CASP Eco Fair at Shipbourne Village Hall

On Saturday 25 April, Climate Action Shipbourne and Plaxtol (CASP) held an Eco Fair in the grounds of Shipbourne Village Hall. The event was co-hosted by Kent County Council's Energy and Adaptation Team as a Green Homes event. There were 18 stalls ranging from solar panel and heat pump installers to badger and swift groups, with local products such as pastries and cheese as well as refreshments for all. There were also a children's area, a repair café and visits to local homes with solar panels and heat pumps on display. The sun shone and the Fair was deemed a great success: over 140 people, including stall holders, took part. 

The Chair of CASP, Peter Moore, said "It was a wonderful day and it was great to see so many people from our two villages enjoying our Eco Fair. The war in the Middle East has highlighted the danger of relying on fossil fuels for heating and transport and people want to know more about the alternatives."

At the centre of the Eco Fair was a presentation of the results of CASP's Home Energy Project, enabled by a £40,000 grant from the government's Greater South East Net Zero Hub.

This Home Energy Project tackles one of the area’s biggest environmental and cost challenges: home heating. Nearly 50% of all energy consumed in the local villages of Shipbourne and Plaxtol goes towards heating homes - a figure significantly influenced by the continued use of oil boilers and a predominance of older, harder-to-insulate housing stock.

The CASP Home Energy Project worked with experts to investigate how low-carbon technologies can be more affordable and easily adoptable by households across different property types in the community.

What are the Project’s aims? 

To improve energy systems in the homes of Shipbourne and Plaxtol by: 

• Identifying barriers to installation of heat pumps, solar panels, batteries and insulation 

• Providing information on choices, systems and installers 

• Exploring how else CASP can support homeowners 

The benefits are environmental, economic and social: 

• Less pollution from oil boilers, lower carbon emissions 

• Lower annual running costs 

• Collaboration across our communities for shared goals

What have we done? 

The Project has been delivered by three consultants: Communities for Renewables, the Centre for Energy Equality and Community Energy Pathways. Their work included: 

• Understanding the local housing stock 

• Assessing six archetypes, houses typical of the area 

• Two homeowners who underwent retrofit assessments are proceeding with the recommendations  

• Making energy system recommendations for the archetypes as illustrative case studies 

• Advice on how to go about developing plans for any home in the area 

• Information on costs, sources of funds, advisors and local installers 

Two homeowners who underwent retrofit assessments are proceeding with the recommendations

What next? 

CASP plans to use the results of the Project to help everyone in our villages to improve their home energy systems. Trusted advice and installers are key to this and we hope that the success of the Eco Fair will encourage more people to plan improvements.

Contact: info@casphub.org

Contact CASP