Sustainable South Hams in 2024

Happy New Year from the Sustainable South Hams team! To celebrate, we've put together a collection of some of our activities over the last year. Thank you so much to all of you who have supported SusSH, joined in our events and brought your own passion, drive and enthusiasm to sustainability in the South Hams. We're excited to let you know about our plans for 2025 and look forward to seeing what amazing ideas and projects we'll be seeing from South Hams sustainability groups!

We were really pleased to continue our work with South Hams District Council (SHDC). Our focus on the Composting Pilot Series enabled us to create a Community Composting Guide and hold a composting masterclass and we have recently launched a Street Compost Club scheme, a fun, practical and hygienic way to create compost which can then be used in gardens. The Club has identified two potential sites and is currently in the research and planning phase.

We hosted two big events in 2024, namely the Education Assembly and the Climate and Nature Symposium for South Hams Councillors. Both of these events created space for some amazing conversations around the challenges of connecting parishes, schools, councils, and community groups with each other. 

The Education Assembly, held in Kingsbridge on 20th April, addressed how the wider community can help support schools in reaching their sustainability goals and how we can learn from projects that are already happening. A video summary of the event can be found here.

The Climate and Nature Symposium, held in Totnes on 16th October, saw more than 60 group leaders and councillors gather to find ways to collaborate for climate and nature. Video summaries of the event can be found here and here. Prior to the event, SusSH gathered feedback from more than 50 councillors to help design the structure of the day and identify any support they needed to connect with local groups. We were joined by community groups, exemplar projects, council officers, and councillors, bridging the gap between town and parish councils and community action.

Since the Symposium, SusSH has been working hard with SHDC to create a community support pack which is designed to increase community engagement for climate and nature action through councillors and community groups. We are excited to share further news on this in the coming weeks. 

We welcomed Ruth Leonard-Williams and Louisa Dean to the SusSH team, as well as new compost mentor Mel Harvey. Our CEO Jane Nichols was elected Community and Voluntary Groups Representative for the South Devon National Landscapes Partnership which is a great opportunity to continue supporting local community groups.

We also held Change Makers meetings on:

• Thermal Imaging Cameras
• Climate Adaptation with the Bioregional Learning Centre
• Engaging the Unengaged
• Connecting Councillors and Community Groups
• Communicating Climate and Nature Change through Community Events
• Energy Efficiency

We’re looking forward to our February Change Makers event on Pesticides, hope to see you there!

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