Ipswich CAN - An Update

A huge thank you for all your support, energy and ideas this year - together, we’re delivering change! The campaign to get action on air pollution in Ipswich has been a long one but this year saw some real shifts - with more to come in 2023.

We’ve taken the campaign to Suffolk’s Health and Wellbeing Board. This brings together leaders from the Borough, County Councils, Health, Police, University, business and local charities to tackle issues of health and wellbeing for residents.

As a result, in January 2022, a private Air Quality event was held. Led by Stuart Keeble, Director of Public Health and opened by Cllr Matthew Hicks, leader of Suffolk County Council. This ensured that all councillors and local authority staff are unambiguously aware of air pollution health issues and their legal obligations. It also resulted in clarity around Prevent, Mitigate and Avoid actions – the most important of which can only be undertaken by our local authorities. See our website for information and links.

We’re relieved that air pollution has finally been publicly discussed and is on the ongoing agenda of the Health and Wellbeing Board. We understand that it is now also a priority for the Suffolk Public Health team, who started work on engaging the public in October 2022 with an air quality event in town. Things are finally moving.

Building on this we want everyone to know about the issue and to see actions taken that actually reduce pollution, especially for those most affected. So, time to ramp things up a bit.

In 2023 we’re delighted to announce that we'll be working in partnership with the Evening Star, to launch a sustained press campaign to inform and drive action on air pollution in Ipswich.

ITFC are also endorsing our campaign and will be working with the Star and ourselves to help inform and protect supporters whilst starting to reduce their carbon footprint.

We’ll also be focusing on practical actions and visiting towns and cities who have shown great leadership and grasped the air pollution nettle. We will be visiting these places with the Star and we have invited SCC and IBC who have yet to respond…

It’s going to be an exciting year and we need everyone to lean in!

Keep safe and warm.

Tony Horner

If you would like to find out more about Ipswich CAN visit their website here: https://www.ipswichcan.org/

Re-purposed Planters

We have funded some pollinator friendly plants to go in planters which have been repurposed by the Men's shed project at Brickmakers wood.

These can be found at the Ipswich waterfront and will help create bee lines connecting bits of habitat up.

The mens shed group is called Ipswich Community Shed and they have another 20 planters in process for Ipswich to try to encourage pollinators. The group hopes to provide a corridor from Brick Makers to the Bourne Bridge Roundabout.

If you want to find out more or join them please visit the webpage here: https://greeneripswich.org.uk/2022/10/08/launch-for-new-ipswich-mens-shed-in-october/

Resilient Forums & Climate Action Centre

The last few months our members have been out and about to different events and venues to see what information is available to everyone in our area.

Charles - Climate Resilient Communities Forum

On 21.11.22 I attended the Greenprint Forum event on the theme of Climate Resilient Communities. We heard about the challenges faced by communities in the face of climate change, how communities are making positive changes towards resilience to face these challenges, and what the aspirations of our communities are. The speakers were Dr Alison Pooley, University of Suffolk; and Joolz Thompson, of iFarm. The full programme is available here: https://www.eastsuffolk.gov.uk/assets/Environment/Green-Issues/Events/Climate-Resilient-Communities-21-November-2022.pdf

There was an opportunity for attendees to network and I spoke met Chloe Donovan (Managing Director Natural Building Systems Limited) who produces carbon negative insulation. For more information click the link https://naturalbuildingsystems.com/

Paul - Climate Change Centre - Woodbridge

I had a very enjoyable day at the opening of the Climate Action Centre at the Woodbridge Tide Mill - arriving just in time for the mayor to declare it open to the flashing press cameras.

People came to hear from the specialists on topics ranging from Energy Efficiency at Home, to Local Food, Biodiversity, Water Quality on the Deben and beyond.

I was interested to hear from locals who had in-depth knowledge and practical experience of topics such as year on year cost benefits of residential solar panels, heat pumps.

There was an air of excitement about the Mill, and it is good to see locals talking about local Climate Crisis solutions.

They were open again on Saturday 26th November with the entertaining Prof Peter Hobson speaking about how we can develop local grass-roots projects but sadly I could not make that day. Other open days will be listed on their Facebook page.

As a side note there was access to the terrific Tide Mill building with its tidal powered paddle wheel - what a fitting location for a Climate Centre.