Events 2007
World Environment Day – 5 June 2007
Activities were held in Walsall Town Centre on 5 June 2007 to promote World Environment Day and increase environmental awareness. Free cotton re-usable bags were handed out to passers-by to encourage people to replace their plastic bags with re-usable ones. Advice was also on hand from the Environment Agency, Friends of the Earth and Walsall Council Recycling Team about what individuals could do to help save the environment.
Passers-by were entertained by a nine-foot green giant and walking, talking wheelie bins that squirted water at anyone dropping litter. An ice sculpture of a polar bear also helped to raise awareness of the melting ice caused by climate change and the threat it poses to these animals.
To reach the business community, a bus toured around local business parks, packed with experts providing information on saving energy, reducing waste and sustainable transport.
Climate Change Conference – 11 July 2007
The last Environment Forum meeting held on 11 July 2007 had a special guest speaker, Bill Giles, former Head of BBC Weather Centre. Bill Giles highlighted the evidence that the climate is changing and discussed the impacts globally. Richard Bubb, Chair of Walsall Environment Forum discussed impacts at local level and reviewed the implications for Walsall’s business, public and voluntary sectors and the people of Walsall. Walsall Council Cabinet Member Councillor Rachel Walker also joined the speakers for a question and answer session.
Other key members of WBSP were invited to the Forum to consider how they will be affected by climate change and what they could do to help mitigate climate change.
Bill Giles said “This conference has played an important role in bringing initiatives together. We need to get the message across that everyone can make a difference, and put real effort into engaging Walsall’s children to ensure they are aware of their environment.”
Green Day a great success 13 - 14 July 2007
Delighted Walsall Council officers are celebrating after more than 2,500 people packed out a two-day green event.
More than 1,000 school children braved the rain and mud on Friday 13 July 2007 with 1,500 residents in sunshine attending the next day. Not even the weather conditions could put a damper on the day for the children who had a great fun trying out a variety of bikes and trikes, making smoothies on the Blendavenda smoothie making machine, learning circus skills and woodland crafts and being entertained by Professor Chaos and Strawberry Jam the clown.
On Saturday, a special free bus ferried people from Walsall town centre to the festival which was designed to promote sustainable living, raise awareness of environmental issues and for visitors to gain practical advice about alternative technologies such as beekeeping, compost toilets, keeping poultry, rainwater harvesting, solar electricity and organic gardening. Also, personal pledges were made by visitors on what they going to do to live in a more environmentally friendly way.
Councillor Rachel Walker, Cabinet member for the environment, said: “This was a brilliant event which was a great success and really did get over some valuable green lessons. But most of all it was a fun day where we helped put a smile on people’s faces as they learned more about what they can do for our planet.”
The event also featured electric vehicles and various bicycles and tricycles, life size inflatable whales, dolphins and porpoises, a renewable energy display, woodland crafts, sustainable living exhibition and a solar powered Victorian roundabout.
Walsall Coronets marching band opened the event on Saturday morning.
The fun days were part of Walsall Council’s summer of events to help protect our environment and keep the borough clean and green.
The Environment Forum had a stall and provided advice to visitors as well as offering visitors the chance to enter a competition, which involved entrants making a pledge to help save the environment, with the chance to win a copy of the Al Gore DVD ‘An inconvenient truth’.
Energy Saving Week 22 - 27 October 2007
Walsall Council cabinet member for the environment Councillor Rachel Walker lead by example to mark national energy saving week.
From Monday 22 October 2007 to Sunday 28 October 2007 Councillor Walker unplugged the telly, drew the curtains at sundown and kept a note of how keeping a lid on energy consumption changed her daily routine.
The Walsall mum-of-two said: “I’m looking forward to the challenge of reducing my energy consumption.
“There are so many small steps we can take individually which can make a huge difference, it’s about getting into good habits and I’m looking forward to the challenge.”
You can read Councillor Walker’s daily diary online at the Walsall Council website.
WBSP Environment Forum, assisted by the council’s team of volunteer environmental champions, organised the following events during Energy Saving Week:
Town centre event – Monday 22 October 2007, 10am - 3pm
- Free Energy Saving Advice from the Energy Efficiency Advice Centre, as well as some giveaways.
- Company of Cyclists – a range of 20-30 conventional and unconventional bikes were available for the public to try including recumbents, trikes, eccentric wheeled bikes, KMX carts, tandems, folding bikes, electric bikes, trailers, etc, including a mega bike – a seven seater circular cycle. This was to promote more sustainable forms of transport to help save energy.
Community awareness raising – throughout the week
Groundwork toured the borough raising awareness in the community, held sessions with faith groups, over 50s and other community groups, as well as sessions during community events
The sessions covered general principles of energy awareness, global warming and climate change. They were delivered in a fun and interactive way, and included videos, games, presentations and an opportunity to calculate carbon footprints for individuals or group. Those who attended received an energy efficient light-bulb and an information pack with local/global environmental information.
Mobile library – throughout the week
The mobile library toured the borough throughout the week, giving away light bulbs and information on saving energy.
Walsall eco-home open house
Also, as part of energy saving week a number of low carbon homes across the country opened to the public, in a move organised by the Sustainable Energy Academy. These are existing homes which have been renovated to reduce their carbon emissions by at least 60%.
Walsall Ecohouse, in South Walsall, was open to the public on Sunday 28 October 2007 from 2pm - 5pm. At Walsall Ecohouse Martin and Jane Normanton reduced their gas consumption by 75% despite having solid walls, and their electricity consumption by 50%.
To find out how they went about making such gradual “energy efficiency upgrade” changes, and valuable lessons learnt, please visit ecovation.org.uk.
National Tree Week 21 November - 2 December 2007
Walsall schools get free tree-giveaway
This is the first year Walsall Council have undertaken the Tree for Schools programme which brought a wonderful response from schools.
The campaign was aimed at seeing more trees planted in school grounds and tied in with the Tree Council’s National Tree Week, which was held week beginning 26 November 2007 and marks the start of the tree planting season.
The money for the free tree giveaway came from the council’s regeneration directorate who provided around £2,500. The scheme will see 2,000 alder trees planted in the arboretum, a thousand hazel trees at the Aldridge Airport site and around a thousand trees for schools.
The scheme was run on a first-come-first-served basis and schools were given the chance to choose from a selection of birch, ash, oak, hazel, alder trees as well as the more unusual wayfaring tree and the snowy nespilus species which is attractive in all seasons, including winter.
Leighswood school in Aldridge was just one of several schools that benefited from the scheme. Teachers and children from the school planted their batch of trees including field maple, common alder, snowy nespilus, hazel, beech, ash and wild cherry within the school’s grounds.
The Trees for Schools initiative has supported Leighswood’s three year project called Connecting Classrooms, an initiative linking schools in the UK with six schools in Zimbabwe and Tanzania.
Nathan Baker, coordinator for the Connecting Classrooms for Leighswood School said: “This year, pupils were encouraged to consider the effect of the environment and in particular our carbon footprint resulting from international flights.
“The Trees for School initiative was a great way to tie in the two schools together, so we were very keen to get involved when this opportunity was presented to us.”
Ecosac compostable carrier bags - December 2007
A bag is not just for Christimas...
Walsall Council distributed 65,000 environmentally friendly carrier bags to market traders and local businesses in the town leading up to the busy shopping Christmas period.
The council’s strategic environmental awareness team arranged purchase of the compostable carrier bags as part of the authority’s priority to ensure a clean and green borough.
The bags which are made from 100% cornstarch are totally compostable – enabling residents to put them straight into their composters at home, or alternatively the bags will biodegrade when they go into landfill.
The bags, which are manufactured entirely from renewable sources, were handed out to market traders in both the town centre and throughout district centres and proved to be a big success.
Walsall Town Centre Management Partnership helped with distribution of the bags, encouraging traders and businesses to use them.
Councillor Rachel Walker, portfolio holder for environment at Walsall Council, said: “The bags are environmentally friendly but are also very, very strong and can hold a lot of goods.
As the bags proved to be a success with both traders and residents, it is hoped that this scheme could be extended in the future.
The bags were funded through Local Area funding at a cost of just over £5,000.
Contact us
Carol Edmondson
Regeneration Officer
Regeneration – Delivery and Development
Walsall Council
Darwall Street
Walsall
WS1 1TP
Telephone 01922 652864
Email edmondsonc@walsall.gov.uk