What is this survey based on?
Last October, a group of residents of the parish of South Wonston took part in a unique workshop, hosted by South Wonston Sustainability. The aim was to open a discussion on the types of community-scale renewable energy that would be technically feasible for our village and to consider which, if any, would be acceptable to residents. For example, this could mean a small solar farm or wind turbine, designed to match the energy needs of our own parish.
You can read a wider summary of the workshop here.
Currently any energy produced locally has to be fed into the national electricity grid, meaning residents don't benefit from the lower costs or greater energy security of their own renewable energy schemes. However, a campaign to change this (see https://powerforpeople.org.uk/the-local-electricity-bill) by introducing a Local Electricity Bill has cross-party support from over 325 MP's. If it passes into law, it would enable these small, local schemes to sell the energy they produce directly to those in their own area. Even as things stand, these schemes do effectively reduce the carbon footprint of their own areas (by feeding enough renewable energy into the grid to match the fossil fuel energy that they use).
The October workshop, hosted by South Wonston Sustainability, was not in connection with any particular planning proposal; it was a hypothetical and exploratory session. The outputs from it are initial suggestions, not concrete plans. If these, or indeed, any other suggestions were to be taken forward, they would be subject to further public consultation, landowner(s) permissions and, last but not least, more residents volunteering to help. If you would like to be a part of any such project, please email swsenergygroup@gmail.com to find out more.
This survey will summarise what the participants discussed and ask for your thoughts. This is so the whole community can comment on ideas from the workshop. The survey responses are anonymous and all the questions except the first one are optional so you can skip any you don't wish to answer.
How will the survey findings be used?
The findings of the workshop and the views expressed in this survey will be included in a final report for residents, for South Wonston Parish Council and for Winchester City Council, who both funded this project. This will inform both Winchester City Council and any potential renewable energy providers of the likely support or otherwise for such a project in the future. Depending on the outcome, it may also be the first step on South Wonston's path to its own community renewable energy scheme! If you have any questions, please contact swsenergygroup@gmail.com
This survey closes on Sunday 25th February 2024 at 17:00.