Are you attached to your neighbourhood?
Catherine Turton is a student at the University of Surrey and she would appreciate your input towards her research project investigating how Yorkshire residents feel about their neighbourhoods, participation in community activities and sustainable behaviour. If you have 10 minutes to spare, she would be very grateful if you could fill in a survey. Please click on the link below.
https://surreyfahs.eu.qualtrics.com/SE/?SID=SV_0lKcPFxdVwvfNpX
Catherine Turton
PhD Student
Department of Psychology
Faculty of Arts and Human Sciences
University of Surrey
22AD04
Guildford GU2 7XH
December 2015 minutes added
Minutes of the meeting held on 9th December 2014 have been added to the document library – link below.
What should be done with Terry’s Clock Tower?
York Environment Forum is hosting an Open Forum at 7:00pm on Wednesday 21st January 2015. The venue is St.Chad’s Church, Campleshon Road, South Bank, and the aim is to find out what people think the tower should be used for in future. Whatever your interest in the building, come along and give us your thoughts.
If you fancy printing/displaying a poster or emailing it to friends, there’s one here…
Housing Density proposals presented to Local Plan Working Group
Philip Crowe spoke at the Local Plan Working Group meeting on 17th December, presenting a paper setting out proposals – discussed at the previous YEF meeting – regarding increased density for urban housing and the benefits this could bring, including sparing proposed Green Belt housing sites. Please follow the link to Crowe-Housing Proposal
YEF Chair Kate stands down
Kate Lock, Chair of York Environment Forum, has announced her intention to stand down from the position in order to pursue a new career in academia.
Kate, who took over as Chair of the Forum from Jonathan Tyler in December 2010, has overseen substantial changes in the organisation, increasing its presence as the voice for the environment in York, improving its communications and online status, increasing its partnership work with City of York Council and other groups and steering the Forum to becoming a constituted body.
Environmental campaigner, writer and researcher Kate, 53, will be commencing full-time study doing an MSc in Sustainability specialising in Environmental Politics and Policy at the University of Leeds in September 2014.
Kate Lock on a stall for York is ENGAGEd, with fellow YEF member Christian Vassie
A new Chair will be elected at the forthcoming meeting on Tuesday 12 August. Applicants for the postion must be members of York Environment Forum (or prepared to join).
Keep York frack-free: YEF adds its voice
York Environment Forum added its support to Frack-Free York’s petition to City of York Council calling for York to remain frack-free at a meeting of the full council last Thursday, 17 July.
The Forum had previously issued its own fracking statement to Council Leader Cllr James Alexander and Executive Member for Environment and Planning, Cllr Dave Merrett.
YEF Chair Kate Lock was one of five public speakers that were each granted three minutes to speak to the petition; the other speakers were Richard Lane of York and Ryedale Friends of the Earth, Sue Lister for York Greenpeace, John Cossham for Frack-Free York and Christopher Rainger, Fellow of the Institution of Civil Engineers. You can view their speeches here (from 24.35 mins in) and read the text of Kate Lock’s speech .
The council debate that followed was automatically triggered by Frack-Free York collecting over 1,000 signatures on the petition. Speeches last 30 minutes and can be viewed here. There was no vote on the issue, but most councillors spoke in favour of the petition, to varying degrees, with the exception of Cllr Joe Watt (Con) and Cllr Dafydd Williams (Lab). Chair Cllr Julie Gunnell, the Deputy Lord Mayor, thanked the public for their participation and said that the speakers and the petition had given councillors a lot of areas to think about and to research.
A full transcript of the debate by councillors can be read here: CYC debate 17 July
Prior to the meeting a demonstration against fracking organised by Frack-Free York was held in St Helen’s Square, in front of the Mansion House. Other members of York Environment Forum joined in with the demonstration and subsequently packed the public gallery of the Guildhall’s main chamber to hear the council debate.
YEF flies its colours with community banner
The York Environment Forum was proud to join with the many community and other groups in the city to make its own banner for the City of York Council’s Dress to Impress initiative for the Grand Depart of the Tour de France.
The banner project was organised by YEF’s treasurer Penny Bainbridge with help from members Ron Healy, Adrian Lovett and Bootham School teacher Harriet Ennis and the pupils from BEAST, the school’s environmental group, working with a community artist using the materials provided by the council for the community banners.
The colourful banners were displayed on York’s bar walls, adding a vibrant and attractive element to the Tour de France street decorations and demonstrating the huge range of voluntary groups and organisations that are active in the city.
Our banner was hung in a prominent position on the archway through the walls from Lendal Bridge leading to York Station, and was next to a Greenpeace banner, which we thoroughly approved of!
York Environment Forum would like to thank City of York Council for this great initiative and for taking such care to present the banners to the public. The banners have been taken down now, but will be available for public viewing an another location – check our Facebook page for an update on this.
The community banner for York Environment Forum, made jointly with BEAST from Bootham School, as part of the Dress to Impress initiative for the Tour de France
YEF goes from strength to strength!
The 8 April 2014 meeting of York Environment Forum was a landmark one as it incorporated our inaugural AGM.
This may not sound sexy or momentous, but after more than ten years of running on a structured but essentially informal basis, with no funding whatsoever, the Forum is now a fully constituted body and has a bank account, officers and a management committee.
It all strengthens the hand of our organisation, which has been powered by a great deal of hard work, energy, commitment and goodwill over its decade-long existence. Being constituted will allow us to apply for funding to do more of the things we would like to do – hold public meetings (and maybe even filmed talks), arrange conferences, organise campaigns, perhaps produce publications – the possibilities are endless, and exciting.
The journey to this point commenced in August 2013, when a special ‘visioning workshop’ was held to discuss where we were headed as an organisation, and what kind of organisation we felt it would be most appropriate for us to adopt. All members were invited to participate in a survey to feed back their comments and this was followed up by a subsequent presentation by Natasha Almond of York CVS to advise us on the types of organisation we could seek to become (ie limited company, charity, CIO, etc).
We decided that an unincorporated association was the best structure for us as an organisation and formed a working group to put together a constitution, based on a model constitution supplied by York CVS and governance documents that the Forum had produced previously. The constitution has been revised several times at YEF meetings since, and was agreed at our meeting in February 2014. It was formally signed by all attending members of the AGM on 8 April 2014.
York Environment Forum is keen to maintain the good working relationship it has as an ‘outside body’ working in partnership with City of York Council, and all felt it was important to find a format that continued to maintain that. We value the input from Council members that have a (non-voting) seat on the Forum and appreciate greatly the use of a council room for our meetings, which helps facilitate the attendance of Members.
The constitution is available to read here YEF Constituition
YEF response to Minerals and Waste Joint Plan
York Environment Forum has responded to the Minerals and Waste Joint Plan Issues and Options consultation, calling for the local authorities concerned to reject fracking, to embrace a circular economy model and to pursue a zero waste policy.
To read our response to the consultation, click MWJP York Environment Forum response
The Forum’s statement to the City of York Council was also included in the response. To read the full statement, click Fracking statement from York Environment Forum.
Environment Forum calls on York to ban fracking
PRESS RELEASE FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:9 April 2014
A York environmental think tank calling for fracking to be banned in the York Local Authority area is urging residents to make their opposition to the process known by responding to a vital consultation before Friday.
York Environment Forum has issued a statement asking City of York Council not to permit hydraulic fracturing – also known as fracking – or coal seam gas extraction. Developing approaches for unconventional gas extraction is included in the Minerals and Waste Joint Plan currently being consulted on that will form part of York’s Local Plan.
The plan for the combined City of York Council, North Yorkshire County Council and North York Moors National Park areas contains options to identify a suitable approach to any proposals for Coal Bed Methane, Underground Coal Gasification, shale gas and carbon storage development within the Joint Plan area.
‘The document is part of the roadmap that will determine how we respond to applications for shale gas extraction in our area,’ said Kate Lock, the Forum’s Chair. ‘Almost half the British public is now opposed to fracking within 10 miles of their homes and if you look at the licences that have already been granted for the Joint Plan area, very many of us could be affected. If you are concerned, it really is important to respond to the consultation before the 5pm deadline on Friday 11 April.’
Licences for exploration, appraisal and development have already been granted in blocks around the western fringe of York (in an area extending to York Minster), to the east in the Vale of Pickering and within the North York Moors. More new licences may be granted by the Government in the near future.
‘Of the options presented, we favour options 1 and 3, which give the joint local authorities the greatest level of control,’ said Kate Lock. ‘However, York Environment Forum feels that the Joint Plan should not support fracking in principle and we are pleased that Ryedale District Council’s own head of planning has also made that recommendation. We would like York to follow suit.’
In a statement, York Environment Forum said it objected to fracking on the following grounds:
- ‘The process risks pollution of groundwater and irreversible contamination of aquifers, with consequences for agriculture and human and animal health.
- It will generate thousands of extra heavy lorry movements, causing congestion, disturbance and infrastructure damage.
- It will lead to the industrialisation of our countryside and agricultural land.
- It has been known to cause earth tremors that could damage York’s unique architectural and archaeological heritage.
- The volume of water required will be an additional stress on our area’s freshwater supply.
- It could lower property prices and ‘devalue’ the attractiveness of York, which could influence the city’s economic security.
- It will not deliver the kinds of jobs relevant to most York people.
- Natural gas extracted by these methods will not result in lower energy costs for York residents.
- Financial inducements (community payments, retention of business rates) will not be sufficient to compensate for the damage and destruction to York’s communities, properties, public health and natural assets.
- Methane leaks and the carbon dioxide released from burning the gas could prevent York from achieving its legal targets in line with the Climate Change Act of 2008.
- It diverts attention from and investment into clean renewable energy in York and the surrounding area.’
The Forum is calling on City of York Council to state publicly its opposition to fracking, to reject planning applications for shale gas exploration and to make a commitment in the Local Plan to work with neighbouring authorities towards an energy future based on renewables.
To read and respond to the Minerals and Waste Joint Plan Issues and Options Consultation, go to: www.northyorks.gov.uk/mwconsult
Ends
Notes for Editors
- York Environment Forum (www.yorkenvironmentforum.org.uk) is the voice for the environment in York, encompassing both the natural environment and the built environment. The Environment Forum has been operating for ten years and is one of the outside bodies that the City of York Council works in partnership with. It has a representative from each of the political groups elected to the Council on it and is connected to the City’s strategic infrastructure through the York Environment Partnership, part of York Without Walls. It has recently become a constituted organisation.
- This year York Environment Forum has already hosted a talk on alternative economic models involving students from Archbishop Holgates C E School and an academic from the University of Leeds. It has also presented the Housing Design Awards Exhibition at York Guildhall, sponsored by the Joseph Rowntree Housing Trust, and a lecture on sustainable housing design by local architect Phil Bixby.
- Membership of the York Environment Forum is open to representatives from any appropriate groups, organisations or businesses with an interest in environmental matters, as well as individuals and parish councillors. Meetings are bimonthly at City of York Council’s West Offices. Organisations, parish councils and businesses represented on York Environment Forum include: Edible York ; York Natural Environment Trust; Friends of the Earth; Friends of St Nicholas Fields; TIM in York; Just York; Yorkshire Wildlife Trust; York in Transition; Wheatlands Community Woodland; Council for the Protection of Rural England; York Open Planning Forum; York Quakers; Constructive Individuals; CTC North Yorks; Murton Parish Council; Bishopthorpe Parish Council; Heslington Parish Council; Strensall Parish Council; SGS Ltd; The Healing Clinic; YRAIN; Frack-Free York; Planet South Bank; Friends of Rowntree Park; Fulford Community Orchard; MASS Architecture; Stockholm Environment Institute; York Tomorrow; University of York Sustainability Forum; Yorkshire and Humber Environment Forum; TCV; Tang Hall and Heworth Residents’ Assoc; University of York Environmental Policy Think Tank; Schumacher North.
- York Environment Forum is chaired by journalist, author and environmental researcher Kate Lock with Philip Crowe of York Tomorrow as Deputy Chair.
York Environment Forum 