Winners of the 2005 North Norfolk Environment Awards

14 July, 2005

The best 'green' projects in North Norfolk in 2004/05 have been rewarded today at a ceremony near Fakenham.

North Norfolk District Council gave its annual Environment Awards today to the projects that have done most in the last year to preserve and enhance the District's precious environment, at a ceremony at Pensthorpe wildfowl reserve.

The winners were as follows:

SCHOOLS (category supported by the North Norfolk News and Dereham and Fakenham Times):

• WINNER: Bacton First School - Environmental education area in a corner of the playing field created by parents, teachers and pupils. A pond has been created with boggy area for frogs, toads and newts, planting has been undertaken to encourage butterflies, and a wood pile placed to attract 'mini-beasts'. A path around the area has information/activity boards.
• RUNNER-UP: Sidestrand Hall School - Ongoing sustainability education project including food production, cultivating plants in a reclaimed greenhouse, wildlife garden and pond, willow creations and woodland bird hide. Emphasis on developing the school grounds for students and the wider community.

COMMUNITY (category supported by North Norfolk Radio):

• WINNER: Wiveton Parish Council Environmental/Safety Path - A safe and attractive footpath has been created (with a limited budget and keeping environmental impact to a minimum) over private land to overcome the danger to pedestrians using the coast road.
• RUNNER-UP: Franklin Hill, Sheringham in Bloom - The Sheringham in Bloom team developed a management plan to open up access to this NNDC-owned area, which had been overgrown for many years but now gives panoramic views. The plan also seeks to preserve wildlife and improve biodiversity.

SMALL BUSINESS:

• WINNER: Grange Farm, Beeston St Lawrence - Begun by Jim Barker as a college tree management project, this has seen a copse turn productive over the years, with hazel splines for thatch and hedging and chestnut poles for various jobs. Bracken is controlled and hedging coppiced around the area, which includes a wildflower area and flourishing pond.
• RUNNER-UP: Wells Harbour Project, Phase I - A project to increase harbour use and contribute to the town's future prosperity with improved amenities while preserving the natural environment. The old lifeboat house has been renovated to become the harbour office, with facilities for vessels and crew, and a new sewage pump to improve water quality.

LARGE BUSINESS:

• WINNER: JF Temple & Son Ltd - This diversifying family farm, which is now producing its own cheeses, has introduced energy-saving crop storage systems, a wood-burner linked to the milking parlour, and a straw-burner to provide heat for drying grain and hot water for the cheese rooms.
• RUNNER-UP: Heinz Frozen and Chilled Foods, Westwick - This plant has installed a polishing unit in its water treatment system to improve the quality of discharged water, and a filter press in the potato wash area. It has reduced the amount of waste it sends to landfill by 61% this year.

GREEN BUILD (category supported by Radio Norfolk Action Desk):

• WINNER: Sheringham Park Visitor Facility Improvements - Facilities for visitors at this National Trust park had expanded piecemeal over the years, and the Trust took the opportunity to refurbish and adapt under-used buildings to help cope with visitor numbers. These buildings have been transformed in environmentally-friendly ways to become a new visitor area, with exhibition and education space as well as reception, café, offices and toilets. The old car park will be returned to woodland.
• COMMENDED: Fox Cottage, Brick Kiln Road, Thursford - A four-bed, timber-framed, brick-clad home built to replace one of a pair of Airey houses. It has a high level of insulation and maximise solar gain with the placement of windows. It also incorporates a condensing boiler which heats rooms in five zones, which can each be shut off when rooms are not in use.
  (There was no runner-up in this category this year.)