Recognition for Great 'Green' Projects

Copyright NNDC

North Norfolk Environment Awards for protecting our District

Schools, businesses, community groups and environmentally-friendly buildings are rewarded this week for their contribution to sustainability in North Norfolk.

North Norfolk District Council will be presenting its annual Environment Awards to the projects that have done most in the last year to preserve and enhance the District's precious environment, at a ceremony at Pensthorpe wildfowl reserve near Fakenham on Thursday, 14 July, at 2.30pm. The media are welcome to attend this presentation.

The entrants are as follows:

SCHOOLS (category supported by the North Norfolk News and Dereham and Fakenham Times):

• Bacton First School - Environmental education area in a corner of the playing field created by parents, teachers and pupils. A pond has been created with boggy area for frogs, toads and newts, planting has been undertaken to encourage butterflies, and a wood pile placed to attract 'mini-beasts'. A path around the area has information/activity boards.
• Colby School - Year-round environmental work including a travel plan to improve safety, with a new path from parking area to school. Car sharing is encouraged, but all are urged to walk, cycle or take the bus to school.
• Sheringham Woodfields School - New community organic garden designed by pupils, with raised beds, composters and greenhouse, and for use by all schools on the campus. Pupils will run the garden themselves to help learn about the environment, and to promote a healthy lifestyle.
• Sidestrand Hall School - Ongoing sustainability education project including food production, cultivating plants in a reclaimed greenhouse, wildlife garden and pond, willow creations and woodland bird hide. Emphasis on developing the school grounds for students and the wider community.
• St Nicholas House School, North Walsham - Clearing a large overgrown area for a flower and vegetable garden so classes can grow plants and to encourage 'mini-beasts' to thrive. Kitchen waste composting.
• Sutton First School - 'A Wonderful Environment' (AWE) project including the development of a pond/wildlife area, wildflower meadow and sensory garden, waste reduction, composting, and encouraging walking to school.
  

COMMUNITY (category supported by North Norfolk Radio):

• Franklin Hill, Sheringham in Bloom - The Sheringham in Bloom team developed a management plan to open up access to this NNDC-owned area, which had been overgrown for many years but now gives panoramic views. The plan also seeks to preserve wildlife and improve biodiversity.
• Norfolk and Suffolk Boat Builders' Association, 'Boats for a Sustainable Future' - A project to increase awareness of sustainability on the Broads. Research has so far focused on the design, construction, operation and decommissioning of boats in ways that have the lowest possible environmental impact. The project aims to produce the 'ideal' sustainable hire boat.
• Wiveton Parish Council Environmental/Safety Path - A safe and attractive footpath has been created (with a limited budget and keeping environmental impact to a minimum) over private land to overcome the danger to pedestrians using the coast road.

SMALL BUSINESS:

• Grange Farm, Beeston St Lawrence - Begun by Jim Barker as a college tree management project, this has seen a copse turn productive over the years, with hazel splines for thatch and hedging and chestnut poles for various jobs. Bracken is controlled and hedging coppiced around the area, which includes a wildflower area and flourishing pond.
• Norfolk Apple Orchard, Salthouse - A fledgling organic orchard planted to comprise a complete collection of known surviving Norfolk apples and pears, to save them from extinction and grow produce for sale. Biodiversity is encouraged, with plans for water run-off collection and a wildlife area.
• Wells Harbour Project, Phase I - A project to increase harbour use and contribute to the town's future prosperity with improved amenities while preserving the natural environment. The old lifeboat house has been renovated to become the harbour office, with facilities for vessels and crew, and a new sewage pump to improve water quality.

LARGE BUSINESS:

• Heinz Frozen and Chilled Foods, Westwick - This plant has installed a polishing unit in its water treatment system to improve the quality of discharged water, and a filter press in the potato wash area. It has reduced the amount of waste it sends to landfill by 61% this year.
• JF Temple & Son Ltd - This diversifying family farm, which is now producing its own cheeses, has introduced energy-saving crop storage systems, a wood-burner linked to the milking parlour, and a straw-burner to provide heat for drying grain and hot water for the cheese rooms.

GREEN BUILD (category supported by Radio Norfolk Action Desk):

• Fox Cottage, Brick Kiln Road, Thursford - A four-bed, timber-framed, brick-clad home built to replace one of a pair of Airey houses. It has a high level of insulation and maximise solar gain with the placement of windows. It also incorporates a condensing boiler which heats rooms in five zones, which can each be shut off when rooms are not in use.
• Sheringham Park Visitor Facility Improvements - Facilities for visitors at this National Trust park had expanded piecemeal over the years, and the Trust took the opportunity to refurbish and adapt under-used buildings to help cope with visitor numbers. These buildings have been transformed in environmentally-friendly ways to become a new visitor area, with exhibition and education space as well as reception, café, offices and toilets. The old car park will be returned to woodland.

ENDS