Author Archives: TTL

Supporting Letchworth School Children To Get On Their Bikes

Posted on by January 24, 2020

Wilbury school pupils have been celebrating the installation of their new cycle and scooter parking. Joining the children to celebrate were Glyn Holt and Peter Willcox from Transition Town Letchworth,  Cllr Martin Stears-Handscomb (NHDC Council Leader,) and Cllr Steve Jarvis (NHDC Executive member for Environment and Leisure). Wilbury School Head, Ms Atkins and PE teacher, Mr March are also shown with Elwen, Chris, Tylor, Alfie and Charlie from Wilbury School who cycled and scootered to school. Wilbury is the tenth school to benefit from a project which has been jointly delivered by Transition Town Letchworth and North Hertfordshire District Council. The project has increased cycle and scooter parking at Letchworth schools by using S106 … more

Letchworth’s New Years Community Litter Pick

Posted on by January 24, 2020

The Plastic Free Letchworth team were out for their first litter pick of the year on Sunday, cleaning up an area of the Greenway where it borders the town’s industrial estate. Glyn Holt, who was there with his daughter Ffion told us, “it was great to have other families helping out on what was a FRESH frosty morning. During the hour and a half we had no trouble filling ALL the reusable bags that ‘Surfers Against Sewage’ provide to Plastic Free Communities. The area is clearly a popular place for a snack, and we found a range of single-use take … more

Responding to the Government Part L and F Consultation

Posted on by January 22, 2020

One of Transition Town Letchworth’s area of interest is reducing the carbon associated with both existing and new housing stock. We have been eagerly awaiting the update to Part L of the Building Standards in the hope that this legislative driver would fill the gap left by dropping the Code for Sustainable Homes and move the UK swiftly to the position where all newly built homes are capable of being operated as affordable zero carbon homes. UK builders already have access to the technology and materials to build zero carbon dwellings, and we believe this is what the 2020 update … more

Support Given To Start An Educational Allotment for Letchworth Families

Posted on by January 7, 2020

Transition Town Letchworth have received support from Letchworth Heritage Foundation and North Herts District Council to set up an educational allotment on the Woolgrove Allotment Site. NHDC are providing the allotment and the Heritage Foundation have provided a grant which will fund a small shed, tools and raised beds for the allotment. The project team are also monitoring Freecycle, looking for items like unwanted garden tools and paving slabs so the project can be delivered with as lower carbon footprint as possible. Diane Ketcher and Hilary Howell from Letchworth Organic Gardening group will be leading the project. Diane explained that “our aim … more

Rob Hopkins shares a message of ‘Hope’ for addressing Climate Change 

Posted on by November 2, 2019

Rob Hopkins, founder of the international Transition Town movement, was welcomed to Letchworth last Wednesday by the local Transition Town group. Rob has been invited by David’s bookshop to launch his new book ‘’From What Is To What If”. Rob explained that what Transition Towns offered to the climate conversation is hope. His current book is premised on the idea that innovation alone will not allow us to tackle climate change, what we will need is imagination. If we can imagine, and ‘draw’ how the world will look without fossil fuels, showing that it will be a more vibrant, social … more

Transition Town Letchworth response to NHDC declaration of a ‘Climate Emergency’

Posted on by November 2, 2019

North Herts District Council declared a Climate Emergency at its meeting on 21 May 2019. Transition Town Letchworth (TTL) formed in 2008 and have been undertaking activities to tackle climate change with a local perspective. TTL activities range from helping individuals make lifestyle changes through to strategic activities, like producing a proposal for a cycle network. TTL are keen to work with the council on projects to address climate change going forward, as TTL have done in the recent past with the Plastic Free Letchworth project and the project to install additional cycle parking at community venues and schools across the town. The council … more

How Developments In Transport Can Help Letchworth Move To Sustainable Transport

Posted on by November 5, 2019

Our Transition Tuesday in January 2019 considered the opportunities in the County Council’s new Transport Plan, focusing on ideas for how to get more people to switch to traditional sustainable transport options. New technology and information sharing provides new opportunities to do things differently. So in our March 2019 Transition Tuesday we considered alternative ways to move both people and goods and discussed which ideas could be a useful component of a Sustainable Travel Plan for Letchworth. Alternative Vehicle Ownership / Usage Models Car Pools (Fleet) have traditionally been company vehicles (cars or van) that are available for use by … more

A Plastic Free Picnic

Posted on by July 3, 2019

Transition Town Letchworth’s have partnered with Letchworth Heritage Foundation on Field Day, 6th July 2019, to host an event on the Greenway. There will be craft activities, games and a storytelling session followed by a litter pick between 1pm to 2pm. Attendees are being encouraged to bring a single-use plastic free picnic and we are looking forward to seeing how attendees meet this challenge. Here are some ideas on how to avoid single use plastic when picnicking: Bring your drink in a reusable bottle. Pack up your sandwiches in a reusable container, paper or foil, rather than wrapping it in clingfilm or a … more

Letchworth, the UKs first garden city, is the first town in Hertfordshire to be awarded ‘Plastic Free Communities’ Status as it takes action on single-use plastic.

Posted on by June 12, 2019

Letchworth Garden City has joined a network of communities across the UK who are leading the way on tackling throw away plastic. The town has been awarded Plastic Free Community Approved status by Marine Conservation charity, Surfers Against Sewage (SAS), in recognition of the work it has done to start reducing the impact of single-use plastic on the environment. Transition Town Letchworth, a charity whose aim is to tackle climate change locally,started the campaign in January 2018 with a lively public meeting which was fortuitously aligned with the final episode of Blue Planet II. Registering with the SAS Plastic Free … more

How will Climate Change Affect Letchworth?

Posted on by June 5, 2019

For our May 2019 Transition Tuesday we set ourselves the ambitious challenge of trying to determine how Letchworth might be affected by climate change. The evening used risk management techniques to guide us through the complexities of how climate change might play out locally. The risk management exercise first considered a scenario which could keep global warming to no more than 1.5 degree and asked was there any risk that key elements of Letchworth society would fail to function. There was general agreement that changing weather could increase the risk around access to water and food. The audience felt population movements from countries where 1.5 … more