If you are interested in saying what you think, do the survey

Other ways of having your say ……

• ALL NP MEMBERS/public meeting- Wednesday 20th February, 6.30- 8.30 City Hall – meeting of NP members from Central Bristol.
• ALL NP MEMBERS – Wednesday  27th  February, 6.30-8.00pm – Pre NP discussion.  Venue to be confirmed.  The meeting on the 12th will need to make recommendations. This meeting is to start the discussion so that the NP can make decisions on the 12th.
• ASHLEY Forum/NP members and public  – Thursday  28th February, 6.30-8pm – St Pauls Learning Centre
• Easton and Lawrence Hill Forum/NP Members and public – Wednesday 6th March, 6.30- 8.30pm, Easton Community Centre – Easton and Lawrence Hill Forum
• ALL NP MEMBERS – Tuesday 12th March, 6.30-8.30pm, Unitarian Hall (already scheduled)

Thank you for your support.
Regards
Tracy EB

Bristol’s ‘Centre for Sustainable Energy’ (CSE) is managing the scheme which will give grants to householders who need to make improvements to their central heating – this can be a boiler upgrade, thermostat installation, even radiator temperature controllers – and all the money needs to be spent by 31 March 2013. Transition Montpelier are supporting the scheme and can help you get on it.

There are ‘full cost’ (ie free) grants, and where a grant does not cover the full cost, there will also be a ‘pay-as-you-save’ finance option. This means you could have a warmer home without worrying about the cost.

You need to:

1. Email admin@transitionmontpelier.org.uk to get a ‘community referral form’ to apply for the scheme
2. Read the CSE booklet about the scheme
3. Fill out the scheme application referral form Transition Montpelier send you (we can help with this)
4. CSE will work through the next steps with you to get an assessment of your house and to work out your potential grant funding
5. Get the work done in your house by 31 March(using a registered installer chosen by you)

Here’s some more detailed information:

The Bristol Home Energy Upgrade scheme is a £2.8 million grant won by the City Council to help residents across Bristol cut their energy bills. The project focuses on heating system upgrades and solid wall insulation (although this option is not currently available – see below) and is testing aspects of the Government’s Green Deal. The project is being managed for the City Council by the Centre for Sustainable Energy.

Bristol Home Energy Upgrade is available to homeowners, including landlords, within the Bristol City Council area. The scheme will deliver energy efficiency measures to up to 600 households across the city.

Transition Montpelier is one of ten community groups across the city helping to promote the scheme to its local community and will be paid referral fees to spend on other local community projects if residents take up the measures via the referral form.

For more information the CSE booklet tells you what to do next and you can get the referral application form by emailing Transition Montpelier.

**Please note that currently the Bristol Home Energy Upgrade project has ceased taking new applications for solid wall insulation because there has been a huge demand for this work and there are only a limited number of installers accredited to carry it out. If new customers are interested in this measure, CSE will be taking their details and logging their interest for future opportunities. At the moment the scheme can only accommodate boiler upgrades and heating controls.

For more info contact winterfayre@gmail.com

Beanfeast is a community fun day for all the family, run by local residents. A bit like a village fete, but Montpelier-stylee.  Highlights include beanie games, market stalls, crafts, music and a Produce Swap stall for all that surplus fruit and veg hanging around.

If you fancy lending a hand by decorating the park, stewarding or baking a cake to sell, Beanfeast would love to hear from you on montpelierbeanfeast@yahoo.co.uk.  After the amazing show of local baking skills at the last Beanfeast, they may also need some wheelbarrows to roll people home in. Mmmm.

See you there!

Montpelier Bean Feast 2012 is planned for Sat 8^th Sept 2-7pm.

This year the community festival will focus on participatory fun, including Bean-themed games, home-grown produce swap, craft activities, laid back music, mock elections, local artist stalls and plenty of delicious food and drink.  The event will take place in Montpelier Park on St Andrews Road.

CAN YOU HELP?  We are in great need of volunteers both to help prepare for the event and get involved on the day.  If you have ANY time or resources to offer please get in touch!

Some of the people we need:

• Games leaders
• Stall holders
• Craft workshop leaders
• Performers
• Decoration makers
• Election recruiters
• Tea and Cake Sellers
• Stewards and litter pickers

We’d also be really grateful if you could alert anyone you know who might be interested.

For enquiries please email montpelierbeanfeast@yahoo.co.uk

or contact: Sally Jenkins, Event Coordinator 07866 748193

Roots Architecture Workshop challenge is at WOMAD FESTIVAL 2012: 26th –29th July 2012 at Charlton Park, Malmesbury, Wilts SN16 9DG.

Fancy 4 days of a unique lo-tech building challenge?  You get to be part of a team and meet with some dynamic people in the world of emergency shelters and humanitarian architecture whilst making one of the biggest and funkiest stages you have ever seen!  Delicious lunches included and unique experience very likely.  Tangentfield bring together experts from Humanitarian shelter, green building, pedal powered tools and Superbolt Theatre Company for a magical weekend experience at WOMAD festival.

For participant tickets: www.womad.co.uk/raw (ticket includes festival access, 3 lunches, camping + RAW#3 workshop) and more info www.tangentfield.co.uk.

If you are an owner or a landlord of a home in Montpelier, and you’re potentially interested in coming together with your neighbours to get a better deal on work like solid wall insulation or improved heating controls, please fill out this short survey to help us guage the level of interest in different deals we could negotiate:

http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/YTCRSFY

The more people that are interested, the better the potential deals, so please let your neighbours know!

The options include (estimate costs are before possible group deals):

• Condensing boiler: cost £2-3000, saving £100-300 per year on energy bills
• Heating controls (thermostats and thermostatic radiator valves): cost £250-700, saving £50-100 per year
• Solid wall insulation*: cost £7-15,000, saving average of £400-500 per year
• Solar PV: cost around £10,000 (3kWp), annual savings/income around £670
• Biomass boiler**: cost £4300-£11500, projected annual savings/income of £500-1000
• Wood-burning stove (DEFRA smokeless-zone compliant): cost £1000-3000
• Seasoned logs: local cost of £45-105 per cubic metre

*Solid wall insulation are likely to qualify for both a Green Deal loan and an Energy Company Obligation grant of up to £4000 from Autumn 2012.  **Biomass boilers are likely to qualify for Renewable Heat Incentive (RHI) payments, similar to the Feed In Tariff payments for solar PV.  This is due to be announced in Summer 2013.

Feel free to suggest other bulk buy ideas in the space on the survey, and email energy@transitionmontpelier.org.uk with any questions.

“Following a number of recent robberies in the Stokes Croft and
Montpelier areas and in response to requests from Montpelier residents
to address some ongoing issues in the neighbourhood, a meeting has been
scheduled for Wednesday 23rd May 2012 between 6.30pm and 8.30pm at the
Salvation Army on Ashley Road.

This meeting will be about anti-social behaviour, waste, street
cleansing, dog mess, substance abuse and crime problems that are
impacting in Montpelier. The recent robberies will be the focus of this
meeting, but within the context of these other issues.

Also, some residents are in the process of putting together a Montpelier
Residents’ Association to feed these and other issues into the Ashley
Neighbourhood Forum. The meeting will provide an opportunity to explore
this idea, get involved and support the development of this group.

If these issues are important to you, please come along and have your say.

Please also share this with anyone who lives in or around Montpelier.

Kind Regards,

Richard Orna
Ashley Neighbourhood Forum Support”

The Park Group have also just installed a green roof on their new community toolshed (where the telephone box used to be).  They have a variety of tools available for borrowing, including spades, forks, shears, long-handled secateurs, rakes, a mattock, a bowsaw and a water carrier.  They also have a boules set, a 3x3m gazebo, a table tennis set and a first aid kit.

If you would like to borrow any of these items, please get in touch with Alan Russell on 0117 942 0977 or 0797 493 7204, or knock on his door at 1A St Andrew’s Road.