Present – Mike, Cate, Jan, Ann, John, Susan, Debbie, Anna report that has been , Jacky, Colin;
Apologies – Phil, Ruth, Andy, Tom, Joan
News
Jan reported on the government’s Warm Homes Plan published on 20th January. He has a printed version of the report and he understands the Library will also be getting one. There is funding allocated but the forms to apply have yet to be issued. The government are also building capacity within the industry to be able to cope with the demand through training schemes etc. He suggested getting in an early application if you are thinking of applying.
Colin gave a short presentation of the Chronic UK Security Risk Report that was published in Nov 25. This was ground breaking because it considered climate change risks as part of the analysis and found them to be a sustained threat to our way of life. It also looked at the interconnected nature of the risks that it looked at, So for example, climate change can reduce crops and threaten food security; stretched supply lines can itself cause civil strife in the countries where the food is grown or in those reliant and disorder in those countries reliant on the supply. The problem can be then further exacerbated by providing terrorists with a tempting target to cause further disruption etc. A further report published in January 26 by DEFRA looked at the likelihood and effect of global biodiversity loss and ecosystem collapse and its impact on national security. The level of risk of this happening over the next 2 decades is high and although not stated in the report we know our preparedness for this is low. A link to the two sites where you can read the reports is given below
https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/6890acc9e8ba9507fc1b09a6/Chronic_Risks_Analysis__CRA_.pdf a national security assessment, DEFRA , Jan 26 and uhttps://www.gov.uk/government/publications/nature-security-assessment-on-global-biodiversity-loss-ecosystem-collapse-and-national-security/national-security-assessment-on-global-ecosystems-accessible-version
Group Name Change
Colin explained how groups such as ours belonged to the Climate Action Group network and referred to themselves as PECAN (Petersfield Climate Action Network). This provided a clearer identity to other outside groups on what they do. So he has contacted the National Climate Action Network to become affiliated to the network. We would still continue to operate as we do in relation to u3a and to Transition Chichester. If accepted we could then become ChiCan. He will provide an update at the next meeting. There was no dissent to such a move.
Solar Parks and Biodiversity
Colin showed a video entitled “Do solar parks help wildlife in Britain? with Fran Button. This proved of interest and showed perhaps a turning point could be achieved in public perceptions being more positive if the information was spread more widely.
Anna gave an account of the Meadow Blue Community Energy Solar Meadow and how the project had improved biodiversity on the site compared to its previous agricultural use. Meadow Blue would be commissioning a survey of their biodiversity in line with current guidance later this year to check its progress. It was also noted that the project had supported solar panel installations on many community buildings which also had a benefit in the climate change mitigation.
Resilience Planning
Colin showed a YouTube Video, a TED presentation by Sarah Tuneberg which focussed on the USA and demonstrated the use of available data in working out a comprehensive approach to resilience planning. Natural Disasters she felt should be renamed human disasters because although we cannot stop natural incidents we can predict most of them and but in place measures to save lives based on social research and land use data. But in the discussion afterwards we concluded that the problem continues to be short term thinking. Although money today is worth more than money next year the excuse in the phrase “Natural Disasters gives cover to the lack of accountability among decision makers for the trade off they are making. Is anyone listening?
AOB
Meeting Rooms are booked until May and Colin/ Susan will check whether we can also book through to July.
At the 4th March meeting Debbie offered to provide teas/coffees and biscuits at the interval (around 3pm) with Susan and Jacky offering to help. This will provide a break between Ian Guppy, WSCC speaking and his Q+A and a general discussion following – say 3.15 to 4pm. Colin had hoped to also have the CDC Emergency Planning officer attending and he will redouble his effort to get him to answer his emails.
CRM D1 5/2/26