Brentwood Climate Action

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Come and join the fun at the Strawberry Fair

We’ve finalised the plans for our stall at the Strawberry Fair this coming Saturday (June 18) – and we’d like as many members as possible to please put their hands up and volunteer to help us on the day!

Last night’s Steering Group meeting heard a full update from Frances Howard, who along with Kat Anderson, has been putting in the organising work in the run-up to the Brentwood Borough Council & Discover Brentwood event on Shenfield Common.

We’ll be hosting our stall jointly with Brentwood Fairtrade, as we have a lot of crossover in members and general aims around the environment and social justice in a world trying to cope with a climate emergency.

A donation from National Enforcement Solutions, who supplied BCA’s litter-picking equipment, will cover the cost of the stall at the Fair – and we thank them for that! And we’ll be doing some litter picking around the Common during the event (which runs from 11am to 6pm)… so the more BCA members around the better.

The Fair itself will see performances on the main stage during the day, fairground rides, food and drink stalls and, of course, fresh strawberries.

In terms of Brentwood Climate Action’s stall, we’ll be running a Scavenger Hunt – with successful entrants going into a prize draw, which Brentwood Fairtrade are helping provide prizes and goodies for.

They will also be running a quiz – and we’ll have the ability for everyone to sign up as free Members of Brentwood Climate Action on the day… and scan our QR code to go straight to our website for all the information on our group.

We’ll also be posting on our Twitter, Facebook and Instragram channels during the day, so please make sure you’re following them to stay in touch…. and tag us in any posts you make too so we can share!

Any members who can come along and help with running activities on the day (we’ll be setting up from 9.30am), please email us at info@brentwoodclimateaction.org.uk so we know to expect you.

We look forward to seeing as many people as possible on Saturday!

15 June 2022
All set for Strawberry Fair stall on June 18

Plans for a Brentwood Climate Action stall at next month’s Strawberry Fair on Shenfield Common were among the many issues discussed at the latest BCA Members Meeting on May 17.

Held as usual at the Chicken & Frog bookshop in Crown Street, and hybrid online via Zoom, the meeting agreed that a presence at the June 18 event would help raise awareness of Brentwood Climate Action with the public, and hopefully see many more people sign up as members on the day.

We are aiming to run a scavenger hunt on the day to encourage participation from families with children. And attending members will be encouraged to help out with some litter-picking on the Common, wearing our BCA-branded Hi Vis jackets.

Anyone wanting to attend and help out on the day from 11am onwards – please email us at info@brentwoodclimateaction.org.uk so we have an idea of numbers in advance.

A donation from National Enforcement Solutions, who supplied BCA’s litter-picking equipment, will cover the cost of the stall at the Fair.

Also discussed at the meeting was the Schools Climate Change Conference Programme, with the date for the second conference now having been set for June 29. A group of students and a member of staff from St. Martin’s School are working on the programme with the help of Richard Millwood from the BCA steering group.

And the meeting attendees agreed that donations to Brentwood Climate Action should be the preferred method of gaining financial support for the group rather than a membership fee. BCA now has a bank account where donations can be made:

Bank details:
Account – 67235957
Code – 08-92-99
Brentwood Climate Action

The date of the next meeting was agreed as Thursday July 14 (7.30pm) at Chicken & Frog and via Zoom. Members meetings will continue to be every two months, with the convenors of the BCA WhatsApp Action Groups forming the Steering Group along with the appointed officers, and holding meetings monthly.

Georgia Earing has joined the Steering Group now after volunteering to head up the Engagement Group moving forward.

The full meeting minutes and from all previous BCA meetings can be downloaded in our Resources section.

28 May 2022
Come along on Tuesday May 17 and take climate action
The next member meeting of Brentwood Climate Action takes place this coming Tuesday (May 17) – and we want you to come along and get involved in the group this summer.

We have a busy agenda of items to update you on… and more importantly, lots of issues and events for member volunteers to step forward and take part in.

The meeting takes place at Chicken and Frog Bookshop in Crown Street in Brentwood from 7.30pm – and will also be hybrid online via Zoom for those unable to join in person on the night. Signed up members will be sent the Zoom link via email before the meeting.

Among items on the agenda are
- Planning a Brentwood Climate Action stall at the Council’s Strawberry Fayre event on Saturday June 18. Come with your ideas for activities on the day and prepared to sign up and help us run our presence there!
- Discussion on the Environment Action Group’s initiative to plant seeds and saplings in traffic cones. We want to set dates for ‘build your own’ frames workshops.
- Hear about progress with the Air Quality projects – on school sites across Ingatestone, and the journey to the Hogarth School from homes with a view to changing behaviour
- Preparation to comment on Brentwood Borough Council’s draft Environment Strategy when it opens to consultation
- Raising funds for Brentwood Climate Action
And anything else you want to raise and discuss on the night! We look forward to seeing you on Tuesday evening.
13 May 2022
Join our Litter Pick events on Saturday April 9
Come and join members of Brentwood Climate Action as we take part in two Litter Pick events in town on Saturday April 9 – as part of Keep Britain Tidy’s Great British Spring Clean campaign.

Our latest members meeting at Chicken and Frog bookshop and also via Zoom on Thursday (March 24) agreed the time and dates for the events.

We will be holding two on the same day – and hope to see a mass turnout at the Courage Playing Fields in Shenfield (11am-12pm), and King George’s Playing Fields (3.30-4.30pm). We have Brentwood Climate Action hi-vis vests and litter pickers for attendees to use! But you may want to bring some gloves.

We hope to see you there. And we’ve produced a poster you can download, print and display to encourage others to come along too.
- Download the Brentwood Climate Action litter pick poster
The meeting was our first of 2022 and covered a wide range of topics.

Members were again encouraged to sign up to at least one of our Action Groups via WhatsApp, links to which were circulated with the meeting invitation. If you’re not sure how to do that, or want to find out more about the Action Groups and how you could get involved, then please email us at info@brentwoodclimateaction.org.uk.

These are our forums for taking projects and ideas forward. The various Group Co-ordinators are also on our Steering Group, and will be invited to feed back progress at future bi-monthly meetings.

There were reports on the night from the Education Group – including outline plans for our second Schools Climate Change Conference at St Martin’s School in late June – the Finance Group, and the Lobbying Group.

It was agreed that we would continue to meet in a hybrid format with our base as the Chicken & Frog bookshop in Crown Street, and also using Zoom. The members meeting will be every two months.

Next Meetings:
- Tuesday 17 May, 7.30pm
- Thursday 14 July, 7.30pm
Download a copy the minutes:

Members Meeting minutes – March 24 2022
26 March 2022
What to make of the latest IPCC report

This week the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) launched their latest global report on the climate crisis. It makes for an emotional read.

You can read and download it in full on the IPCC website.

The report concludes that the world is facing devastating and cascading risks from a worsening climate crisis. We can expect increasing threats to food and nature, more harm from extreme weather, and higher risks of “tipping points” which cannot be reversed.

Scientists warn that we have already seen some extreme climate events and conditions not projected to take place until 2100.

But the report also tells us one important message – this is far from game over. Solutions to the climate crisis already exist. We have the opportunity to not only halt global temperature rises, but also to build a future that is fairer, safer and healthier for all.

So, while it’s critical that we share the truth with our networks here through Brentwood Climate Action – it’s also vital that we give people hope. We must use moments like these to show people that a different future is possible – and give them an opportunity to join our fight for climate action.

Our colleagues at Friends of the Earth have put together a summary of the report, with key messages to share with our networks via email and social media, and quotes from our climate activist friends around the world.

But here are some of their key takeaways:

Extreme events

We have already seen some extreme climate events and conditions not projected to take place until 2100. These are projected to increase in magnitude and frequency. Such heatwaves, droughts, floods, storms, and fires will result in “compound and cascading” effects on agriculture, water resources, lives, livelihoods and infrastructure. Since 2008, 20 million people have been internally displaced by extreme weather events per year.  

Sea-level rise

By 2050, it is predicted that more than 1 billion people living in coastal areas will be at risk from the dangers of sea-level rise. That means one in ten people on the planet will be directly impacted. 

Tipping points

If global temperatures increase by more than 1.5 degrees, even if the temperature is brought back down subsequently, there is a severe risk of breaching “tipping points” which we cannot be reversed, including the release of carbon stored in peatlands, forests and permafrost. 

Vulnerability

Over 40 per cent of people (3.3-3.6 billion people) live in highly climate-vulnerable countries. Almost all of these people live in the Global South. Vulnerability to the crisis is shaped by processes of marginalisation, such as gender, Indigenous identity, health, and poverty, according to the report. Women, the elderly and children in low-income households, Indigenous Peoples and minority groups, small-scale producers and fishing communities are most at risk of impacts such as food insecurity. 

Ecosystems and biodiversity

We are witnessing the first climate-driven extinctions. In biodiversity hotspots, 24 per cent of species will be at very high extinction risk at 1.5 degrees of heating. For endemic species, this could raise to 84 per cent of species at very high risk of extinction in mountain regions, and 100 per cent of species on islands.  

Food and water

Hundreds of millions of people, especially in Africa, Asia, Small Islands, Central and South America, and the Arctic are being impacted by stresses on food systems. 10 per cent of current livestock and crop areas may become unsuitable by 2050, rising to 30 per cent by 2100.  

However, while there is no escaping the seriousness of the report findings, it is far from “game over”. The report concludes that there exist realistic solutions, and that they must be equitable and based on the principles of climate justice.

Friends of the Earth globally, and us here at a local level in Brentwood, have a vision for a future that is safer, more just, and sustainable, and that vision is still within reach.

What’s our response?

“Climate reports are plentiful, and this is yet another report that says the planet is changing even faster than predicted. This means lives are being endangered and lost today, not in a distant future.

“The time for reality checks is long gone: we have the answers and means to step back from the brink of climate catastrophe. It starts with an immediate end to the age of fossil fuels and ramping up the shift to renewable energy with all of the governmental support to see that crucial transition through.” Rachel Kennerley, International Climate Campaigner, Friends of the Earth.

What can I do right now?

Come and join us at Brentwood Climate Action.

We have our next meeting lined up for later this month where all are welcome – and you can join for free as a Member, and get on our mailing list for all future information.

And you might want to take some Action right now – by signing our petition to call on Brentwood Borough Council to declare a Climate Emergency.

2 March 2022
March 24 set for first 2022 meeting
Here’s a date to mark in your diary straight away – to make sure you don’t miss the first monthly Brentwood Climate Action meeting of 2022…. March 24, from 7.30pm.

Join us for our first get together of the new year – being held at Chicken & Frog bookshop in Crown Street, Brentwood… and hybrid online via Zoom (the meeting link will be emailed to members beforehand).

It will give you the chance to catch up on the latest Brentwood Climate Action news, and updates from the Steering Group meetings held to date in 2022.

And to hear what’s been going on in our various Action Groups – as well as get the chance to meet and chat with likeminded people concerned about the climate emergency and environment in Brentwood, and join in with our future Action plans!

If you are not on our emailing list then please do sign up as a Member today to make sure you receive details of this and all our other important updates!

And if you are active on Facebook you might want to show your interest in attending on our Page on there too – and sharing the details with your own networks.

We’ll be finalising the agenda over the coming weeks, but items likely to feature include:
- Our plans for a second Brentwood Schools Conference this spring
- How best Brentwood Climate Action can take part in the Great British Spring Clean organised by Keep Britain Tidy through March and April
- Engaging with Brentwood Borough Council on their climate action plan drafting, and their newly published Environment Strategy 2022-25, which is due to go out for public consultation
28 February 2022
Top ten Brentwood Climate Action achievements of 2021
As we head into what we hope will be a landmark year for Climate Action in Brentwood, let’s take a minute to look back on the major achievements of Brentwood Climate Action since our group was formed in late summer of 2021.

In no particular order, here’s our Top Ten of Actions taken so far:
1. We held our first Schools Conference at Anglo European School in Ingatestone in November, as part of our Action around the COP26 climate conference in Glasgow – with more than 50 sixth formers from four schools across the Borough attending and taking part in educational activities related to COP26 and the Climate Emergency generally.
1. We had a successful presence on both Brentwood and Ingatestone high streets to mark the COP26 Global Day of Action. Brentwood Climate Action members spent the day talking to members of the public to raise awareness of COP26 and the Climate Emergency, and promote the ongoing work of our group and how it can make a difference locally.
1. We’ve been making contact with Brentwood Borough Council officials and administration Councillors – who have indicated a willingness to engage with us around climate and environmental issues on an ongoing basis – and also asked questions at Brentwood Borough Council meetings; as part of our lobbying process moving forward in 2022.
1. We held our kickstart meeting back in the summer, as more than 40 people took part in the first meeting held at Chicken and Frog bookshop in Crown Street, and online via Zoom, on Thursday August 12. The meeting elected a Steering Group, agreed a constitution, as well as a vision and aims for Brentwood Climate Action.
1. The number of activists / members of Brentwood Climate Action has climbed well over 100 in just four months. You can sign up here.
1. Despite the ongoing issues with the Covid pandemic, we’ve managed to hold four monthly members meetings, at a variety of venues across the Borough and hybrid online via Zoom. The guest speaker at our November meeting was Ottilie West, the new Climate and Sustainability Officer at Brentwood Borough Council.
1. As part of the ongoing administration carried out by your volunteer Steering Group, we’ve set up a bank account and started to look at potential funding sources to enable us to operate effectively in 2022 and beyond.
1. We set up this website and social media channels on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram from scratch – which have seen us gather hundreds of followers in quick time. And we’ve also set up a Membership database and been sending out regular emailings to our signed up activists.
1. We launched a Petition calling on Brentwood Council to declare a Climate Emergency, and publish an ambitious Climate Action Plan – which has had more than 100 signatures online, and more than double that offline at our COP26 Global Day of Action stalls.
1. We conducted a members skills audit, which allowed us to set up seven diverse Action Groups – such as Lobbying, Environmental, Funding, Wellbeing, and Education – which we hope will provide the focus for a lot of what will do during this year.
5 January 2022
Council pledges Sustainability Strategy publication in 2022

Brentwood Climate Action was pleased to hear recent pledges from Brentwood Borough Council Leader, Cllr Chris Hossack, that the planned Sustainability Strategy will be published in 2022 and include carbon reduction targets and objectives for the authority.

Cllr Hossack was responding to questions from BCA chair Susan Kortlandt at last week’s Ordinary Meeting of the Council, where she asked:

1. What is the total carbon footprint of Brentwood Council from all its current operations, including housing, offices and works?

2. I note that the Council is preparing an Environmental Strategy aimed at taking the ‘Council and the Borough’ towards Zero Carbon 2040. How will you ensure that progress is being made? Will there be intermediate targets, scrutiny and control measures? By when do you intend the Council’s own operations to be carbon neutral?

In reply to the first question, Cllr Hossack said: “It’s not an insignificant task to baseline the carbon footprint of all of our operations – probably as an organisation, as an employer in Brentwood, the largest task of any organisation in Brentwood actually.

“Our newly appointed Climate and Sustainability Officer is undertaking this baselining exercise. We’re bringing together the information on the carbon footprint, and it will form part of the baseline that our performance will be measured against moving forward.”

Liberal Democrat opposition Leader, Cllr Barry Aspinell, added: “I welcome the question and I hope whatever detail we get back includes our Council housing, which is considerable, and every other detail; and I look forward to it when it comes to us.”

And Labour Leader, Cllr Gareth Barrett, pointed to previous work done by other local authorities: “I think Cllr Hossack is right, it is a big piece of work, but there are several London Boroughs and Councils in the east of England that have already done this equation, with summaries we’ll be able to work from. There is a carbon workbook for local authorities that again we can work from.

“It’s also not necessarily our emissions day to day, but how much carbon when we’re building new things – the laying of concrete is one of the most carbon intensive things you can do. As a Council we have to think how we can net off or produce alternatives to reduce those emissions as we develop.”

Cllr Hossack confirmed that Brentwood residents could look forward to the Sustainability Strategy in 2022 in his answer to the second question, explaining: “The strategy that’s being created will be published next year and will identify where we want to be as an authority, and by when. The strategy will lead to clear targets and objectives identifying appropriate areas of work the Council should concentrate on that will create most reward in this sector.

“In doing so, measures will be put into place with the mechanism to record and publish achievements against the targets. The Strategy will also seek to identify when the Council will become carbon neutral and the measures and steps the Council will need to take to achieve that objective.

“The Council has set an overall aim to be carbon neutral by 2040. Once a baseline has been established a more specific target can be set.”

Cllr Aspinell pointed to the need to consider ongoing housing development, saying: “We should also be looking at our Local Development Plan and, where it is possible, adding in to that that no building should be built unless they are carbon neutral on any of the sites that this Council has identified for building.”

Cllr Barrett suggested that any such climate action plan would require highly visible monitoring: “Scrutiny-wise, this needs to become a key scheme of work for the Audit and Scrutiny Committee. If progress is to be made it needs to be made sure that it isn’t a greenwashing exercise.

“In terms of intermediate targets, when we look at other large-scale organisations when they start their carbon programme, we have a net zero target the Council has set of 2040 – I still think it can be more ambitious and a 2030 target is more than viable – but to the same extent what most large organisations find is that the first 50 per cent is the low hanging fruit that can be achieved rather rapidly. The first five-year ambition is the important one; and then it gets progressively harder unfortunately, but if we set a big ambition to hit early on then I think that’s a viable and sensible plan to have.

“And that level of ambition also sets a mark in the sand that we can be marked against rather than a long-term 2040 target which we’re reliant on new technologies to appear. Actually what we can do now can probably get us half way – let’s set that ambition, and let’s make it.”

Brentwood Climate Action members will be bringing forward suggestions for inclusion in the Council’s climate action plan, and actively engaging in all available avenues for consultation – as well as continuing to press for the Council to recognise the seriousness of the situation and declare a climate emergency.

You can watch the full recording of the Council meeting – with this relevant Q&A section starting from 30:00.

14 December 2021
Questions asked of Brentwood Council

Brentwood Climate Action chair, Susan Kortlandt, is asking two questions of Brentwood Borough Council at their full Council Meeting tomorrow evening

1. What is the total carbon footprint of Brentwood Council from all its current operations, including housing, offices and works?

2. I note that the Council is preparing an Environmental Strategy aimed at taking the “Council and the Borough” towards Zero Carbon 2040”. How will you ensure that progress is being made? Will there be intermediate targets, scrutiny and control measures? By when do you intend the Council’s own operations to be carbon neutral?

You can see the questions on the Council’s website at:

https://brentwood.moderngov.co.uk/documents/s21511/Public%20Questions%20report%20-%208.12.2021.pdf

And you can see the full Agenda for the meeting, and also follow the Live Broadcast, at:

https://brentwood.moderngov.co.uk/ieListDocuments.aspx?CId=128&MID=2249#AI9189

We’ll update with how the Council responded after the meeting.

7 December 2021
Council’s Ottilie West presents to November meeting
The guest speaker at our November monthly members meeting was Ottilie West, the new Climate and Sustainability Officer at Brentwood Borough Council.

Ottilie joined the hybrid meeting like others via Zoom, while there was also a packed meeting room for those attending the November 23 session in-person at Chicken and Frog bookshop in Brentwood.

Ottilie’s presentation (which you can download below) covered her priorities in her role at the Council – the main one of which is “Creating a Strategy to reduce the carbon footprint and improve the overall sustainability of Brentwood Borough”.

She outlined further detail on ‘The Sustainability Strategy’, which she explained is being created to “identify the actions required to meet the Council’s aim of becoming carbon neutral by 2040”.

She also covered BEBA, the new Brentwood Environmental Business Alliance, and ways in which Brentwood Climate Action might be able to work with the Council moving forward.

Download Ottilie’s presentation as either a PowerPoint or a PDF file below:
- Ottilie West presentation as PowerPoint
- Ottilie West presentation as PDF
The meeting – to which we also welcomed Council Leader, Cllr Chris Hossack, at the start via Zoom – also heard updates from all our seven Action groups. These included reports on the recent COP26 Global Day of Action activity in Brentwood and Ingatestone high streets which gathered hundreds of signatures for our petition, and the Schools Conference held at the Anglo European School.

There will be no monthly meeting at the end of December as we take a break during the Christmas period. The aim is to return on a monthly basis back at Chicken & Frog Bookshop (and also still by Zoom) from the latter half of January. A poll for meeting dates and times will be distributed to the membership to help us finalise a first date.
25 November 2021