A series of workshops will be held across Stowey Sutton, East Harptree, West Harptree, Bishop Sutton, Peasedown, Wellow, Hinton Blewett and Temple Cloud to gather views on renewable energy generation in these local communities.

Potential projects will include onshore wind, solar, hydro, heat pumps and anaerobic digestion. The workshops will be run by the Centre for Sustainable Energy on behalf of Bath and North East Somerset Council.

The Bath and North-East Somerset Climate Emergency declaration in 2019 sets the ambition for the area to become carbon neutral by 2030. More locally generated renewable energy is a key part of reaching this target.

Speaking about the workshops Dan Stone of the Centre for Sustainable Energy said; “One of the key solutions to reducing carbon emissions and tackling the climate crisis is to increase the amount of energy generated from renewable sources like wind or sun. It will also bring down energy bills by reducing our exposure to soaring fossil fuel prices.

“Local Councils across Bath and North East Somerset recently commissioned a study looking at the types and scale of renewable energy suitable within the local area in technical terms. But the right local renewable energy project is not just a technical issue. Local communities need to understand and be involved with decisions in their local area and that’s what these workshops will start to do.”

Bath and North East Somerset Council wants to understand the types and scale of renewable energy that would have backing from local people: a bottom up rather than top down approach.

The workshops are for everyone. You don’t need to know anything about renewable energy to come along.

The workshop and consultation which follows is not in connection with any particular renewable energy project. Its purpose is to help the Council set planning policy that the local community is comfortable with and has meaningfully influenced.

Three evening workshops will be held in:

Stowey Sutton, East Harptree and West Harptree – Bishop Sutton Village Hall - Tuesday, 27th September – Register here: www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/400769100167

Peasedown and Wellow - Beacon Hall, Peasedown - Tuesday, 4th October - Register here: www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/408021502297

Hinton Blewett and Temple Cloud - Temple Cloud Village Hall - Thursday, 13th October - Register here: www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/408609992487

After the workshop, there will be a month-long online consultation, where the workshop outputs will be shared along with other outputs such as maps showing potential areas for renewable energy. More residents will be invited to share their opinions as part of this consultation.

Register here to see the workshop outputs online and add your views: www.banes-renewable-energy-conversation.co.uk/ or if you’re not online call CSE at 0117 934 1400 for a paper summary / questionnaire.

The workshops will be facilitated by CSE but the outputs belong to and are decided by the people who attend from the community, not CSE or the Council. CSE are there as neutral mediators, the council as observers.