Bringing sustainability to Sadberge

‘To be environmentally responsible, and in particular to make a contribution towards combating climate change’. This was one of the main aims of the village of Sadberge’s 2007 parish plan. The plan is a vision of how the community should develop in the coming years, including environmental improvements for the village.

Embedding sustainable ways of living into a community takes energy, drive and patience. A good knowledge of the issues facing communities and how to tackle them is also essential. Sadberge had the energy, drive and patience in the shape of the Sadberge Energy Saving Project formed by villagers Alastair Mackenzie, Joan Vickers and Rich Hurst, but needed some professional expertise to help pull together the environmental aspects of the parish plan. That’s when the tadea managed Green Communities local support programme became involved.

Through the local support programme the tadea managed Energy Saving Trust advice centre provided the group with in-depth advice to help Sadberge develop a programme to save energy and put it into action. This included Home Energy Check questionnaires, the results formed the basis of a report outlining simple measures that each home could take to save energy. The methods included advice on everything from energy efficient lighting to smarter driving and what grants were available for better insulation and other energy efficiency improvements. tadea also participated in a village event to promote solar-powered hot water and separately captured infra-red photographs of the homes of Sadberge residents. This enabled the residents to see where energy was leaking from their homes encouraging them to take action to reduce the amount of energy escaping.

With our help, and in the space of only a year, 13 people have had loft insulation fitted, four have had cavity wall insulation installed, two have had energy efficient boilers fitted and one has had double glazing put in. Not only has this created a sense of community spirit, it has helped to reduce the village’s carbon footprint and contributed towards financial savings for individual households.

Alastair Mackenzie from the Sadberge Energy Saving Project commented “We recognised the tadea managed Energy Saving Trust advice centre’s experience in helping communities like ours cut down on their energy use. We had the links with the community and they had the expertise which made for a good partnership.”