## **Annual Report 2021** **Charity Name: Hope Valley Climate Action** ## **Registration Number: 1192830** ## **Address: Croft Head, Aston Lane, Hope, Derbyshire, S33 6RA** ## **Trustees** Jeremy Wight (Chair), Roger Clarke, Faith Johnson, Louise Petheram, Stephen Platt, Sarah Roberts, Steven Shelley. ## **Introduction** Hope Valley Climate Action was founded in June 2019 and obtained Charitable Incorporated Organisation status in December 2020. Its objectives are to raise awareness of the causes and impact of climate change; encourage practical steps to reduce carbon dioxide emissions and mitigate the effects of climate change; and to promote research for the public benefit in all aspects of climate change and publish the results. ## **Structure and Management** HVCA is coordinated by the Board of Trustees. It has a supporter list of over 800 persons, who receive regular newsletters and can join general meetings and the various ‘village’ and ‘action’ groups. These groups are themselves made up of interested people working either in the individual villages in the Hope Valley, or on specific topics (the ‘action’ groups). During 2021 we had active groups working on Travel and Transport, Energy, and ‘Rewilding’. New trustees are appointed by the existing Board. Nominations are sought from supporters in the lead up to the annual general meeting as well as at other times. Faith Johnson was appointed as a new Trustee in June 2021. Kirsty Fitzpatrick was appointed as a part time organiser in May 2021, and left in August. She was replaced by Charlie Thorpe as a communications and administration officer in October 2021. ## **Activities and Achievements** The pattern of monthly meetings continued throughout the year, as a mixture of on-line and in person events. Among the external speakers were James Blake, CEO of the Youth Hostels Association, Nick Mole from the Pesticide Action Network, and Chris Jones from the Tyndale Centre, University of Manchester. Other topics covered included food, farming and land use; engaging children and young people; and a new tree planting project in the Valley. The Annual General Meeting was held in April, at which members envisioned a zero carbon Hope Valley in 2030. A walk and social evening was held in July. In the autumn, we devoted our general meetings to the COP26 talks in Glasgow, discussing what to hope and expect from them, our plans to influence the talks, and an event with live feedback from the talks as they happened. A successful rally was held in Hathersage on the global ‘Day of Action’ (6[th] 1 November) with over a hundred people present, many of whom went on to join the demonstration later that day in Sheffield. ## **Strategy** During the summer the Trustees reviewed our Strategy. We reconfirmed our vision of the Hope Valley as a more sustainable, low carbon environment, and our wish to demonstrate that step changes towards this are possible in travel, energy generation and use, and land management. We will continue to operate on three levels: awareness raising, local action, and advocacy, but recognise that we need to put more emphasis on advocacy if we are to make the biggest difference. ## **Advocacy, outreach and networking** During the course of the year we had correspondence with our local MPs, Robert Largan for High Peak, and Sarah Dines for Derbyshire Dales, about our expectations and hopes for COP26, as well as about specific topics (see below). Correspondence was also held with both County and District Councillors on a range of topics. We worked with other climate active groups in the High Peak as part of the High Peak Green Network, and through that participated in the High Peak Borough Council liaison group, commenting on their Climate Action plan. We joined with other groups active within the Peak District National Park to set up quarterly meetings with the Peak Park Chair and lead Authority Member for climate change. We continued to work with other groups across Derbyshire in the Derbyshire Climate Coalition. A regular column was written for the parish magazines of the different villages in the Valley, as well as for the ‘Voice’ magazine. ## **Action group activities** ## **Energy** Our energy use has an obvious impact on our carbon emissions. The UK Government has pledged to more than halve our carbon emissions by 2030 and to get to net zero by 2050. To achieve this we will need to reduce our demand by improving the energy efficiency of our homes, we will need to stop using fossil fuels to heat our homes and power our vehicles, and we will need to increase the supply of green energy. The Energy Group has been working on two fronts: local renewable electricity and retrofitting our homes. Renewable energy feasibility We carried out a study of renewables in the Hope Valley with the aim of estimating the increased demand for electricity as we electrify our homes and vehicles and exploring the potential and feasibility of generating a proportion of this power locally. We wrote a proposal and obtained funding from Hope Valley Cement to fund the appointment of an engineer. We interviewed and appointed Dawn Ward, an engineer with extensive experience of renewable power generation. She started work in June on a 9-month contract, which we stretched this to 11 months when we realised the size of the task. We appointed a competent Steering Group which has met monthly to oversee the project. 2 We conducted field visits of potential sites in July and our demand study was completed by Christmas. It predicted that the annual base domestic electricity demand in Hope Valley will rise from 23 to 60 GWh by 2040, which means we will need 2–3 times as much electricity as now. We began discussions with our two distribution network operators – Northern PowerGrid, which supplies the High Peak end of the Valley, and Western Power, that supplies to Derbyshire Dales. The project is being continued in 2022 with further exploration of the various options for generating electricity from renewables as well as a public opinion survey and investigation of current grid connection constraints. A final report will be produced in the early summer. Retrofitting homes, and wide scale retrofit In June 2021 we invited sustainable building adviser, Nick Parsons, to talk about the principles and practicalities of home insulation. His lively and informative presentation was extremely well received by an online audience drawn from across the High Peak and Derbyshire Dales area. Then, at the beginning of October, after several Covid-related delays, we organised our first Open ‘Eco-homes’ Day with seven Hope Valley homes open to visitors. In all properties the homeowners had carried out relatively ambitious energy-saving improvements including extensive internal wall/floor insulation and the installation of solar panels and low-carbon heating systems such as heat pumps and electric underfloor heating. The response to the event was very positive, and both visitors and homeowners appreciated the opportunity to share knowledge and experience and to discuss the benefits and pitfalls of retrofitting. We plan to hold another in the summer of 2022, as well as continue our efforts to build a local support network for both new and experienced retrofitters. We will continue to build our campaign for wide scale retrofit across the Hope Valley. ## **Travel and Transport** The group’s aim is to decarbonise travel in, and into, the Hope Valley, by encouraging walking and cycling for everyday purposes, increasing the use of high quality public transport, and reducing the use of vehicles powered by fossil fuels. These steps will also improve the quality of life of residents and visitors by enhancing road safety and reducing the noise and disruption resulting from traffic. In the past year, we have Launched Travelling Light, preparing for a five-year project to transform the way people travel to, and in, the Hope Valley. We secured funding from the Foundation for Integrated Transport for a nine-month development stage, and recruited an able and energetic project officer, Mandy Holden. We inaugurated the project in July at an event with our two MPs and the Leader of the County Council. Since then we have engaged stakeholders such as tourism businesses and transport providers through a series of round-tables, and prepared a plan for the main five years of the project. We submitted a proposal to the Department for Transport for support for Travelling Light. We were delighted to receive their backing, for the first year initially, after the end of the reporting year. We made a substantive input to Derbyshire County Council’s Bus Service Improvement Plan, and plans for a transport hub at Hope station. We submitted proposals for improving the Hope Valley Line rail service: we are glad to see that an hourly service, stopping at all stations, is to be introduced from 3 December 2022. We have supported the campaign for a 20 mph speed limit in all Hope Valley villages, and encouraged Parish Councils to carry out their own surveys of local opinion on speed limits. We called for car-free days on minor roads in popular recreational areas. This led to national press and television coverage. We organised a video workshop on the practicalities of acquiring and owning an electric vehicle, and campaigned for more public EV charging points in the Hope Valley. We have maintained constructive working relationships with the Peak District National Park Authority and Derbyshire County Council. We have led travel and transport activities through around 15 volunteers and the Travelling Light project officer. We have held monthly zoom open meetings to coordinate the work and produced and circulated a travel and transport bulletin twice a month to a mailing list of around 60 people. ## **Land** Land is potentially a major carbon sink or source depending on how it is used and managed, so HVCA took the decision to create a Land Group to think about the issues and impacts of managing the moorland, farmland and amenity land in the Hope Valley. Apart from its impact on our carbon emissions, the visual impact of our landscape and the biodiversity in it are of crucial concern to local people and visitors. In our meetings the Land Group has just started to get to grips with some of the issues involved. How do we maintain an attractive, productive landscape, with room for wildlife and people? It is early days in our thinking about this question, but we have still managed to engage in practical projects to make a difference. Tree planting has been a major activity all over the valley. Some projects have been started by HVCA while in others we have engaged with landowners and project managers to advise and provide volunteers. We are planting in Bamford, Bretton, the Eastern Moors, Grindleford, Mam Tor and some smaller projects. We are very concerned to get the right trees in the right place both for carbon sequestration and wildlife benefits. We have been working in partnership with Derbyshire Wildlife Trust on the management of their new Thornhill Carrs Reserve. A great team of volunteers has been recording wildlife on the reserve so that DWT can better understand how it can best be managed. Over 1,400 records were collected in our first year of operating. We have also been busy recording the flowers in our roadside verges along the valley and working with local councils to ensure they are managed in a way that develops their value to wildlife. Our local councils at all levels and the PDNPA are managers of significant areas of land so we have engaged with all of them to encourage more sustainable management of all their land. Issues include the use of peat and pesticides and mowing regimes. **Village activities** **Grindleford** 4 Towards the end of 2021 Grindleford Parish Council declared a Climate and Biodiversity Emergency. Plans to hold a village meeting to draft the supporting action plan were delayed by Omicron, but plenty of activity has continued behind the scenes, including tree planting, plans to put solar panels on the church roof, investigations into (maybe partly solar powered) EV charging points, wildflowers in our verges and working with the Derbyshire Wildlife Trust on natural flooding mitigation. Grindleford takes the Declarations very seriously and will be able to report more fully, and formally, in the summer. ## **Bamford** Bamford’s main project has been planting a tree for every villager. We started the weekend in March 2020 when the first lockdown was announced, planting 200 trees at the Rec and in the churchyard at St Johns. We followed that up with a socially distant planting of another 200 trees in November that year and have now planted 400 more trees along the path in Bamford Clough. We had the local school eco-group plant some of the trees in the churchyard and we have a Treemometer in the Anglers Rest showing progress towards our target – nearly there! In total, 70 people including 14 school children have been involved. Our two attempts to hold an Eco Fair were both cancelled because of Covid restrictions which was a big disappointment but we have a monthly column of ecotips in our village magazine. The other major activity has been working with Derbyshire Wildlife Trust on their new rewilding reserve at Thornhill Carrs. We have helped with practical tasks like fencing; we have a very active group of wildlife recorders to help establish a baseline of exactly what wildlife the reserve contains; and we had a brilliant project working with Bamford Community Arts and Crafts to create a video celebrating the reserve, its history and wildlife. ## **Edale** Sustainable Edale is a very small sustainability group which has been running for over ten years. We have a community orchard and have had several tree planting activities, sponsored by Severn Trent (who felled some mature trees as part of upgrading local sewage works). The middle of the field where the orchard is situated is being left to rewild naturally. Fruit trees were sponsored by local people. Some years ago we set up a community buying group to get better prices and reduce the number of delivery lorries coming into Edale. In the last few years we have had a series of successful talks on environmental matters. We do a monthly (sometimes two-monthly) post in our village magazine on environmental matters. The Parish Council now has Climate Change as an agenda item at each meeting and is currently looking at EV charge points and car sharing. 5 ## **Finance** ## **Income and expenditure** Our income for the year was £50,376 (Total Income 2020: £4,716). The bulk of this came grants, from the Foundation for Integrated Transport, the Lottery Community Fund, PDNPA, Derbyshire Dales DC and Breedon Hope Cement. Apart from restricted funding for projects, our core expenditure totalled £8,288, of which £5,943 was for part-time Comms. and Admin. staff. The main items of core expenditure were: meeting room hire and zoom, insurance, website, printing and postage. All our projects are in positive balance and there are no concerns about staying within budget. We carried forward £14,109 for projects and £9,898 for core costs. ||**Income**|**Income**|**Expenditure**|**Expenditure**|**Expenditure**| |---|---|---|---|---|---| ||Restricted|Unrestricted|Restricted||Unrestricted| |Opening Balance
£1,880
£1,346
Projects
£30,310
£18,081
Core
£16,840
£8,288|||||| |Total
£32,190
£16,840
£18,081
£8,288|||||| |£50,376
£26,369|||||| ||||||| ||**Balance Carried Forward**||||| ||Restricted|Unrestricted|Total||| |Projects
£14,109
£14,109
Core
£9,898
£9,898|||||| |Total
14,109
£9,898
£24,007|||||| ||**Balance Carried Forward**|**Balance Carried Forward**|**Balance Carried Forward**|| |---|---|---|---|---| ||Restricted|Unrestricted||Total| |Projects|£14,109|||£14,109| |Core||£9,898||£9,898| |Total|14,109|£9,898||£24,007| ## **INCOME 2021 EXPENDITURE 2021** |Opening Balance
£3,226
Breedon Cement Ltd
£21,500
Foundation for Integrated
Transport
£15,000
National Lottery Awards for All
England
£9,500
Peak District National Park
£1,000
Derbyshire Dales CC
£110
Donation
£40
Total Income to date
£50,376|| |---|---| ||| ||Projects
£18,081
HVCA Organiser
£5,943
Meeting - Hire
£294
Meetings - Online
£266
Finance Package
£215
Insurance
£111
Printing and Postage
£767
Website
£692| ||Total Expenditure 2021
£26,369| 6 HVCA Financial Report and Accounts 2021 OPEVALLEY -IWTE Acnoi.. Income and expenditure Our income in 2021 was £50.3761Total Income 2020." £4,716). The bulk of this carne grants, from the Foundation for Integrated Transport, the Lottery Communty Fund. PDNPA. Derbyshire Dares DC and Breedon Cement. Apart from restricted funding for projects, our CAxe expenditure totaled £8.122. of £5.778 was for part-time Comms. and Admin. staff. The other main items of core expenditure vRre: meeting room hire and zt)om, insuran￿, website. printing and postage. All our projects are in positive balance and there are no concems about staying within budget. We carried foptryard £24,161, of wbich £14,097 is restricted for proje(#s and £10,064 for core costs. £1,880 £30.310 £1,346 £18,093 £16.840 £16,840 £50,376 £32,190 £8,122 £8.122 £26,215 £18,093 £14,¢)97 £14,097 £10.064 £24,161 £10,1)64 £10.064 £14.097 INCOME 2021 EXPENDITURE 2021 Opening Balance £3,226 8reedon Cement Ltd Foundation for Integrated Transport National LotteryAwards for All England Peak District Natlonal Park Derbyshire Dales CC Donation Projects HVCA Organiser Meeting- Hire Meetings - Online Finance Package Insurance Printing Postage Websrte £18.081 £5,778 £294 £266 £215 £111 £353 414 £692 £￿.1))0 £9,500 £i.000 £110 £40 STATEMENT OF FUNDS Balance in Bank Accrued Income less accrued ex 21,036 3.750 enditure Stephen Platt Treasurer HVCA 818122 HVCA Financial Report and Accounts 2021 TEACTIOI I have examined the accounting records and the attached Income and Expendtture Statements and Statement of Funds of Hope Valley Climate Acbon for the year ended 31 De￿mber 2021. In my opinion the attached Income and Expenditure Statements and Statement of Funds give a true and fair view of the stste of the income and expenditure and value of funds in Hope Valley Climate Action at 31 st D6￿Mber 2021. Signed David Lake Accountant Stephen Platt Treasurer HVCA 818122 HVCA Financial Report and Accounts 2021 OPEVALLEY -IWTE Acnoi.. Income and expenditure Our income in 2021 was £50.3761Total Income 2020." £4,716). The bulk of this carne grants, from the Foundation for Integrated Transport, the Lottery Communty Fund. PDNPA. Derbyshire Dares DC and Breedon Cement. Apart from restricted funding for projects, our CAxe expenditure totaled £8.122. of £5.778 was for part-time Comms. and Admin. staff. The other main items of core expenditure vRre: meeting room hire and zt)om, insuran￿, website. printing and postage. All our projects are in positive balance and there are no concems about staying within budget. We carried foptryard £24,161, of wbich £14,097 is restricted for proje(#s and £10,064 for core costs. £1,880 £30.310 £1,346 £18,093 £16.840 £16,840 £50,376 £32,190 £8,122 £8.122 £26,215 £18,093 £14,¢)97 £14,097 £10.064 £24,161 £10,1)64 £10.064 £14.097 INCOME 2021 EXPENDITURE 2021 Opening Balance £3,226 8reedon Cement Ltd Foundation for Integrated Transport National LotteryAwards for All England Peak District Natlonal Park Derbyshire Dales CC Donation Projects HVCA Organiser Meeting- Hire Meetings - Online Finance Package Insurance Printing Postage Websrte £18.081 £5,778 £294 £266 £215 £111 £353 414 £692 £￿.1))0 £9,500 £i.000 £110 £40 STATEMENT OF FUNDS Balance in Bank Accrued Income less accrued ex 21,036 3.750 enditure Stephen Platt Treasurer HVCA 818122 HVCA Financial Report and Accounts 2021 TEACTIOI I have examined the accounting records and the attached Income and Expendtture Statements and Statement of Funds of Hope Valley Climate Acbon for the year ended 31 De￿mber 2021. In my opinion the attached Income and Expenditure Statements and Statement of Funds give a true and fair view of the stste of the income and expenditure and value of funds in Hope Valley Climate Action at 31 st D6￿Mber 2021. Signed David Lake Accountant Stephen Platt Treasurer HVCA 818122