The future of Lewes starts here...

Lewes Energy Descent Action Plan – pathway to a postitive future

There were representatives from most of the TTL groups and some people representing more than one group! (Adrienne (Currency Group, EDP Group), Chloe (EDP Group, Policy Group), Chris (Energy Group), Colin (EDP Group), Julia (Land Use Group, Textiles Group, Waste Group), Kevin (Health Group, EDP Group), Patrick (Business Group, EDP Group), Pippa (EDP Group), Polly (Food Group, EDP Group))

Energy Descent Plan Timeline

We agreed on a timeline for writing Lewes' Energy Descent Plan.

  • Each group will write the first draft of their section of Lewes' Plan within the next month.
  • In early April, we'll meet again to compare our experiences and see how we can improve the Plan.
  • Every six weeks we'll meet to look at the Plan, with breaks in August and December.
  • We hope to then publish the Plan within TTL in September and launch the Plan officially in January 2009.

TTL Energy Group's Plan

Chris from the Energy Group presented the Energy Group's Plan and how they went about it. He explained how the group discussed their objectives together and one person agreed to write the plan for revision by the group. They set out their vision and detailed year by year steps to achieve that.

Resources and support

  • Shaun Chamberlain, on behalf of Transition Town Network, is working on a document detailing the international, European and UK government framework for the next twenty years, including carbon quotas and rescource distribution, which should be available from late March
  • the Transition Network is also working on general resilience indicators as well as a local rescource audit template for Transition Towns
  • TTL Policy Group is looking at national and local government frameworks and data and will make this information available to the groups - Colin said there is a phenomenal amount of data collected by local and national government and other organisations and he would feed information from local and regional government into the groups, for example the Lewes District Council are compiling the district's eco footprint in 2007, which might be used as a baseline
  • TTL Energy Descent Plan Group are open to invitations from TTL groups to come along to group meetings to discuss and offer support for writing the Plan

Things to remember

In our discussion we made the following points:

  • it is a document which will be continually revised in the light of developments
  • it is a document that reflects the vision of each group
  • the group is not responsible for realising the plan
  • the document does not necessarily have to be facts and figures, it can be creative and inspirational, full of high-profile solutions
  • write the first draft, making notes of the gaps, then bring in experts, local organisations, local government contexts, etc after the first draft

How to write the first draft

  • have a look at the Kinsale Energy Descent Plan and other plans
  • brainstorm ideas in your group
  • write a statement about the current state of affairs in your area
  • write a statement about your vision
  • detail the steps to be taken to achieve that vision

Here's what the Transition Network says of the EDAP:

"In essence, the EDAP will paint a picture of the community that is so colourful, so appealing and so irresistible, that anyone not involved in bringing it to fruition will feel bereft of meaning in their life."

We very much look forward to hearing from all you pioneering souls who want to be at the cutting edge of the Transition Town movement in planning a positive future for Lewes!

Ideas Bank

As part of the Plan process we are reviving the Ideas Bank that is linked to the Contents on the front page of the wiki or here.

What is it for?

  • If you have an idea for an inspiring action, or read about one happening somewhere else, this is the place to put it (or email Kate or Adrienne so they can).
  • If you have a problem you might be able to find a solution to it in the Ideas Bank.
  • There’s a section in the Ideas Bank for Resilience Indicators, which are simple ways of measuring resilience, such as number of bicycles, proportion of shops selling local food, number of hens, amount of local currency in circulation per head, turnover of farmers market, etc.

Get involved: contact hello [at] TransitionTownLewes.org.uk