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Residents will be able to continue using e-bikes and e-scooters to travel sustainably following confirmation Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole (BCP) Council has extended its partnership with Beryl for a further five years.
The new contract will see the green transport operator providing 800 pedal bikes, 750 e-bikes and 500 e-scooters for instant hire across more than 400 parking bays across the local area until 2028. For the first time, there are also plans to introduce a handful of innovative e-cargo bikes for local businesses, with these eco-friendly vehicles able to carry out sustainable deliveries aimed at replacing trips a van would normally do. The Beryl initiative has been running across Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole since June 2019, and continues to grow in popularity as more people choose scooters and bicycles to make short journeys. Since the scheme was introduced across the conurbation four-and-a-half years ago, it has generated more than 1,827,000 rides across nearly 6.4million kilometres – the equivalent of nearly 160 journeys around the Earth. These journeys have had a significant impact on reducing traffic congestion across Dorset, replacing 650,000 private vehicle journeys. They’ve also contributed towards getting people active and improving air quality, preventing more than 235 tonnes of CO2 emissions. The achievements of the partnership between Beryl and BCP Council saw it claim The Municipal Journal (MJ) Award for the UK’s Best Transport Decarbonisation Project back in June this year – an accolade considered the highest level of recognition in the UK local authority community. Beryl have also provided over 180,000 free rides to job seekers, students, low-income hospitality workers, refugees, cycle training organisations and other community group members across the conurbation as part of their Community Champions initiative. They have also provided opportunities, skills, and training to those with additional learning needs and continue to work with the council on its Supported Internships project, which helps young people aged 19 to 25 who have completed formal school and college but need a final hand in gaining paid employment.
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DORSET’S ‘human fish’ – Oly Rush – has crowned a remarkable year by being listed in the latest edition of the Guinness World Records.
The plasterer and endurance swimmer, from Upton near Poole, has made the pages of the 2024 book of world records after completing a 60-mile circumnavigation of Grand Cayman. To complete the feat, the 39-year-old spent an arm-aching 37 hours non-stop powering round the Caribbean island, becoming the first person ever to achieve the feat in a bid to raise awareness of plastic pollution in the world’s oceans. It came after a number of notable achievements in recent years, including the fastest swim around the Isle of Wight and becoming the first person to swim around the Greek Island of Ithaca. Vegan Oly also raises money for environmental charities during his endurance swims and has his sights set on further firsts. “It’s lovely to be recognised by the Guinness book of records but what’s more important is to do my bit to clean up the oceans,” he said. I also go into schools and give talks and the children really seem to take what I’m saying on board. I think we have a great generation coming through who really care about reducing pollution. “Next year I aim to do another swim which I’m still finalising, but which will test me more than any of the others.” Guinness World Records 2024 details how Oly swam around the 59.3-mile distance in 36hrs 59mins and includes a picture of an emotional Oly at the end of his world record feat. The words of those feeling the effects of climate change rang out in Wimborne during an environmental demonstration.
Members of the Wimborne branch of Extinction Rebellion marked the COP28 gathering in Dubai – the annual United Nations conference tasked with addressing climate change – by voicing the experiences of those already impacted. They stood on the River Allen pedestrian bridge and spoke to passers-by for three mornings. “We spoke to hundreds of residents and the overwhelming majority were concerned about climate change,” said campaigner Rosemary Lunt. “We want to raise awareness that many countries in the Global South are already suffering climate catastrophes including drought and food insecurity, floods, heatwaves and wildfires.” The Global South refers to various countries around the world, sometimes described as developing, less developed or underdeveloped. These countries have contributed the least to climate change but are suffering the worst impacts. Around 10 members of Extinction Rebellion Wimborne read the words of climate activists from India, Kenya, Rwanda, Sierra Leone, Solomon Islands and Uganda. To date, the FiPL programme in Cranborne Chase has awarded a total of £1.1 million to local farmers and land managers across the National Landscape.
Thank you to Launceston Farm, Myncen Farm, Cranborne Chase Cider and Shooting Reels for their support in producing this film. Cllr Maria Roe was presented with a handmade climate stripe bookmark which indicates the rate of global warming from 1962 to 2022 (as recorded at the Met Office site at Hurn). Presenting the award was Rosemary Lunt, co-founder of a new Wimborne based environmental group, Makers and Shakers, who created the bookmark and presented it to Cllr Roe in recognition of her great work in raising the profile of the environmental crisis across Dorset.
England will get a new national park as part of a government set of "nature pledges" to give greater access and protection to the countryside.
Natural England will consider a list of possible sites, which could include the Chilterns, the Cotswolds and Dorset. Some environmentalists gave the news a cautious welcome, as government funding for national parks has fallen in real terms, forcing service and staff cuts. Funding worth £15m was also announced for a range of protected landscapes. That will be shared by England's 10 existing national parks and 34 National Landscapes, formerly known as Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty. The government said the £15m announced was new funding, with £10m to be released next year and a £5m pot made available this financial year from which national park authorities could bid for funding to improve rivers, lakes and water quality. Thirty-four new landscape recovery projects will also be created under the ELMs farm payments scheme which will see 200,000 hectares of land managed to benefit nature and sustainable food production. Further funding of £2.5m will be used to help give disadvantaged young people access to the countryside while £750,000 will be set aside for research into protecting England's temperate rainforests. The package forms part of the government's final response to a 2019 review that criticised how such protected landscapes were managed and funded. Julian Glover, the author of the Landscapes Review, which had called for three new national parks to be created, in the Chilterns, Cotswolds and Dorset, said he was thrilled to have "real progress backed with some extra money to help our national landscapes and national parks do more for people and more for nature". Parks across the country have had to make cuts to staffing levels and visitor services as their core grant from government has fallen in real terms. The Studland Bay Marine Partnership has been awarded £186,000 from the Marine Management Organisation’s Fisheries and Seafood Scheme to support the conservation of Studland Bay’s precious marine ecosystems.
Studland Bay is home to Dorset’s most extensive seagrass meadow and provides a unique habitat for lots of important species like the spiny seahorse and the endangered undulate ray. The new funding, which has been secured following a successful funding bid with Dorset Council, will contribute to a larger £248,000 conservation project to support this special site, the wildlife that live there, and the water users who enjoy it. The project, which will see an additional 57 eco-moorings installed in the bay, and the continuation of the partnership’s research and monitoring programme, will be delivered by the Studland Bay Marine Partnership. This partnership was formed in 2021 to help make sure the Studland Bay area is protected for nature whilst meeting the needs of water and boat users, and is made up of local stakeholders like conservation and boating groups, academics, community groups, and local businesses. Funds from the award will also be used to complete the formulisation of the partnership, provide more information for boat users in the Studland and Poole harbour marina areas, and continue an engagement programme, led by the Dorset Coast Forum, throughout 2024 and beyond. These activities will support the voluntary no anchor zone (VNAZ) already in place within in Studland Bay. The VNAZ was established in 2021 by the Marine Management Organisation (MMO) with the support of the local community to protect the bay’s seagrass meadow. Funds for the project were secured as part of a bid submitted by Dorset Council on behalf of the partnership. Dorset Coast Forum, a Dorset Council hosted partnership, will continue to lead on the community engagement of this marine conservation project. The forum has already been working with partnership organisations throughout 2023 to raise awareness of the Voluntary No Anchor Zone and Studland’s precious marine habitats. Future engagement events will continue to offer boaters and the public the opportunity to view the partnership’s display eco-mooring which featured on the BBC’s Springwatch programme earlier in the year. A project to create a community growing garden in Ferndown has been completed.
The scheme, run by Seed2Plate, has built the garden at The Centre Ferndown after two years of fundraising and hard work putting the space together. This week, Seed2Plate’s Green Care team braved the torrential rain to complete the build after securing funding through the Ferndown Family Hub, CLA Charitable Trust and Tesco Stronger Starts, previously named Bags for Help. Working with Ferndown Community Hub, volunteers and families will be trained to help maintain the space and connect young people with the adjoining Ferndown Common, a Site of Special Scientific Interest. The funding will be used to help young people get involved in outdoor horticulture activities, exploring different land-based themes, learning about plants and how to maintain them, the local biodiversity and connecting them to Ferndown Common through horticulture. It saw the previously-unused plot of land repurposed, with accessible raised beds that when planted, will produce fresh fruit and vegetables for the local low-income community, while offering skills and Level 1 horticulture qualifications through the National Open College Network. The project will work with the Ferndown community, families, elderly, and young people from Tricketts Cross estate, the second highest area of deprivation in Dorset, outside Weymouth and Portland. They thanked Eco Sustainable Solutions Ltd for donating and delivering the compost. The new Wimborne Minster School Council gathered at the town council on Tuesday (November 21), where members met the deputy mayor, town clerk, officers, and councillors.
The school council is made up of children from schools in the Wimborne area. At the meeting, the children heard about what the town council does, took part in a formal debate on youth provision in the town and came up with practical ideas to address sustainability and climate action. Cllr Jeff Hart said: “This is a great initiative. Most schools have their own school councils but now they can send representatives to the town council’s own school council, debate issues that are important to them, and report back to the town council. “The children were most articulate and evidently enjoyed the meeting. We will meet every term going forward.” Sustainability and the environment were the top issues raised by the children. A new woodland is to be planted in Dorset to commemorate the late Queen.
Ninety-six oak trees, one for each year of the monarch's life, will be planted at Shapwick on the Kingston Lacy estate near Wimborne on Saturday. The saplings, descended from Sherwood Forest's Major Oak, have been donated to the National Trust by conservation charity Trees for Dorset. They will be planted by residents, staff and volunteers who will also sign a book to be sent to King Charles III. The woodland will be extended next year with further planting of orchard and woodland trees. Kingston Lacy countryside manager Eleanor Egan said: "We were delighted to be able to make this land available. "We are planning to plant more than 9,000 trees next year, because of the importance of trees not only as a source of food and shelter for wildlife but also as a means of locking up atmospheric carbon. |
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