2022-12-31-accounts

2022

ANNUAL REPORT

www.hopevalleyclimateaction.org.uk

Registration Number: 1192830

INTRODUCTION

Hope Valley Climate Action’s 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.

We do this by operating on three levels: awareness raising, local action, and advocacy, but recognise that we need to put the most emphasis on advocacy if we are to make the biggest difference.

2022 was our second full year as a Charitable Incorporated Organisation, during which we continued to grow and extend our activities. In this report we summarise briefly what we have done under each of those three headings, outline our plans for 2023, and present our annual accounts.

Awareness Raising

The pattern of monthly meetings continued throughout the year, as a mixture of on-line and in person events. Topics covered included ‘green finance’, a renewable energy feasibility study, our expectations for COP27, and a schools climate challenge. During the summer months we took our meetings out and about, holding them at the Thornhill Carr nature reserve, Hope Station, and on Eyam moor!

For the first time this year we also had a presence at village fetes and

fairs during the summer months, with a stall at events in Bradwell, Eyam, Grindleford, Hathersage and Hope.

We were also present for the first time at the biggest event in the Hope Valley, the Hope Show, which was being held again for the first time since the pandemic. We hosted a rolling programme of short talks with a variety of speakers including representatives from the National Farmers’ Union, Breedon cement and the Peak District National Park.

We continue to run a regular column for the parish magazines of the different villages in the Valley, as well as for the ‘Voice’ magazine

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ACTION

Energy

We continue to focus on the decarbonisation of energy use in the Hope Valley. We have a vision of warmer homes, cheaper energy bills, cleaner air, and secure decarbonised energy supply. We aim to reduce our dependency upon fossil fuels by encouraging dramatic improvements in energy efficiency, by the development of renewable energy generation in the Hope Valley, and by greater use of clean energy.

Energy Efficiency

We ran the Open Eco-homes Week in September when owners opened their homes to visitors and described what they had done to make their homes more energy efficient and their energy supply greener. Feedback from visitors was very positive. We also ran a very successful Retrofit Question Time in September when two experts and two homeowners gave us tips about saving energy from their own experience, described the lessons they learnt and what they'd do differently, and answered lots of questions.

We held two excellent speaker meetings on “Decarbonisation and Retrofit: Managing Risks” by Peter Rickaby in April, and "The future of Electricity: Barriers, and Opportunities" by Richard Noakes in November.

Widespread retrofit

The widescale retrofit campaign, convened by Zee-Zee Heine, aims to get local authorities to provide energy efficiency advice centres in the form of “one stop retrofit shops”. The "shops" would provide a whole range of services to homeowners including advice, support, whole house energy plans, and implementation.

We are working with community energy groups from all over Derbyshire and met six times in 2022, including three speaker meetings. We also sent a letter to Derbyshire County Council Scrutiny and Improvements Committee with nearly 100 signatures urging that these advice centres be provided urgently.

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Renewable Energy

In May Steve Platt and Dawn Ward published a report on renewables. The report suggested that the annual base domestic electricity demand in Hope Valley will rise from 23 to 60 GWh by 2050. This means we will need two to three times as much electricity.

One mix of renewables that would generate this would be solar on 1 in 3 residential roofs, 2 5MW solar arrays and 3 large wind turbines. We would also need local storage or a better grid connection to manage peak demand.

We reported to all 13 Hope Valley Parish Councils, and, without exception, they supported the findings of the study.

We held our general meeting in July on Sir William Hill, next to the radio mast, to present the results of our work on renewables and made the case that a modest number of largescale renewables to meet local need would not be ruinous of the environment.

To gauge public opinion about renewables in Hope Valley we conducted a survey in January 2022.

675 people responded. 400 live in Hope Valley, 100 elsewhere in the Peak and the rest are visitors from further afield.

Over half of all respondents (61%) are prepared to consider large-scale renewables in the Peak Park; a quarter might consider them and 13% said no.

61%

Would consider large scale renewables

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90%
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Many respondents (90%) are in favour of solar and two-thirds are in favour of ground-based or floating solar arrays. 59% like single large wind turbines and 23% dislike them.

In favour of solar

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TRAVEL & TRANSPORT

The Group aims to decarbonise travel into, and in, the Hope Valley.

Our mission: By 2030 every resident, visitor and business makes zero carbon transport their first choice.

The highlight of 2022 was the decision by the Department for Transport in May to grant £120,000 as first year financial support to Travelling Light, our national beacon project to co-create and pilot sustainable and inclusive solutions that decarbonise rural travel.

This enabled us to employ a Project Leader, Marianne Quick, who started work in September.

While we awaited a Department for Transport decision, we were awarded a top-up grant from the Foundation for Integrated Transport. With this we engaged Trish Maunder as Community Events Organiser to co-ordinate the HVCA presence at village summer shows and to arrange transport-related local events. The main achievements were:

Inclusive active travel

We engaged pupils and staff in ‘walk to school’ projects in Hope Valley primary schools. We ran 'try an e-bike' events in five villages, to increase awareness and confidence in e-bike use, as well as a high profile ‘Cycling for All’ rally attracting over 60 participants plus 15 volunteers.

We launched a 20 mph speed limit campaign for the Hope Valley linking to the national 20’s Plenty campaign, working with Parish Councils. In addition we successfully pressed the County Council to apply to Active Travel England for development funding for a Transport Corridor for active travel in and around the Hope Valley.

We pursued three main areas of work during the year: Inclusive Active Travel; Integrated Public Transport and Reducing Fossil Fuel Dependency, supported by learning and engagement activities.

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Integrated public transport

We contributed actively to the County Council’s Bus Service Improvement Plan, emphasising the need for regular, reliable and affordable fixed-route services supported by real-time information as part of an integrated public transport system.

We promoted the concept of 'mobility hubs' based on Hope Valley stations. In response to our advocacy, Hope station has been identified as a priority hub. We have engaged Parish Councils and other local organisations with how the hub would work in practice and continued to lobby Derbyshire County Council and rail operators to ensure that the hub is fit for purpose and accessible.

We campaigned successfully with others for Hope Valley local trains to call at every station, every hour: the Northern Rail timetable from December 2022 included this level of service for the first time.

We ran a 'Use the Bus' campaign in April 2022 to encourage visitors and residents to use the bus, in partnership with bus operators and DCC, resulting in raised awareness of bus services and constructive feedback from over 50 people on areas for improvement.

Reducing fossil fuel dependency

We pressed local authorities for a faster roll-out of EV charging points, including working with local businesses and community organisations to identify possible locations. We ran two community events on what it's like to run an electric vehicle, and two information sessions on peer to peer car sharing. We worked with the County Council on a successful bid to Midlands Connect for funds to develop and promote a new platform for sharing lifts, vehicles and EV charge points, with the Hope Valley as a pilot area.

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Learning & engagement activities

We discussed transport issues and the role of Travelling Light with Parish Councils in Bamford, Castleton, Edale, Hope, Hathersage and Grindleford. Travelling Light was used as a case study by both the Food Farming and Countryside Commission in their ‘Field Guide to the Future: A better way to find common ground.’ and by Friends of the Earth in their guide to local authority action on climate change.

We organised a successful webinar with the Lake District National Park Authority about their sustainable travel projects, and gathered information about transport-inclusive 'visitor card' schemes in other European countries with a view to trials in the Hope Valley/Peak District.

Finally, we distributed a travel and transport bulletin once or twice a month to 65 supporters to encourage and inform volunteer effort; as well as arranging monthly travel and transport open meetings to discuss key issues to guide the work.

LAND

Strategy

We have made a start on developing a strategy and vision for land use in the Hope Valley. This is a complex area as we grapple with the different perspectives and visions of the various stakeholders, so we see our strategy as an evolving document as we engage with the wider community of farmers, inhabitants, visitors and governance bodies.

Apart from its impact on our carbon balance, the visual impact of our landscape and the biodiversity in it are of crucial concern to local people and visitors. How do we maintain an attractive, productive landscape, with room for wildlife and people? A first draft of our strategy is available on the website.

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Tree planting

Over 70 people have been involved in our planting projects all over the valley.

Bamford has finished planting a tree for every villager - 1200 trees in all, on 3 sites. Grindleford continues to work on a similar goal.

At Mam Tor, we worked with Earthwatch to plant 2300 trees in an experimental plot to compare the Miyawaki style of very close planting with more conventional planting distances.

This work will be monitored by researchers from Leeds, Sheffield and other universities looking at different aspects of the planting including biodiversity, carbon sequestration and public opinion.

Every fence a hedge

Our major new initiative has been working with the Hope Valley Farmer Cluster and Peak District National Park Authority to restore hedges in the valley.

We received funding from Farming in Protected Landscapes and Breedon to restore 2.8km of lost hedges on 8 farms in the first phase this winter.

In 2023 we hope to survey the valley to establish the potential for further phases of the project and to understand how much hedge planting can contribute to the net zero target for the Peak District.

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Biodiversity

At Thornhill Carr we have continued working with the Derbyshire Wildlife Trust to advise and assist in the reserve management and wildlife recording. This has included working with them to develop a balanced approach to allowing nature to take over the reserve while ensuring that valuable ecosystems are not lost.

Our camera traps on the reserve have recorded 1,500 pictures of 30 different species including woodcock, tawny owl, roe deer, badger and bullfinch.

Hathersage Rewilding and the Bradwell Group have been working with the Derbyshire Dales District Council to pilot a more wildlife friendly approach to managing roadside verges.

We are also working with the County Council verges officer and have joined with Bradwell and Hope to survey plant species on 6 miles of main road verges between the villages.

We held an Open Wild Garden Weekend which attracted 60 visitors and gave opportunities to have interesting conversations about biodiversity and its role in combatting climate change. We’ll be repeating it again on June 11/12 this year.

John Winfield and Scharlie Platt have started a project with schools in the Hope Valley to raise awareness of the plight of curlews.

Their numbers are steadily declining nationally for many reasons. 3 schools have expressed an interest and we hope to add more in 2023.

We hope that this project can be integrated into the curriculum, learning about ecology and biodiversity using an established programme from Curlew Action of lectures, films, podcasts, and classroom based fun activities. We hope to help younger children understand many of the issues facing the curlew and the wider ecosystem and its role in climate change.

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OTHER ACTIVITY

Schools

The School Climate Challenge was organised by Ghazala Ahmad-Mear from Tideswell and Steve Platt from Hathersage.

It ran with over 300 9-12 year-old children at all ten primary schools and the secondary school in Hope Valley.

The Challenge got the children talking about climate change with their teachers and friends, and at home with their parents.

They changed the way they travelled to school, they ate less meat and more plant based foods, they thought more about what they bought, they consumed less and they valued nature more.

They wrote to their local MP demanding a change in government policy. Children became ambassadors, persuading and cajoling their families to take action on climate change.

Later we returned to the schools to see how they had got on with their pledges and talking to their parents. Almost without exception, the children had been able to involve the whole family in thinking about the climate emergency and in taking action.

With the teachers’ help, the children filled in a tally itemising all the things their families were doing. The challenge showed that children are keen to do something about climate change and are able to mobilise their families to take action.

Thanks to our funders, we are making a Teachers’ Pack freely available for noncommercial use by schools and community climate action groups. This contains all the material needed to run the Challenge in your own school or group.

We are also planning to extend the reach of the challenge to other local schools in Derbyshire Dales and the High Peak.

Faith & climate

The Faith and Climate network is an informal network of people of faith in the Hope Valley, who meet to share ideas and encouragement for faith-based action for the climate. It has an established connection with HVCA to help with effective planning and communication of relevant activities. In 2022 the network organised Zoom sessions, site visits and face to face meetings on topics as wide-ranging as Eco Church, re-wilding Bamford churchyard, and plans for Edale parish church to reduce its carbon footprint.

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ADVOCACY

We continued active correspondence with our local MPs, Robert Largan for High Peak, and Sarah Dines for Derbyshire Dales.

This included correspondence about Government energy (home energy efficiency and renewable energy generation), transport, and land use policy. We encouraged them to attend the Chief Scientific Officer's briefing on climate change for MPs. After the July heatwave we asked them to consider Conservative Party leadership candidates' views on climate change when voting. We secured face to face and on line meetings with Robert Largan and are

grateful for his support for our Travelling Light project.

Correspondence was also held with both County and District Councillors

We continued to work with the Derbyshire Climate Coalition and the High Peak Green Network. Through that we 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 Chairman and lead Authority Member for climate change.

STRUCTURE & MANAGEMENT

HVCA is coordinated by the Board of Trustees. During the year we were sorry to say goodbye to Steve Shelley, who left the Valley, but were very pleased to appoint Mandy Holden and Davina Ripton as new Trustees.

We now have over 850 ‘non-voting members’, who receive regular newsletters, are invited to our general meetings and can join any of our activities. They are also specifically invited to our ‘supporters Annual General Meeting’ at which we review our activities and receive nominations for new Trustees. The appointments are reserved to the existing Board.

We said goodbye to Charlie Thorpe, our communications and administration officer in March. During the summer Trish Maunder joined us as events coordinator, and Marianne Quick as Travelling Light project officer. In the autumn we commissioned a review of our external communications from ODCreate, who continue to work with us moving into 2023 and appointed Claire Mead as Climate Action Coordinator. They are all very welcome and have made a great impact.

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FINANCE

Income & expenditure

HVCA’s income increased from just over £50,000 in 2021 to £156,803 in 2022.

Our total spending on projects was £31,487, which is more than double the 2021 amount of £14,097.

However, core costs have only increased from £10,064 in 2021 to £11,506, an increase of 16%.

We carried forward £137,970, the bulk of which, £107,489, is restricted funding for on-going projects (see balance sheet).

The increase in grant funding in 2022 was largely due to the DfT Travelling Light project funding of £120,000.

Other grants came from the Foundation for Integrated Transport, for Travelling Light Development, and from Breedon Hope Cement for the School Climate Challenge and the ‘Every Fence a Hedge’ project.

We received £703 in donations including Gift Aid.

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Balance sheet

This table gives the overall position of the charity and considers all assets/liabilities. The net assets of the charity must balance with its capital and reserves. The table shows the total surplus from 2022 as well as the retained funding from previous years. Of the £137,970 carried forward, £107,489 is restricted funding for the Travelling Light project, and will be spent on that in 2023.

We are grateful to David Lake for his independent examination of the accounts.

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PLANS FOR 2023

The climate emergency is not going to be resolved any time soon! In the coming year we plan to continue our work in the three areas of awareness raising, local action, and advocacy. We plan to continue our development of external communications based on the outcome of the OD Create review, in particular enhancing our use of, and presence on, social media. At the same time we will continue to use traditional media, including our regular open meetings, and all opportunities to promote awareness of the crisis and how it can and must be addressed. We will review our presence at summer events, putting time and effort into those where we can have the most impact.

Plans of the three main action groups include:

Energy:

• Running the Open Eco Homes day again.

• Working through Vision Derbyshire and Derbyshire County Council, to encourage our district and borough councils to set up advice centres.

• Working with village groups, beginning with Abney and Edale, to promote both retrofit and renewables in the valley.

• Liaising with similar local community energy groups and to provide a thermal imaging and mini-survey advice service to Hope Valley residents. Using our local experience to advocate for changes in public policy to permit renewable energy installations and to facilitate community energy generation.

Travel and Transport:

• Help the County Council secure capital funding for long term improvements to everyday walking and cycling routes, to facilitate inclusive active travel in and around villages.

• Develop an inclusive walking and wheeling campaign ‘Good for you; good for the planet’ aimed at making everyday journeys via active travel.

• Promote better bus services through work with the County Council including ensuring real-time bus and train information is available in every village and at transport hubs.

• Advance the creation of a fully accessible transport hub at Hope station.

• Press Northern Rail to provide a train service at every station every 30 minutes once line capacity upgrade work is complete.

• Promote more EV charging points and car sharing in each village, delivering a 'shared mobility' pilot with Midlands Connect.

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PLANS FOR 2023

• Through community consultations in each village, and via online surveys of visitors and residents, understand better the movement of people and vehicles into and within the Hope Valley.

• Create a Hope Valley Movement Plan based on this data.

• Explore the potential for new measures to support a ‘Visitor Card’ scheme for public transport travel.

Land:

• Tree and hedge planting – nurturing trees planted already.

• Monitoring progress with the ‘Miyawaki’ planting at Mam Tor.

• Surveying the valley for possibilities for more hedge planting and developing our understanding about the amount of carbon sequestered. Further development of the biodiversity project with local schools.

We will continue to liaise with our two MPs, including securing face to face meetings where possible, in order to press for the necessary developments in National policy. At the same time we plan to develop our working relationship with other decision makers including in the Peak District National Park, and the County and District and Borough Councils. We will explore the scope for closer working with Parish Councils. The local (Borough and District) elections in May will be an opportunity, working with other climate active groups, to promote our messages and influence candidates.

We will also be working hard to secure income for core costs so as to make sure that we have as strong an organization as possible as we grow and develop.

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CHARITY INFORMATION

Charity Name: Hope Valley Climate Action Registration Number: 1192830

Address: Croft Head, Aston Lane, Hope, Derbyshire, S33 6RA Email: [e-mail] Website: www.HopeValleyClimateAction.org.uk

Trustees:

Jeremy Wight (Chair), Roger Clarke, Mandy Holden, Faith Johnson, Louise Petheram, Stephen Platt, Davina Ripton, Sarah Roberts.

www.hopevalleyclimateaction.org.uk

Hope Valley Climate Action Financial Statement & Management Report 2022

January 2023

Frances Platt (Accounts Manager) and Stephen Platt (Treasurer) Hope Valley Climate Action {HVCA}

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HVCA Financial Statement 2022

Executive Summary

HVCA’s income increased from just over £50,000 in 2021 to £156,803 in 2022. Our total spending on projects was £31,487, which is more than double the amount of £14,097 in 2021. However, core costs have only increased from £10,064 in 2021 to £11,506, an increase of 16%.

We carried forward £137,970, the bulk of which, £107,489, is restricted funding for on-going projects.

The increase in grant funding in 2022 was due to the DfT Travelling Light project funding of £120,000. Other grants came from the Foundation for Integrated Transport for Travelling Light Development and from Breedon Hope Cement for the School Climate Challenge and the Hedge for Every Fence. We received £703 donations. Donors can claim Gift Aid.

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GRANT FUNDING 2022 2022 Donations Core 703 703 28101122 High Peak BC Use the Bus 14102122 Breedon School Climate Challenge 29103122 FIT Travelling Light Development 27104122 Lottery Summer Events 23106122 DfT 01112122 Breedon Total 2022 750 600 150 4.500 3.600 900 8.750 1.750 7,680 1.920 Travelling Light Hed8es 120.OIXI 96.000 24.000 12.500 10,000 2,500 156.803 124,880 31.923

HVCA For the yEar ended 31 December 2022 DorkBtior6 GIBrtFL￿1Ir(J 703. 156,1(X).(X) pro￿tSaIarie5 P￿￿￿tP￿S1orS Costs Pr0￿C￿sL10rrJ. CcMTrnricalic P￿￿tc￿s￿Orrj. Terlyical pn)i￿tA(helIjS1rQ & Marketirg RerlirKJ SFoce. Irr Rc￿lHIr￿ & SlrftNStrnJs Pro￿TtE￿ & s￿l51￿￿e. Natic¢BI P[Di￿tPrirtjr(J & StsborEry P￿￿￿st￿C￿E*JorE P￿￿rtR￿rt Ligt¢ Pow, Heatirg. L5e of1r￿PaS crffte 11.334.93 793.36 5.150.CMJ 10.533.50 772.43 150. 385.15 85.CM) i.4C().￿) ors itson dwbsirg & MarkdJr(J we￿It￿ LAlit& AccoLrtsrry Rert Li￿l Pow. HeatirrJ. ir( ￿ Offr£￿-e as offce & SLtsistw(e- Natiorel S0fW￿ arKI CorEurBb RerlirKJ Stoce. ir( IT￿lF1re ard skrmtstsn Prirtirrj & Ststior8y IrEu3r(e Bark Fees 3.EAX).(X) 617.41 3.385.CMJ 31X).(K) I￿.(x) 514.45 20.10 .20 110.72 34.36

This table gives the overall position of the charity and considers all assets/liabilities. The net assets of the charity must balance with its capital and reserves. The table shows the total surplus from 2022 as well as the retained funding from previous years.

HVCA owes £3,295.35 on several invoices which have been paid in January 2023. HVCA is owed a final payment from FIT which is due to be received on 27 January 2023. This may result in adjustments to the final accounts.

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Project Funding 2020 - 2022

There are large remaining surpluses in the various Travel accounts – the Safer Roads grant remains unspent. Travelling Light Development has a surplus of £7,900 and Travelling Light has £54,571 available after committed expenditure in 2023 of £31,625. The Use the Bus is the only project that is overspent. The final invoice of £3000 on the School Climate Challenge came after the year end. There are small surpluses in the School Climate Challenge, Renewables and Summer Events accounts, which can be used for follow-on projects, for example Abney.

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Quarterly Management Report 2023

The proposed budget for 2023 is about £19K. This includes committed expenditure.

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QUARTERLY PROJECT REPORT Project Fcrfward Mar-23 Jun-23 Sep23 Dec-23 Travdling L wjhl Tr8velling L wjhl Development Hedges Renewabl88 7,700 10.¢XKI 912 Safer Roads Schools Climats Challenge Summer Events 3.680 927

I have examined the accounting records of Hope Valley Climate Action for theyear ended 31 De￿mber 2022. In my opinlon the attached Executive Summary (page 2) and Income and Expenditure Statement (page 3] and Balance Sheet (page 4) give a true and fair ¥i8w ofthe state of the income and expenditure in the year ended 31si December 2022 and the value of net asseLS in Hope V211ey Climate Action at 31st DecembeF 2022. Signed David Lake Z7AZ iY7.-Z fi? a Accountant