One of the key partners within the Community Climate Action Plan Core Group has been Falkirk High School, they have been onboard with this Plan from its inception back in April 2022. The school has been represented on the Core Group by Ms Stroud along with groups of young people who have been involved with various school initiatives. The CCAP Core Group process has complimented the ongoing work that I have supported at the school involving litter picks around the school’s immediate neighbourhood and along the route used by many pupils at lunchtime through Lock 14 at the canal and into Camelon Public park. The canal has also been the focus for a paddle pick up session on the canal back in May and more recently with the school’s community champions again focussed upon the route between the school via the canal into Camelon last month.

This work has been supported by Falkirk Councils Waste Services and I have very much enjoyed delivering joint inputs with Ella Gorman the Services educationalist where we have engaged the young people with topics relating to global warming, the climate emergency, the social and economic costs of littering and off course our own local Community Climate Action Plan. Ella has supported the school with producing their own litter prevention action plan and this work dovetails nicely with several of the Our Place Camelon and Tamfourhill community-based action plans. This is a fruitful partnership which is delivering action on the ground, and for the benefit of the wider community through the clearance and recycling of litter, whilst also facilitating important and meaningful learning outcomes for the young people. I was very impressed with the schools work on confirming their own Community Charter which is detailed in the photo at the top of this article. This initiative represents an engaging community development process, recognising young people and the school as key stakeholders whilst also clearly highlighting their responsibilities for the wellbeing, environmental improvement, and quality of local community life. I highly commend this work and will continue to support activities and projects throughout 2023 which can significantly contribute to the school’s positive community involvement. The young people from the school produced this excellent documentary which showcases much of their community engagement through the last school year, please have a look below:

Energy Efficiency for Camelon and Tamfourhill: A dual track approach

 As winter has really begun to snap over the last few days it should remind us all that fuel poverty, the cost-of-living crisis and the rampantly rising energy costs are all going to have a massive negative impact upon the local community. The matter of energy efficiency is woven though our local Community Climate Action Plan and this is reflected in a dual approach in terms of the Plans response to these local energy efficiency priorities.  Firstly, community buildings like the Tamfourhill Community Hub will be required to cut costs and massively cut their energy bills if the building is to continue operating at its current capacity, any loss of services, provisions or activities is quite simply unthinkable. To this end I will be working with the Committee to carry out an energy efficiency audit of the building with the view to making considerable savings through improved efficiency but also look at the possibility and potential of operating the building with renewable energy sources such as solar panels and heat pumps. Secondly, I am in the process of confirming a partnership arrangement with Home Energy Scotland who are an organisation who provide support and advise with making your own home more energy efficient therefore reducing your costs whilst also contributing to a just transition to net zero. In the first instance HES will be providing an energy efficiency advice stand, along with a Scottish water stand, as Falkirk is within a high priority water area, so they have access to water saving devices. This will be taking place at the Safer Streets Open Doors event on Friday 20^th January 2023 from 11am-2pm in the Forth Valley Sensory Centre. Please put this in your diaries as it could make a big difference to your gas and electric bills and keeping your home warm over the coming months. The partnership we are entering into with HES will also provide a local community portal for Camelon and Tamfourhill so you will be able to access their services directly through the Our Place Camelon and Tamfourhill Project.

More can be found out about Home Energy Scotland at this link: https://www.homeenergyscotland.org/

In Summary:

Home Energy Scotland helps people in Scotland create warmer homes, reduce their energy bills, and lower their carbon footprint. They are funded by the Scottish Government and managed by Energy Saving Trust.

They work with people and organisations to help tackle fuel poverty and the climate emergency – both key priorities for Scottish Government (and humans in general).

They do this through a network of regional advice centres covering all of Scotland, which offer local knowledge and expert advice on:

saving energy and keeping warm at home

funding options including Scottish Government grants and interest free loans

installing renewable energy at home

greener travel including electric vehicles and ebikes

cutting water waste.

And finally for 2022 I would like to wish everyone a very merry Christmas and a guid new year, this has been a very busy year and I would like to believe a very productive one for OPCT. There are so many people to thank but I wont go through a very long list, but I would want to send my good wishes to  the staff, volunteers,  and young people who made the twilight sports such a great success and the committee, staff and volunteers at Tamfourhill Community Hub for their continual support and good humour. A special thanks to all of the Community Safety Partners who have made a massive contribution to making Camelon and Tamfourhill a safer, happier, and more attractive place to live.

Merry Christmas

John R Hosie

Community Safety Engager

Our Place Camelon and Tamfourhill