Winners of the 2012 North Norfolk Environment Awards

The best ‘green’ projects in North Norfolk in 2012 have been rewarded today at the North Norfolk District Council (NNDC) GreenBuild event at Felbrigg Park.

North Norfolk District Council presented its new ‘John Sweeney Award for the Environment’ at a ceremony in the grounds of the National Trust’s Felbrigg Hall, near Cromer, where the Council is holding its annual sustainable living show, GreenBuild, this weekend. The award aims to recognise the successes of organisations that have recently completed a ‘green’ project, or successfully worked to become more environmentally sustainable, or to improve and protect the local or global environment.

The NNDC Environment Awards have recognised the efforts of grassroots ‘green‘ projects in the district for the last 18 years, but this year they have been renamed in honour of the late Leader and Chairman of the Council, John Sweeney.
The awards, which were judged by Council members in July, were presented by Councillor John Perry-Warnes, Chairman of the Council.This year the judges decided to award the prize jointly to two winners. Each winner received a cheque for £250 as well as a commemorative plaque, while all the shortlisted entrants received a certificate recognising their efforts.

The joint winners were as follows:
Joint Winner - Mundesley Scout Hut.

Hundreds of hours of volunteer labour enabled the construction of this scout hut in Mundesley, which now provides a fine community facility set in a serene, wildflower-filled outdoor space. Although from the outside the building appears fairly plain and functional, the inside of the building is an excellently-designed space, built with its end users in mind and with energy and sustainability a foremost consideration. With the building only in use part of the time, very high levels of insulation ensure comfortable temperatures year-round. Two air source heat pumps using ‘renewable’ heat provide all of the heating and hot water needs for the building at a low cost, while a photovoltaic array has been installed on the South-facing roof. Although only recently installed, it is hoped that this array will eventually neutralise the electricity needed to run the heat pumps, as well as gaining an income through the ‘Feed-in Tariff’.

Joint Winner - Roots and Shoots project.
This project, based at Holt Hall, was this year run in conjunction with several schools in the local area. Working with one or several schools at a time, the scheme involved small groups of young children who are usually selected by teachers as needing support for academic or behavioural reasons. Throughout a 10-week project the children are engaged in a range of outdoor and environmental activities such as planting raised beds, making outdoor classrooms and storytelling areas and learning about wildlife. In addition a local artist has been involved in making environmental artwork with the children. The results of the project are tangible and impressive, with the use of environmental and outdoor teaching having a wider, and lasting, impact on the children’s development including attendance, social skills and academic progress.

The runners-up were as follows:

Runners-up
• Pigney’s Wood. A Local Nature Reserve near North Walsham, run by a community trust and staffed by volunteers, where an area of overgrown and degraded former farmland was restored into a natural pond and wetland area. The area has quickly been colonised by plant and animal life and forms an idyllic area for walks.
• 'The Patch' Sheringham. This community project, based at the high school in Sheringham, consists of a garden which provides an excellent learning opportunity for students of a range of ages, as well as the local community. A full-time expert at the site offers lessons to students at the school, helping them appreciate where food comes from as well as providing practical insights into biology and food technology.
• ‘Allsorts’ shop. This shop in the centre of North Walsham is an innovative and environmentally-friendly twist on the idea of a second-hand shop. All of the items on sale and even the shop displays are sourced from second-hand sources, mainly thanks to a contract with the local recycling centre for bric-a-brac, which is sorted & reconditioned for sale.
• Holt Hall volunteer grounds maintenance. This ‘outdoor education centre’ has around 90 acres of land with significant maintenance requirements, so in order to respond to these, while ensuring the ongoing provision of learning opportunities for local people and students, a ‘recruitment drive’ was recently initiated with huge success. Over 2500 of volunteer time last year have helped with tasks including land clearance, and the project has recently sourced a charcoal burner to turn the cleared timber into a ‘zero-carbon’ fuel for sale locally.

As well as the presentation of the Environment Awards, NNDC’s GreenBuild event at Felbrigg Park taking place on Saturday and Sunday 8 and 9 September, featured a record 70 exhibitors, 13 farmer’s market stalls and 7 children’s’ entertainers, with talks and demonstrations on subjects as diverse as growing your own food in tough times and the Government’s soon to be launched ‘Green Deal’ to advice on heat pumps and biomass boilers.

# For more information about the Environment Awards, contact Peter Lumb 01263 516331, or for the GreenBuild event contact Helen Dixon 01263 516261, or email sustainability@north-norfolk.gov.uk

ENDS