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Residents unite for slice of the good life
When climate change hits and oil reserves run dry, it will be business as usual in a quiet corner of North Yorkshire. Sarah Freeman reports.
There's a quiet revolution going on in Kirkbymoorside.
While the cobbled market place has remained unchanged for hundreds of years, inside the rows of quaint cottages a plan is brewing to protect the town from dwindling oil reserves and the effects of climate change.
The signs are not initially obvious, but those in the know point to the vegetable patches which have sprung up where flowers once grew and the recipes for locally caught rabbit which are circulating throughout the town.
On quiet evenings, as dedicated residents meet to discuss their next move, it's just about possible to hear the wheels beginning to turn on the project which will make Kirkbymoorside if not yet self-sufficient, then certainly less reliant on the rest of the outside world.
"I know some people think we are nothing more than well-meaning tree huggers," says Paul Brewster, who five years ago left York and his job in IT to run the town's Summit Bookshop.
"For the past few years a group of us have been looking at the practical changes we could make which would help us generate our own energy, reduce the use of cars and exploit more of our local resources.
"None of us know what will happen in the future, but this is our way of preparing for whatever it may hold."
The doubters may take some convincing that Kirkbymoorside could become a safe haven from the twin threats of an energy crisis and global warming. However, having just been awarded transition town status, what started out as a few friends getting together to talk optimistically about cycle paths and natural flood defences has been given fresh impetus.
"Often it's simple ideas which can make a big difference," says Gaile Stevens, who is experimenting with a system of growing beans, pumpkin and corn on the cob used by the Aztecs Indians.
"One of the residents began talking about the time when people carried all their shopping in wicker baskets.
"It's a difficult job persuading men to step out of the front door with a wicker basket on their arm, but they are trying. We've produced our own reusable bags which have sold incredibly well and now you hardly ever see plastic bags in the town."
Kirkbymoorside does have certain natural advantages. Nestled between Helmsley and Pickering it attracts a steady stream of tourists and unlike other rural towns its post office is still open and its banks and pubs sit alongside a number of independent shops.
"We know we are fortunate, but no one should be complacent," adds Gaile, an expert in permaculture who moved to the town to be closer to her mother.
"It's about taking charge of what is happening and at the moment it's about building on the existing community, it's about making subtle changes from which everything else will flow.
"There's definitely more people planting vegetable seeds and we are now looking for a piece of land to open a community garden. There are some people who say: 'If you grow vegetables in a public place they will just get stolen,' but that's the whole point. It's not about stealing, this will be food which is there to be taken. It will also give us an opportunity to run workshops on how to grow your own and what produce works best in this kind of environment."
Totnes in Devon was the first to pioneer the transition town philosophy and where it has led others have followed.
The key to success has been a little expertise, lots of enthusiasm and as the Kirkbymoorside group have discovered a determination never to take no for an answer.
"There are a lot of hoops to jump through," says Paul, who runs a caf alongside the bookshop.
"We've got a large south-facing roof and have been looking into installing solar panels. A guy came and told us that we didn't use enough energy to warrant the technology.
"That seems to me to be a bit defeatist. Why can't one of the other local businesses use whatever power is left over? There is definitely a lack of joined up thinking, but if we want to get things done we know we have to keep the pressure on."
The group's biggest challenge is to build transport links. Rural areas are notoriously badly served by public transport and Kirkbymoorside desperately needs improvements.
"One of the main things we would like to do is to build a cycle path from the centre of town to the school," says Paul.
"There is also a real need for improvements to the bus and rail network. It's not possible to get to say York particularly easily on public transport which cuts down on the amount of job opportunities which are available to people who live here.
"One thing which would make a massive difference is a rail link between Pickering and Malton. It would cost in the region of 10m, which sounds a lot, but when you consider the amount that is being spent widening roads and putting in new junctions it's a drop in the ocean which would make a big difference to a lot of people's lives."
Collectively the challenges Kirkbymoorside faces to achieve its dream of sustainability can seem insurmountable.
However, if there is one idea which proves the transition town is not just a talking shop it's the rabbit project.
In recent years the farms on the nearby hilltops have become overrun with rabbits, so much so many have had to change their planting cycle.
"They eat everything in sight, it's an absolute nightmare," says Gaile. "It's not that many years ago that rabbit was a stable part of the diet, but it fell out of fashion. Now a lot of people wince at the idea of eating fluffy bunny rabbits, which is just silly.
"We have a natural, nutritional resource and it's about time we started making us of it.
"Now the farmers are setting humane traps and by supplying the butchers and making recipes available so people in the town know the best way to cook it, we are turning a problem into an advantage."
Ultimately Kirkbymoorside's transition town plans are about building strong foundations for the future and retaining the kind of community spirit which has seen it flourish through the years.
"Times are tough for everyone at the moment, but one upside to the recession is that work has halted on a major housing development on the outskirts of town," says June Emerson.
"The plan had been to build 200 houses alongside a development for the elderly.
"There was a lot of opposition, mainly because they would have had to cross the busy A170 and then walk up a steep hill to get into town. We're are not in the business of ghettoising our elderly residents and in fact a lot of work which has gone on under the transition town banner has been about bringing the town's different generations together.
"We had a tea party at the school where our older residents told the pupils what life was like when they were growing up. It's all about establishing a sense of continuity.
"If climate change doesn't bring disaster, if oil reserves don't run out, then we will still have done something good for the town."
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Saturday 26 May 2012
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