Minutes of GREN members’ meeting held on 27th March 2013

second draft

  1. Welcome, introductions, and apologies;

Present:

GREN Committee members: Oonagh Kelleher, Rachel Miller, John Booth, Tony Cowling;

GREN members: Chris Burden; Peter Burt, Ricky Josey, Pete Chan, Annalisa Cavallini, Janet Breeze.

Apologies: Michele Atkins (GREN Secretary)

  1. Minutes of previous meetings

Minutes of GREN AGM on 22nd November 2012 and of GREN Committee Meeting on 22nd January 2013 were approved.

  1. Updates from GREN Officers and Committee:

GREN finances and funding:

  • Balance of funds was £64.90p.
  • £72 was due to Loud’n’Clear to pay for website hosting for six months – but Loud’n’Clear had offered free hosting for 2013 to help GREN for this period.
  • It was agreed to thank Loud’n’Clear and to accept their offer.
  • It was suggested that GREN should talk to RVA (David Neale). If at some point RVA offered a microsite option to small organisations this could be used. Another alternative was using a wordpress site.
  • Meetings were often adequately funded by donations from attendees but the cost of the website at £144 per annum was an ‘overhead’. It was suggested that this amounted to much less than £10 for each group with GREN membership so GREN could appeal to its members and member groups for funds. Other sources of future funding were discussed: Earley Charity and Co-operative Bank were mentioned. The 2012 committee had investigated this sort of organisation and concluded that funding for routine activities (as opposed to special projects, development or expansion) was hard to find.
  • With the change in committee members it would be necessary to change signatories on the GREN bank account.
  1. GREN Forum

Tony Cowling described his recent experiences with the Draught Busting project – which was being run under the auspices of Transition Towns Reading, The Rotary Club, and Reading Borough Council, with Council funding for materials. He and colleagues had been to 30 properties and had been horrified by the poor levels of heating and insulation found.

Chris Burden described the Green Deal and his work on a short-term government-funded Reading Borough Council project to pilot rolling out the Green Deal in Reading. He had been undertaking initial visits to identify households that would want to be visited by a Green Deal Assessor – the first stage in the official process.

After an interval John Booth gave an update on Reading Climate Change Partnership’s revision of Reading’sClimate Change Strategy. He said work on eight draft chapters had been consulted on from November to January and the documents were being revised. It was proposed to create a ‘community of action’ to encourage participation by individuals, businesses and institutions. There was an inconclusive discussion of what emissions reduction targets should be proposed for members of the community of action – some thought that any commitment would be welcome and the bar should not be set too high. It was pointed out that ‘year-on-year’ targets (e.g. of 5%) ignored the fact that after ‘easy wins’ in early years further progress would be harder.

Peter Burt described Greenpeace’s work on the Arctic and the EnergyBill and Fracking. Members of the public had been asked to put their names on a ‘scroll’ that would be deposited at the North Pole to demand that the uninhabited area around the North Pole be protected by the UN and made off-limits to polluters. Campaigning on the Energy Bill was focused on opposing plans for more gas use and opposing ‘fracking’ for gas.

  1. A.O.B.

Rachel Miller suggested possibility of having a category of sign-up to the GREN website to allow people or organisations to receive notification of events etc. without being members. Thought a good idea but no action agreed.

Ricky Josey said West Berkshire Green Exchange performed a similar function to GREN in West Berkshire – but was supported by a member of West Berkshire Council staff. It allowed people and organisations to register to receive its output without having to be members.

Ricky Josey said the March Reading RESCUE (Rivers and Environmental Spaces Clean Up Event) had had an eventful weekend with snow on the ground on Saturday 23rd March and boats stuck at Sonning because of the high water. Next event was in October.

Tony Cowling said he was looking into possibility of a hydro-electric scheme on the Thames at Reading and would like community involvement or ownership – could this be a GREN project?

It was reported that member Jenny Hicks had commented on the GREN Facebook that she was concerned about Council plans for trees and vegetation around changes to the road system, particularly along Vastern Road, where trees were being replaced.

  1. Date of next meeting

The committee suggested that the next members meeting should be in mid June in Earley, hosted by the Earley Environmental Group (a GREN member), and should have a wildlife focus. John Booth said he would try to arrange a ‘bat walk’ around the Local Nature Reserve. Ricky Josey said he might be able to source some ‘bat detectors’ for this event.

Minutes by John Booth.

Version draft 1.

Agreed by:

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