Are we on the right track?

EDAP Meeting, 15th May 2008

Present: Chloe (EDAP, Local Government and Policy), Julia (Waste, Food, Land Use), Kevin (EDAP, Health), Patrick (EDAP, Business)

Agenda

  • four questions
  • feedback from EDAP group's last meeting
  • what do the groups need from the EDAP group?

four questions

in groups of three or four, a few minutes each, active listening:

  • what's going well?
  • what is challenging?
  • what is your vision or goal?
  • what are your next achievable steps?

Chloe (EDAP Group)

  • the EDAP process is going well, we have achieved a lot
  • challenging is the magnitude of the task, getting the right perspective
  • the goal is to create an EDP with ownership by and appeal to as many people in Lewes as possible, that offers a positive vision for Lewes with achievable next steps
  • next steps are to create the wiki page with statistics on Lewes, to meet with the EDAP team to discuss the EDAP process

Kevin (Health Group)

  • on the positive side is there is no doubt about the validity of the EDAP, also the Empowering Ourselves for Health Living events are going well
  • the time factor is challenging
  • the vision is enlightenment for all
  • next steps: organising a day to sit down and write the first draft of health section of the Plan; the Empowering Ourselves event coming up; contact local clinics to start outreach

Patrick (Business)

  • the Plan process is going well with the visioning sessions, realisation that there are different visions, reviewing of the Plan and researching gaps, also the questionnaires for local businesses as well as a recent Chamber of Commerce meeting showed TTL is known and well received, also the currency project has received a lot of media attention
  • the next steps are to brainstorm the details of the steps in the Plan, continue with outreach and have fun

Julia (Food and Waste)

  • food group's visioning exercise went well
  • challenge in the food group to keep focused, a challenge in the waste group is that the group is unclear of the purpose of the EDAP (this led to a lively discussion, see below)
  • next steps for the waste group is to have a day out and write their EDAP section in a simple, short document

feedback

  • what the plan will look like:

what should be in the EDAP?

  • introduction to the context of peak oil and climate change
  • principles and aims of TTL
  • facts and figures about Lewes, perhaps in map format
  • how people can get involved
  • transition tales, possibly also histories

style

  • uncomplicated
  • visual
  • emphasis on positive vision rather than catastrophic future scenarios
  • accessible language
  • in colour
  • including photos, cartoons, etc
  • need to make plans relevant to everyday life
  • short and sweet

launch

  • a touring exhibition around town
  • a summary version to every house in Lewes
  • funding

Kate is looking into funding for the printing, launching and distribution of the Plan document. We need further discussion of exactly what needs funding.

  • event

We will be holding a half day gathering in mid September for all the groups to compare Plans and work out areas of mutual co-operation.

  • reviewing the plans

James Greyson has offered to review the groups' plans, groups should contact him if they would like him to review their plans. We agreed that plans can be reviewed by all in TTL and that groups will take their plans for review to relevant experts.

  • Transition Town Totnes

TTT has received funding for a coordinator post to facilitate the writing of their EDAP. We had a look at their proposal for road map events to engage with the community.

outreach feedback

  • Hermione, Kate and Pippa have begun discussion about how to gather community views for the plan. they have discussed three possibilities:
    • collecting ideas at events such as farmers' markets, using a question, writing ideas on a board, video interviews, to create a snapshot of community views
    • designing day events, for example open spaces
    • a generic outreach workshop that could be used by any TTL group to take to their relevant target audience eg the W.I for the food group in order to gather their visions for the future of Lewes

what do you need now?

  • the groups represented felt they needed to get on with the next steps they outlined earlier!

general discussion of the purpose of the EDAP

three main questions were raised:

  • who is the EDAP for?
  • what is its purpose?
  • what is it going to achieve?

it was pointed out that:

  • the EDAP was an essential part of transition towns, building community
  • the EDAP writing was a process to engage the community and that we are at the beginning of that process, it is also a plan of action, a positive vision for the future
  • these two functions may require different documents and different media
  • there are many green initiatives, careful to distinguish transition towns
  • these questions should be discussed further

other Plans

  • the Lewes Community Land Trust is hoping to create a town plan with community involvement, we need to contact them
  • the District Council is writing the Local Development Framework, the plan for the Lewes District for the next 20 years, which should be open for consultation in April next year

next meeting

EDAP Group, Tuesday 17th June, 7.30pm, Lewes Arms
Groups' Plan reps, September, date tbc

Get involved: contact one of the Group contacts on the Groups page