have conducted a pilot study into different ways of diverting more of their waste from landfill.
What they discovered from this study was that the most time and cost-effective method to improve the efficiency of their recycling rates was to take away all on street recycling bins leaving only the normal bins. It seems bizarre to do this, but East Lothian Council have proved that they were able to recycle more of their waste through saving money from landfill costs and the provision of bin lorries for contaminated recycling bins. The money they saved covers the cost of mechanically sorting all their public waste (including landfill). As far as I know East Lothian Council certainly mechanically sort the on street bins. Commercial waste is separate I think and Household waste is sorted at home into boxes . (From August 2021 recyclable material will be collected from households on a weekly basis with all materials collected on the same day. This refreshed recycling service is designed to help us all recycle more than ever before. The more frequent collections mean that you might not need to use as many boxes.) So maybe something to go back to PKC with? Takeaway Packaging Compostables Binns Group will dispose of compostables and recycle them properly. But there are another two companies in Scotland. Viridor is one but they are more expensive than Binns. Tiffin Boxes The reaction in North Berwick is the customers love them. We could try a small pilot project here to see how well received they would be. They could be trialed in one or two takeaway or deli outlets or in the Handam shop? We could try to get some funding to buy some then the takeaways could charge a small deposit so they become self-funded to get more should they be successful. One consideration would be the additional cleaning and storage required to store the Tiffin Boxes. We could make posters to advertise businesses who are offering these Tiffin Boxes. Or compostables like A Plaice to Be use. But they could be used for school and work lunches, picnics etc. Takeaways could brand them to advertise themselves. The other thing is you can just open them up and serve from them at the table. They can go in the oven. You could use them for camping too. What kind of cutlery could be used outside. There are a number of types now that are bamboo or wooden. If we do want to start this scheme here then there are takeaway owners in North Berwick who would be happy to speak to local takeaway owners and Ruth is happy to continue to advise us on any concerns. Ruth would like to chat about the Refill shop at some point as they have lost their local shop. For information about litter: Keep Scotland beautiful https://www.keepscotlandbeautiful.org/scotlands-litter-summit/ https://www.keepscotlandbeautiful.org/community-and-place/clean-up-scotland/ Bottle Return scheme has been pushed back to 2022 https://depositreturnscheme.zerowastescotland.org.uk/ Verges Rosie mentioned that there was a big bank between the Episcopal Church down towards the distillery that was covered in violets last year. She had been admiring them and then someone came and mowed it including all the violets. So she wrote to the distillery asking if they owned the bank. They said they did and that they had a policy, that if it was non public facing, then they didn't mow it. They also said as they were a Gold award business they would make sure that it wasn't mowed in future and would speak to their gardeners. And then bank was mowed. When Rosie spoke to them again they were going to double check to see if it was the council, and if it was they were going to ask if they could adopt the cutting of the bank. Plantlife (Plantlife.org.uk) I am not sure if you are aware, but the organisation Plantlife is currently conducting a national campaign re verges. They recommend that cutting be avoided as much as possible during the times when flowers are setting their seeds. They have produced a document called "Managing grassland road verges" which suggests a variety of different ways to manage verge cutting throughout the year, whilst minimising disruption to wild plant populations, and hopefully boosting biodiversity in these. Balfour Beatty, the road engineers, have an environment officer - quite helpful when I got in touch about ‘spraying’ around newly planted saplings. Plants and a Seed Exchange Box: There is a Plant and seed exchange box at Handam Shop for any unwanted/spare plants or garden seeds you have? Come see what we have. Drop some off and pick some up. Climate Café Network Website is now operational. Jess has included lots of great information as well as links to all the climate cafes along with the climate cafes on soils etc. www.climate.cafe Climate Conversation: 2040. We had 50 people sign up to watch the film on the 24th May along with a few attending the climate conversation afterwards. Maybe once the restrictions allow it, we could organise an in person screening of it in Pitlochry? Other talks for future Climate café meetings? Water Saving Campaign: I will be contacting Scottish water to see if they would be interested in helping us with a water saving project – supply water saving devices for our cisterns and water butts? Then advertise it to the accommodation providers and community. Tayside Biodiversity Catherine Lloyd would be happy to come chat about some projects we could do here with the school. Pollinators stepping stones – wild flower corridors. Hedgehog project, Swift surveys to name a few. Green Hyrogen? Would anyone be interested to hear about this new source of energy? Our next meeting is Friday 11th of June and the topic is LoveMyBus. Carol Aitken |
