The next item of business is a members’ business debate on motion S4M-08928, in the name of Claire Baker, on recognising the work of Greener Kirkcaldy. The debate will be concluded without any question being put.
Motion debated,
That the Parliament congratulates Greener Kirkcaldy on what it considers its continued good work on taking action on environmental issues in the Kirkcaldy area; understands that the community-led charity gives advice and support to help people reduce fuel bills, grow and cook with seasonal local food and reduce waste as well as holding events for community groups and schools to encourage and involve them in improving their local environment; congratulates Greener Kirkcaldy on its involvement in such projects as Shine on Fife, Cosy Kirkcaldy and Orchard, a community orchard in Ravenscraig Walled Garden in Kirkcaldy; notes that the organisation recently held its annual gathering to discuss its achievements over the last year and look forward to its plans for 2014 and beyond, including its consultation on a community food hub; congratulates all the volunteers whose time and efforts contribute to making the charity such a success in the local community; notes the contribution made by its funding partners, including the Central Scotland Green Network, People’s Postcode Trust and the Climate Challenge Fund; wishes the organisation every success in the future, and looks forward to its continuing contribution to Kirkcaldy and the wider Fife community.
12:35
Last week was climate week, although I am sure that the minister will agree that, looking at business in the chamber this week, it feels like this is climate week in Parliament. Climate week is an event aimed at inspiring action to be taken throughout Britain to tackle climate change.
We often use terms in the chamber such as “a million tonnes of CO2 equivalent” yet our constituents are more likely than not—particularly at a time when pay packets are stretched—to be more interested in lowering their household bills. The reality is that we can do both. It is possible to lower fuel bills while staying warm. Many people just need a helping hand to give them the proper advice to make that change. That is why I am pleased today to acknowledge the fantastic work of Greener Kirkcaldy and its staff and volunteers. I welcome Lisa Farrell, Fraser Nicol, Heather Petrie, Jackie Vural and Allan Levack to the chamber.
Scotland has ambitious climate change targets, but passing them was the easy part. While Government and Parliament are vital in establishing the correct policy framework and the tools that are needed to deliver, it is the people who work on the ground in our communities who will make the real difference. Greener Kirkcaldy is a community-led charity that is committed to taking action on environmental issues, particularly climate change. Formed in 2009, at a time when people throughout Scotland, including here in the Parliament, were seriously debating the challenges that we as a society face in lowering our emissions, Greener Kirkcaldy began its work to benefit its community and help Kirkcaldy to turn green.
Through the hard work of staff and volunteers, Greener Kirkcaldy helps households and organisations to make important changes to ensure a more sustainable and greener environment. It offers courses and workshops that aim to encourage Fifers to lower their food bills, reduce their waste and grow, cook and eat seasonal, local food. It works in community settings and schools, encouraging people to make positive changes and raising awareness of our environmental responsibilities.
Based on Kirkcaldy High Street, Greener Kirkcaldy has an advice centre and eco-shop that promote fair trade produce and provide practical advice and support. I was in there last week and it has a great display of low-energy light bulbs so that people can see what type of light a bulb produces before they buy it. That might seem simple, but some people, particularly elderly people, are reluctant to change because of a perception or experience of dim lighting. That practical display helps people to make that change.
Greener Kirkcaldy’s initiative cosy Kirkcaldy aims to help locals to keep warm for less, with free impartial advice that provides a home energy makeover. I have signed up for a home energy check, as the service has been expanded throughout Fife. By making a home visit, staff are able to find ways to save the household money while reducing energy waste. Greener Kirkcaldy will check whether the home is eligible for any grants and offers, such as a free insulation top-up, and help households to understand better their energy bills and tariffs. Often, adjustment to a thermostat or a better understanding of how a boiler works can make a big difference.
As part of its Fife healthy heating network, Greener Kirkcaldy offers a handyman service. Often, relatively small and inexpensive changes, such as putting up a curtain rail and a pair of heavy curtains, can make a significant improvement in keeping a room or home cosy.
It is important that Greener Kirkcaldy’s advice is free and impartial. It provides a first port of call for anyone who is thinking about installing new technologies. Home renewables is a growing industry and people can be put under too much pressure from door-to-door sales. It can be difficult to identify what an acceptable market price is for the offer and to tell whether one is getting a good deal. Greener Kirkcaldy can help people through that maze.
Greener Kirkcaldy is also a partner in shine on Fife, which offers locals the opportunity to find out whether solar panels are right for their home. Some may suggest that the sun always shines on Fife—it is ideally placed on the beautiful east coast to take advantage of solar energy. Greener Kirkcaldy, working with home energy Scotland, Fife Council and St Andrews environmental network, provides the information and assessment that people need to make an informed choice. It is able to tell locals what is right for their homes but, equally important, it can advise on what is not right, and then highlight the full range of funding options and help to ensure that a certified installer is chosen.
In December, Greener Kirkcaldy was awarded money from the Big Lottery Fund to roll out the Fife healthy heating network throughout the kingdom of Fife. Working with St Andrews environmental network, Citizens Advice and Rights Fife, and Fife Council’s fuel povertyerty officer, the project is expected to help 1,000 people to stay warm while keeping their fuel bills under control.
I recently went to Greener Kirkcaldy’s annual gathering, and I was so impressed by the range and diversity of the work that it does. Staff and volunteers at the gathering talked about their projects, and their enthusiasm and commitment were great to see, particularly that of the volunteers who work in the community orchard and the training area at Ravenscraig’s walled garden. It was clear to me that their work is not just about addressing climate change, but about developing people’s skills, forming friendships and growing a community. Their impact punches well above the size and weight of the organisation.
There are new projects on the horizon. There are great plans to develop an edible wild garden in Dunnikier park. We know that all towns have parks that have swathes of green. The Dunnikier project is thinking imaginatively about how to use some of that space to provide greater community benefit and improve the area’s biodiversity. The project is also developing early plans for a community food hub. That is a very positive venture that seeks to address issues of food sustainability, affordability and healthy eating. I look forward to playing any part that I can in making it a success.
Greener Kirkcaldy has been funded principally by the climate challenge fund, which has provided vital support for organisations working on local solutions. However, the voluntary and community sectors are on a continual funding search, and I am sure that the minister appreciates the challenges that exist for an organisation to become sustainable. Greener Kirkcaldy has a level of funding security over the next wee while and the Big Lottery Fund support is very welcome. However, how does the minister see the future for organisations working in this sector? Where will the opportunities for support come from?
I thank again the staff and volunteers of Greener Kirkcaldy, including those who are in the public gallery today. The formation of an idea is only the beginning, and sometimes it is the easiest part of launching a new venture. What is then needed is the time and effort to turn that idea into a reality. Greener Kirkcaldy is successful because it is a great project with hard-working and dedicated staff and volunteers. If it was not for their contribution, our communities would be poorer places. They play such an important part in empowering communities and building their capacity and resilience. I am delighted to have had the opportunity to share knowledge of their work with members today.
12:42
I thank Claire Baker for bringing the motion to Parliament and I welcome the members of Greener Kirkcaldy to the gallery.
I am delighted to have the opportunity to talk about Greener Kirkcaldy, because I have been following the project for several years. The community-focused organisation first opened its doors in 2009 after receiving funding through the Scottish Government’s climate challenge fund. Since that day, Greener Kirkcaldy has supported individuals, families and companies in reducing their carbon footprints and fuel bills. The free and individualised advice that is offered by the organisation has truly helped many of my constituents.
Considering that all major energy companies significantly increased their prices in 2013, I believe that the work that is done by Greener Kirkcaldy is of even greater importance. Statistics indicate that simple measures to save energy can have a huge impact. They include actions ranging from being more conscious about a household’s energy consumption to adapting homes to modern environmental standards. For example, the addition of 270mm of loft insulation can reduce annual heating costs by up to £175. That sum of money could make an incredible difference to vulnerable families in the community. Cognisant of such potential savings, an ever-increasing number of people are interested in reducing their carbon footprint and thereby cutting fuel bills. Accordingly, Greener Kirkcaldy has seen an increase in individuals seeking advice, with a record high of 1,030 cases between October and December 2013.
Integral to the success of Greener Kirkcaldy is its flexible and personalised approach to offering support. People who are seeking help can contact the advice centre directly and attend events and talks organised by Greener Kirkcaldy, as well as ask for an in-depth home energy advice visit. During such visits, a wide range of topics is discussed, including needs for implementing insulation and options for using renewable energy or switching tariffs.
Moreover, the organisation not only aims to treat each client equally, but develops individually tailored solutions for each case. The hundreds of people who contact Greener Kirkcaldy every month provide many examples that perfectly illustrate that philosophy. On my visit to Greener Kirkcaldy last Friday, I was made aware of two special cases that highlight how beneficial the organisation’s work is to many families.
An elderly lady in my constituency was concerned about her husband’s medical condition making a home visit from Greener Kirkcaldy complicated. However, the couple were reassured and allowed an energy adviser to visit their semi-detached house. During the visit, the family were advised to implement basic draught proofing. Shortly after a decision was taken to do that, the organisation’s free handyman service installed radiator panels, draught proofing, LED light bulbs and a thermal door curtain. The couple were extremely pleased by how simple and uncomplicated it was to put into practice the advice that Greener Kirkcaldy gave and they have successfully reduced their fuel bills.
Reducing the share of expenditure that is reserved for fuel bills was also the main concern of a single mother who approached Greener Kirkcaldy last July. She lived in a privately rented house and had to minimise heating to keep her fuel costs low. As she faced another winter in a cold house, she was determined to change her situation and improve her heating system. An energy adviser from Greener Kirkcaldy visited her and identified the old boiler and a lack of insulation that allowed heat to escape as the main causes of high fuel costs. She was made aware that, because of her limited financial possibilities, she could qualify for a boiler upgrade as well as free insulation from the affordable warmth scheme that is offered through the Energy Saving Trust. Thrilled by those options, she applied to receive assistance and, only four days after the initial call, her home was provided with cavity wall insulation.
Besides helping people to create environmentally friendly homes, Greener Kirkcaldy has launched a diverse set of projects to promote greener living, which include running an eco-shop, establishing an orchard and working in co-operation with schools. Working in conjunction with schools has proven to be a successful strategy in educating young people on basic energy-saving methods and the importance of buying locally sourced food. I hope that they will take that knowledge into adulthood, which will benefit not only their communities but the wider environment. Regular workshops for interested citizens of all age groups are being held at Ravenscraig walled garden, where they are shown how to grow their own vegetables, fruit and herbs.
The Greener Kirkcaldy team participated in celebrating national climate week last week. Members and volunteers intensified their efforts to approach the citizens of Kirkcaldy directly, and the handyman service and energy advisers gave families further advice on how to make their homes cosier and more environmentally friendly. In particular, they addressed mothers by giving them tips on how to cut fuel bills.
I commend Greener Kirkcaldy’s great work in promoting more environmentally friendly and cost-efficient living in my constituency. The organisation is an excellent example of a successful community-led project and I wish all its members and volunteers the best of luck for the future.
12:47
I congratulate Claire Baker on securing the debate and I join her and David Torrance in commending Greener Kirkcaldy’s work. The debate is important, because we know that the green movement starts at home. It is all very well for us to pass lots of legislation, but we must take practical measures ourselves, which is exactly what Greener Kirkcaldy does.
Greener Kirkcaldy is driving change and serving as an inspiration for environmental groups elsewhere in Scotland. As we have heard, reducing waste, slashing bills and increasing energy efficiency are at the heart of what Greener Kirkcaldy is trying to achieve. By providing a free, friendly and accessible service, Greener Kirkcaldy advisers are driving positive change in their community.
Encouraging people to be more energy efficient and less wasteful will be crucial in managing carbon emissions. In 2012, Scottish households produced more than 80 million tonnes of carbon dioxide, of which 8.6 million tonnes were generated from household heating. That is why initiatives such as cosy Kirkcaldy are important.
Everybody wants a warm home, but nearly 40 per cent of Scots families are plunged into fuel poverty in trying to provide one. In the past year, Greener Kirkcaldy has helped thousands of Fifers with insulation and energy advice through home visits or outreach events or in its advice shop. Between October and December 2013, 1,030 people contacted Greener Kirkcaldy advisers for energy advice.
For residents who are looking for insulation solutions, Greener Kirkcaldy runs advice courses that offer tips on do-it-yourself draught proofing and loft insulation. The latest such event was held last Saturday and I understand that it was well attended. Advisers provide free, impartial advice on a range of energy issues and can help residents receive a free insulation top-up, clarify energy tariffs and simplify the application process for Government insulation grants.
With energy bills rising faster than any other commodity, home owners are rightfully concerned about their costs. The United Kingdom Government, via the green deal, has helped make more money available for insulation schemes than any other Government in history. However, for many people accessing those funds is a confusing and complicated process. By simplifying the process, Greener Kirkcaldy is helping residents access funds that can help lower emissions and, perhaps more important, lower bills.
Another important aspect of Greener Kirkcaldy is its work to reduce food waste. UK households wasted 7 million tonnes of food last year, half of which was avoidable. To put that in context, it is the equivalent of 80 million wheelie bins full of food. If we stopped wasting edible food, the reduction in emissions would be the equivalent of taking one in four cars off the road. If those incentives are not enough, it is also the case that wasting food costs the average household between £500 and £700 annually.
To help combat that problem, Greener Kirkcaldy has set up a series of cookery workshops aimed at setting out good practice on food preparation, which are free and open to anyone. Lovely leftovers is a soon-to-be-held course that will teach residents how to cook appetising meals from yesterday’s dinner. Meal planning is central to avoiding food waste and Greener Kirkcaldy is keen to help residents better organise their weekly shops. Other courses will include tips on batch cooking and cooking for children, which will be particularly helpful for young mothers.
The Ravenscraig orchard is another example of the community spirit that Greener Kirkcaldy has helped foster. The site was covered in nettles and weeds, and volunteers from the charity cleared the site, built paths and planted more than 50 fruit trees. The garden will serve as a classroom for teaching interested residents the dos and don’ts of gardening, which will not only be incredibly rewarding but will help to cut food bills.
Everyone can do their bit to be environmentally friendly, and Greener Kirkcaldy has taken that concept and shown residents the simple ways in which to do it. Going green often saves money and that has broad appeal. Volunteers have given up their time to advance the green movement and I commend them for that. Greener Kirkcaldy has worked tirelessly to raise public awareness and I hope that its efforts can continue past 2016. I encourage the Scottish Government to commit funding to the climate challenge fund beyond 2016 to help community initiatives such as Greener Kirkcaldy, which will be central to reducing waste and increasing energy efficiency across Scotland.
Again, I commend Claire Baker for securing the debate and I congratulate Greener Kirkcaldy on everything that it has done so far. I wish it future success.
12:52
Like my colleagues, I congratulate Claire Baker on securing this debate to recognise the achievements of Greener Kirkcaldy and I echo her welcome to members of the community organisation who have joined us in the gallery today.
Community groups are the backbone of many communities in Fife. As an MSP and local councillor, I know only too well that an active and engaged community sector is a tremendous asset for collectively meeting the aims of Fife Council and Fife’s community plans. In the past year I have visited and spoken about a number of community organisations in Fife that have a focus on environment and wellbeing, including the Ecology Centre at Kinghorn, Broomhill community gardens in Burntisland, and the evergreen service in Kirkcaldy.
Greener Kirkcaldy, like those other groups, is showing the way in local communities by working with local partner organisations such as the Fife diet. Vitally, it is helping to deliver the message about building strong, sustainable communities and that the best way to do that is through the combined impact of each of us doing a little in order to effect a bigger change. By operating locally and engaging with schools and local groups, it adds value to what others are doing. Greener Kirkcaldy has been very skilful in how it reaches out to the community: it knows that it is not all about meetings. People can go to an event or workshop, visit the advantageice centre, or book a home energy advice visit. If someone has a little spare time, they can become a volunteer or they can become a signed-up member of a growing community of people who are learning about and working towards a greener Kirkcaldy.
Groups such as Greener Kirkcaldy are vital, as they enable people to begin to implement changes that could make a material improvement to their wellbeing, their neighbourhood and their planet. Without such projects, we would find it very difficult to see the high-level strategies and aspirations of complex yet important legislation translate into the reality of people’s everyday lives. People’s lives are often lived at a fast, stressful pace with the emphasis on getting through the day, managing on a budget and doing several things at once.
Against that background, how do we politicians sell the concept of reduce, reuse, recycle to busy families? Further, thinking about yesterday’s debate on air quality and last year’s consideration of the report on proposals and policies 2, how do we make those proposals real for communities like those in and around Kirkcaldy? When we look at last week’s district heating and decarbonising heating debate, it becomes clear. People might well find themselves thinking, “What’s all that about? It sounds a bit technical. It’s not really for me.” However, during that debate, we learned that an estimated £2.6 billion is spent each year in Scotland on keeping the temperature in our homes and businesses to our liking. Therefore, it is, financially, a very significant issue.
In my contribution to that debate last week, I spoke about the anaerobic digestion plant and district heating systems elsewhere in Fife that are helping to create the energy that we need to heat our homes. However, I also recognised the challenges of fuel poverty and energy inefficient homes, and the negative impact that they can have on people’s lives. That is why I particularly like Greener Kirkcaldy’s cosy Kirkcaldy project, which Claire Baker and others have mentioned. Not only does it provide advice on ways to minimise a family’s energy wastage, but it helps people to understand their energy bills and to see what tariffs are out there for them, as well as offering support for insulation top-ups and other schemes that could help keep the temperature up and the bills down in people’s homes. Therefore, it is not just cosy Kirkcaldy but clever Kirkcaldy.
One of the pleasures of a members’ business debate is that the hard work and successes of local groups can be formally recognised by all parties across the chamber. Therefore, once again, I add my support to the motion, and I look forward to seeing the project go from strength to strength.
12:56
I am grateful to Claire Baker for highlighting for us today the continuing success of Greener Kirkcaldy and for detailing the many projects that the organisation is undertaking on behalf of the people of Fife. I convey my congratulations to Greener Kirkcaldy on the tremendous work that it is doing, and offer it my thanks. I hope that those who are involved take great pride in their achievements; indeed, I encourage them to do so because they are worthy of pride. Greener Kirkcaldy and groups like it are at the forefront of the delivery of action on climate change and the environment in Scotland.
Kirkcaldy is perhaps most famous as the birthplace of the great 18th century Scottish philosopher, Adam Smith, the father of modern economics and author of “The Wealth of Nations”. He and fellow Scottish thinker David Hume were two of the most important figures in the history of Western philosophy and the Scottish enlightenment. Hume spent his time thinking about the psychological basis of human nature. He concluded that desire and passion, rather than reason and logic, govern human behaviour. Although I am hesitant to take a different view from that of an eminent man such as David Hume, I believe that there is a real place for passion in climate change action and, from everything that I have read and heard about Greener Kirkcaldy, I can say that the people who are involved in it are nothing if not passionate.
However, I think that we can all agree with Hume that actions that are rooted only in desire, without reasoned consideration of their likely consequences, are likely, in many cases, to lead to trouble. We see the effects of some such actions in the severe weather patterns that are being unleashed around the world and on our doorsteps and which are causing immeasurable damage and despair. In our defence, we may say that, as a society and across the globe, we did not realise that the CO2 emissions from our activities would have such a terrible legacy. However, we know the truth of the matter now, and we also know that, to keep global warming within tolerable limits, we need to make transformational changes in how we—as individuals, as communities and as a wider society—live and interact with our wider environment. That is why, in a spirit of enlightenment, the Scottish Parliament passed our world-leading climate change legislation and emission reduction targets.
The Climate Change (Scotland) Act 2009 not only sets necessarily ambitious and challenging targets but requires us to report to the Parliament annually on progress towards them. No other country in the world has such demanding legislation. Although international leadership carries great responsibilities, it is also something in which the Scottish Parliament can take great pride.
Today, representatives of WWF are with us in Parliament to encourage our continuing support for the organisation’s worldwide earth hour initiative. Particularly in 2014, when the eyes of the world will fall on Scotland, I encourage all members to attend the promotional earth hour event and to lend their support to its global reach and symbolism. The Scottish Government will again play its part this year, switching off non-essential lighting in our properties, and we anticipate a great response from the rest of the public sector, too. I urge all my colleagues across the Parliament—sadly, too few of whom are here today—and the people of Scotland to play their part in earth hour.
I have talked about political leadership and also touched on, through my reference to earth hour, the role that the public sector can play in delivering climate change action. However, we all know that, as Murdo Fraser, Claire Baker and Jayne Baxter said, we need the support of the whole of Scottish society. That is why the leadership that is shown by community groups such as Greener Kirkcaldy is essential. Greener Kirkcaldy has received funding from a variety of sources; its three climate challenge fund projects have been in receipt of just over £797,000 over three years. Greener Kirkcaldy is a well-deserving recipient of climate challenge funding. Having successfully delivered its first project, the organisation is working on a further two complementary projects that are promoting energy efficiency and local food in two contrasting areas of the town.
As a mature CCF project, Greener Kirkcaldy also provides leadership, inspiration and a valuable example to the wider climate action sector in Scotland. It is involved in the Scottish communities climate action network and supports the CCF’s community action and support network, playing a lead role in developing a regional network of CCF projects in Fife. That is the first of 12 CCF regional networks, which are designed to share and cascade experience and good practice across communities.
Since we launched the climate challenge fund in 2008, awards totalling nearly £55 million have been made to 468 communities in support of 635 individual projects that are tackling climate change. Those include energy efficiency advice and food projects such as Greener Kirkcaldy—I was interested in the examples that David Torrance gave of individuals having seen substantial impacts on their costs of living—along with projects to improve community-owned buildings, to promote waste recycling and composting and to promote sustainable travel, including car clubs and increased cycling. Many projects are multistranded and all are expected to be resilient, building in adaptation to our changing climate as well as emissions reduction. The Fife diet, which is one of the partners of Greener Kirkcaldy, has received almost £804,000 in climate challenge funding for three projects.
The projects take place across Scotland in our cities, towns and villages, on the mainland and on our islands. With the junior climate challenge fund, we are successfully involving younger age groups and, since refreshing the CCF in November 2012, we have increased the reach of the fund to support, in particular, more disadvantaged and hard-to-reach groups including black and minority ethnic communities. Murdo Fraser talked about the Government committing to longer-term finance, and Claire Baker also asked about such support. We are trying to make it possible for CCF projects to become self-financing. We have to be careful about doing that within European state aid limits, but we are encouraging projects to come forward with ideas about how they can recycle income to ensure that they are sustainable in the longer term.
The climate challenge fund has supported more than 240 projects that have included some element of food growing. Interest in local food has grown over the past few years, along with a desire to know where our food comes from. Demand for suitable land to allow people to grow their own food is high. A commitment was made in the 2011 Scottish National Party manifesto to updating the allotment legislation, and proposals for that have been included in the draft community empowerment (Scotland) bill. Communities can be empowered by ensuring that people have access to land that can provide both health and social benefits and a connection to the local environment. Our proposals for new allotment legislation have been set out to encourage local authorities to take a more proactive approach to allotment provision, with the ultimate aim of increasing access to allotments in places such as Kirkcaldy and elsewhere, so helping to increase access to healthy, sustainable food for all.
In the time that I have remaining, I would like to pick up a couple of points that were made in the debate. I have addressed the funding issue. Beyond 2016, we will be into a new session of Parliament. We will consider the issue that Murdo Fraser raised and provide feedback, but we will be into a different spending review period in 2016 and it will perhaps not be as easy to commit to that funding as it may seem.
I missed the district heating debate, unfortunately, but Jayne Baxter’s point about the £2.6 billion cost of heating our homes in this country shows the scale of the prize that is available to communities if we can cut the cost of our heating and get that money recycled through the economy in other ways. That will help not only to address fuel poverty, but to provide people with more disposable income to give them a better standard of living.
There are real prizes to be gained from the work that is being done by groups such as Greener Kirkcaldy. The success of the climate challenge fund in generating such community action and leadership on climate change is heartening. I commend all climate challenge fund communities, such as Greener Kirkcaldy, for their efforts. They deserve our on-going praise and encouragement.
As our proceedings are broadcast live around the parliamentary complex, I am sure that our MSP colleagues will have heard the minister’s message about earth hour.
13:04 Meeting suspended.Previous
First Minister’s Question Time