The Coddenham Centre and the Environment
Playing our part in Regional & National Targets
THE CODDENHAM CENTRE
CLICK HERE FOR CONTACT OR ENQUIRYThe Coddenham Centre is committed to playing its part in contributing to national and regional targets to achieve net zero carbon emissions.
The Journey So Far
We are a small business with charitable status, established in 2019 with an annual turnover this year approaching £100K. Created to manage and deliver sustainable community support through a multi-activity community building and its grounds, in the Suffolk village of Coddenham.
In just four years, despite the emergence of the COVID pandemic within six months of formation and significant legacy maintenance challenges, we have created a sustainable award-winning enterprise, reducing its carbon footprint by 91% (Suffolk County Council audit 2024), since a 2020 baseline. This year we will have reduced an annual operational dependency on the local precept/rates support from of £14,000 pa to zero. We have also attracted £140,000 of environmentally related asset improvement through fund raising. We currently host some 18 activities and regular community events, while leading on a range of environmental initiatives in pursuit of a role as community exemplar.
Looking Back
Since 2021 we have adopted and developed our Carbon Charter with Suffolk County Council’s help and secured the gold standard accreditation, with a refreshed twenty-point Environmental Statement & Action Plan.
We have turned the failure of our fossil fuel system into a positive, by raising funds with the help of Viridor Landfill Credits and Mid Suffolk District Council, commissioning three air source heat-pumps and improved insulation, which in 2023, provided heating for over 2000 customers.
This was augmented last year working with the Valencia Communities Fund, the National Lottery and Mid Suffolk District Council, by the successful introduction of eighty solar panels accompanied by battery storage, generating approximately 25,000 KWh per annum.
In the same year we saw an 18% increase in use of our four vehicle re-charging points, as part of the SCC/Suffolk Plug In network.
We continued to care for and add to a mixture of over 400 new hedging and trees with community participation, following damage from the 2022 drought.
We supported a green-space management plan with the Coddenham Parish Council, village charities and Suffolk Wildlife Trust. December 2023 saw the collaboration on a new signposted nature trail.
Our ‘Wildflower Workout Areas’ at the Centre, to encourage naturalisation and to be ‘bee friendly’, expanded in 2023 producing their first wild orchids.
We worked with new start-up kitchen artisans to introduce beehives to the community, ‘Coddenham Honey’ became available in 2023 and production continued of a locally produced range of foods, ‘Cooked in Coddenham’ extending from child meals to granola, all ensuring low food miles.
The latest carbon audit by Groundwork East on behalf of Suffolk County Council in April 2024 calculated our annual carbon footprint as 5.5t of CO2, a 41% reduction in 2023 on 2022. It represents a 91.3% reduction after adjustment, from our 2020 baseline. We have surpassed the County target of ‘25(%) x (20)25’.
With match funding from Suffolk Public Sector Leaders and private donations, we replaced all internal lighting with LED bulbs and proximity switches.
Not all our efforts are ‘big ticket’, for example we freeze surplus crusts courtesy of the Community Shop sandwich maker to make soup croutons for our weekly Mid Suffolk District Council supported ‘Living Well in Winter’ lunches. We recycle all our printer cartridges and our kitchens work on minimum food waste.
We have now replaced 75% of our cleaning materials with eco-friendly products.
We promoted a “We are Right Behind Being Kind to the Planet’ campaign by adopting low carbon toilet paper!
We encouraged customers to ‘Consider your Carbon’ when travelling to us, through car sharing, walking or cycling.
We have installed cycle racks for safe and convenient ‘parking’.
We have expanded recycling collection facilities on site, collecting over 25 tons of glass and textiles in 2023.
Our Christmas Tree collection point accepted thirty-eight trees for recycling.
Every month we continued to host regular refill services for bulk domestic and food supplies. ’Choose Refills’ recently identified the Coddenham Centre as one of their busiest stops around the County.
We worked with the Parish Council & SCC to introduce infra-red cameras to study home heat loss in the community. We are currently working with community partners to establish further surveys and ‘local Energy Champions’.
We co-host regular community litter picks, gardening and countryside working groups. We invited the the community to ‘Be In It to Bin It’.
In 2024 we started work with Central Suffolk Community Energy in helping community and neighbouring villages to introduce community energy generation and conservation initiatives.
Involving our Community, Customers and Stakeholders
In 2023 we wrote to all our suppliers and activities, outlining our environmental commitment, encouraging and requesting details of their commitment to help creating the ‘Greenest County’. We have worked with (chairing from December 2023 – June 2024) the Coddenham Community Response Group (CCRG), a community collaboration of all voluntary, charitable, statutory and faith organisations to deliver a community plan which includes a clear Environmental and Energy Conservation workstream. Leading by example, we have this last year successfully encouraged six of the seven organisations to conduct carbon audits and adopt plans for reduction. Our local church achieved a COE recognition for this work.
Our chair manages the community website, which includes all environmental initiates and including a ’Coddenham Cares’ page. www.coddenham-parish.uk can search on a dedicated category, ‘Environment’.
We regularly celebrate the regional #CharterTuesday with updates and anecdotes. We cheer carbon reduction on across Suffolk, ensuring any events are supported whenever we can.
Through the ‘Coddenham Cascade’ we email shoot environmental initiative updates to a volunteer community mailing list of approximately 140 households, plus social media.
We work with our Parish Council on environmental initiatives, engagement and communication. In 2023 this included voluntary care and husbandry of publicly owned green space, through a Community Plan.
We host the Suffolk School of Nordic Walking to encourage regular outdoor exercise and appreciation of the Suffolk countryside.
In November 2023 our Chair joined a board of a new local Community Interest Company to develop community energy initiatives along with representatives from local villages.
The Coddenham Centre seeks to help put ‘The Unity into the Community’ with a programme of engagement & communication across all initiatives, including those for the environment. Our Trustees, part-time employees and volunteers without exception, are committed to Creating the Greenest County.actively engage in all our work, including that for the environment.
What Next?
- In 2024 we successfully secured accreditation for the Carbon Charter gold award.
- We will continue to develop the twenty one points of our 2023 Action Plan, with the objective of both achieving both ’25 x 25’ and 2030 net zero carbon targets.
- Through the aforementioned CCRG, we will encourage members to seek Carbon Charter accreditation. We have proposed and will continue to seek a more accessible tier for voluntary and charitable bodies.
- We will work with SCC on the new options for managing and developing Plug In Suffolk, including discounted charging rates for local residents.
- We will be part of the leadership of at least one community energy hub project with local collaborators.
- We plan to start work on the feasibility of water recycling at the Coddenham Centre. An environmental and cost benefit analysis will be completed by year end.
- We are currently obtaining calculations to establish an uninterruptable power supply through the expanded use of our solar power storage.
- We will continue to engage with our community, promote environmental education and carbon reduction opportunities. We have co-promoted a Reduce, Recycle & Reuse events at the Centre https://www.coddenham-parish.uk/reduce-reuse-recycle/
- In the summer, we will sensitively clear our bordering stream to reduce the risk of flooding, as the result of extreme weather events.
- We are proud to be co-hosting the Carbon Charter Summer event in 2024.
https://carboncharter.org/events/save-the-date-a-new-venue-for-the-charter-summer-event/
Our Awards;
Gold Carbon Charter.
Our environmental progress is referenced in the citation for Suffolk Community Awards, Community Centre of the Year 2022.
Most Active Village 2023
Some Previous Posts & Events
Click here for an interview from our friends (clearly) at Neutral Territory
We Are Right Behind Being Kinder to the Planet @the Coddenham Centre
Another Step Towards Net Zero Carbon for the Coddenham Centre
Choose Refills and the Coffee Station at the Coddenham Centre This Sunday!
Thankyou Volunteers – Return of Coddenham’s Environmental Work Parties
The Suffolk Charter forms a framework for our existing and future development and includes the following commitment.
The Coddenham Centre’s registered Charter commits to working in the interests of improving the conditions of life for the said inhabitants of Coddenham and surrounds and to endeavour to protect that purpose. We seek to extend that role in considering the environment in everything that we do and to play a part on behalf of Trustees, stakeholders and the community, in achieving local, national and global targets for zero carbon emissions.
We support Suffolk’s ’25 x 25′ initiative and the commitment to Zero Carbon by 2030.
The current Statement and Action Plan is here along with our latest Carbon audit.
Both will be updated periodically.
