MEETINGS DURING 2012

The first meeting was the AGM in February followed by an excellent talk by Johnny Torrens-Spence about his voluntary work with the Somerset Wildlife Trust.  He provided an insight into wildlife habitats particulary ponds.

In April, the group met to consider a number of issues including wind turbines, Easyfundraising and the Hedge Survey.  An update of the National Grid's strategy for the Hickley C connection and the proceedings of the Local community Forum were provided.  The plan for future meetings during the year was discussed and a plant and produce sale was held.

In June, the  group visited Copse Hall in Brent Knoll to view the gardens and particularly the organic vegetable garden.

In September, members manned a stall at the Harvest Home encouraging children to grow trees.

In October a joint meeting was held with the Wedmore Green Group.  A documentary  - The Island President - was shown.  This showed President Nashsheed's attempt to get the world to adopt low carbon targets at the Copenhagen meeting.   It explained how the Maldives would disappear beneath the sea if CO2 emmisions are not severely reduced.

ACTIVITIES IN 2011

ALLERTON ENVIRONMENTAL GROUP ACTIVITIES 2011

The group undertook a wide range of activities in 2011. These included meetings, outings, projects and a range of other activities including work on wider environmental issues such as pylons and wind farms.

Meetings

There were two speaker meetings during the year: Following the AGM in February, Greg Glendell spoke about the Great Crane Project and, later in the year, Tom Cosgrave from Broadview talked about the proposed wind farm at Rooksbridge. At this meeting, a sale of fruit and vegetables was held. In addition, there were two planning and update meetings at which the progress of various projects and activities was discussed. Apple pruning training was offered jointly with the Farming and Wildlife Advisory Group in January and two members attended.

Outings

The vegetable garden at Knighthayes

The main outing for the year was a visit to Knighthayes Court in Devon with a guided tour around the organic vegetable garden.

The second outing was a visit to Daisy Farm, near Wedmore. This is truly an Eco house built of straw bales. Both outings were well attended, members found them to be informative and they were greatly enjoy by those concerned.

Projects

The Big Tidy Up continues to be well supported and two tidy up days were held during the year. Unfortunately, rubbish is still deposited along the roadsides at an alarming rate. More positively, the airfield on Allerton Moor has been cleared at last.

The oil buying scheme established by Roger Fielder has continue to flourish with those who have joined the scheme making considerable savings.

The Hedge Survey started during the summer after a training day. Good progress has been made but there are many more hedges to survey. During 2012, there will be a group of experienced hedge surveyors to take this forward.

Other Activities

Pylons across the Somerset Levels

The AEG is represented at the Community Forum set up by National Grid and is monitoring progress. National Grid has announced the route (1A) for the transmission.This is the route preferred by AEG members. It has now received a report on the costs of the various options (eg pylons, underground). This will be discussed at the next Community Forum meeting.

· The group has followed developments in relation to the proposed wind farm. As well as the speaker mentioned above, a discussion topic with a poll was set up on the website. This indicated that, in general, most responders supported wind farms though they tended to want the number and size of the turbines at Pilrow to be reduced.

· There was strong support among members for the redevelopment of the Wheatsheaf and a supportive letter was sent on behalf of the group in response to the planning application.

· The Secretary has been active in alerting the group to relevant projects being undertaken by the Wedmore Green Group and has encouraged members to take part in these.