Macc2020 aims to make Macclesfield sustainable by the year 2020
The motive is partly to avoid inflicting climate change on the next generation, and partly to save ourselves money - by adapting our lifestyle to use less of the energy and resources that are becoming scarce - and ever more expensive!
If we make a start now, we can perhaps make a smooth "transition" to the new way of living. We can see it coming and may as well get ready, and learn the new skills we will need.
Sustainability will require us to reduce our use of energy and non-renewable resources.
We have small groups working on the following topics:- 
If you would like to be involved in one of these groups, join our mailing list, or simply learn more about us, please call us on 07824 860566 or email macc2020mail@gmail.com
Our Next Meeting is
7.30pm Wed 14th March. (See Diary for other dates)
at
Peaks & Plains Housing Trust Offices
Ropewalks
Newton Street
Macclesfield
SK11 6QJ
Click here to view a map
All Welcome
The meeting will be a forum for the groups to share what they have learned and discuss their plans.
Typical Aims of Transition Movements
-
Raise awareness of the consequences of Peak Oil and Climate Change
-
Form a framework linking interested and active groups
-
Compile an Energy Descent Action Plan (EDAP) for the community, considering (amongst others) transport, heating and lighting, food-miles, water use, recycling and re-using of products and materials.
-
Empowering local people to respond to these challenges.
What is the Local Council Doing about Sustainability?
We have approached Cheshire East to nominate a good contact person, and are waiting their reply, but in the interim the council offers a lot of information about sustainability on its website .
Extracts from the CEC Corporate Plan 2011-2013 :-
Economy, Transport and Housing
Corporate Plan 2011-2013 In order to reduce carbon emissions and levels of traffic on our roads, we will focus on localising and integrating our systems of public transport...........We will also encourage cycling and walking by developing infrastructure for these healthy and carbon-free methods of travel. With 79% of people travelling to work using their car, only 4% using public transport, and 14% walking or riding a bicycle, transport is an important area of work for the Council in the future........
Environment and Climate Change
The relationship between climate change and carbon emissions (from electricity production, the use of gas and vehicle use) is now quite widely accepted, and the people of Cheshire East are concerned about this issue. Collectively we do not perform well in this area – the average person’s domestic emissions of carbon dioxide being 2.8 tonnes per year, higher than both the
North West and the UK.
There is a lot of work to be done in improving energy efficiency, encouraging the use of renewable sources of power, promoting small-scale electricity generation within local communities, and improving non car transport options.
This will not only assist us to reduce our carbon footprint, but also to improve our resilience for a lower energy future in which less carbon based fuels are available for power production.
In addition to working with residents and businesses to reduce carbon emissions, we have also signed up to the 10:10 challenge we have committed to ‘pulling out all the stops’ to reduce by 10% the carbon footprint caused by our organisation during 2010. We have much work to do to meet this challenge.
Cheshire East residents are excellent at recycling domestic waste with rates of recycling continuing to rise to as high as 50%. There is a limit, however, to how much of our waste can be recycled, and the challenge for the future relates to reducing the amount of waste produced overall, for example by using less packaging and reducing food waste.
Another important environmental challenge is the ability for residents to produce their own food locally. Cheshire East is currently struggling to meet the demand for allotments, with substantial numbers of people on waiting lists. Providing people with space to grow their own food, and the development of local markets in the area will both be important as we rely less on internationally-traded out of season food.
Cheshire East’s Sustainable Community Strategy 2010 - 2025
View available files and the Strategy Overview document
Nottingham Declaration
CEC signed the Nottingham Declaration on 2 October 2008, witnessed by the then Minister for Local Government, John Healey. It was signed by Cllr Fitzgerald and by Erika Wenzel.
Download the wording of the Declaration
One of the most important parts of the declaration is that it commits us to “developing plans with our partners and local communities to progressively address the causes and the impacts of climate change, according to our local priorities, securing maximum benefit for our communities”.
CEC decided that the best way of achieving that was to produce a Carbon Management Plan with the Carbon Trust. Much of this work is to ensure the Council complies with national targets for energy reduction as required by National Indicator 185. This will be published at the end of March 2011.
On the community side the aim is to produce (sub regionally and locally) a Climate Change Strategy & Action Plan which will address the wider community. While the original intention was to produce this for Cheshire East, work is now under way to consider how this could be done across Cheshire and Warrington as a whole. This would be a public document with a consultation process and I hope progress will be made over the next 18 months.
Work is also underway to develop an adaptation strategy (preparing the borough for the effects of climate change) under another national indicator, NI188.
Construction Guidelines
Sustainable Building Construction pdf