Eco~Village Network UK
Eco~Village Network UK
Please send us updates and new listings to
office@evnuk.org.uk
Publications
Networks and groups encouraging ecological living
Sources of Land to buy
Squatting land
Sources of Funding
Contact The Land Is Ours, Permaculture Association or
EVNUK
subtitled 'The guide to co-operative living', comes out every other year, and the 1996-7 edition features articles on Permaculture, LETS schemes, Care in the Community, The value of Art to communal living, Self-build schemes and several others. Over half the book is dedicated to a region-by-region directory of communities and networks (including Housing Co-ops) in the UK today, and there is also a 13-page section entitled 'How to do it'.... Invaluable if you are hoping to set up an intentional community. 9.50. D+D also produce a bi-annual listings sheet entitled 'Places needing People', with details of those communities looking for new members. To receive the latest, send an SAE to Diggers and Dreamers at BCM Edge, London, WC1N 3XX; or visit the website: Link to their website
Environmental publishing company
website http://www.salvo.co.uk/mags/EcoDesign.html
Eco-logic books are a small, ethical company that specialise in books that provide practical solutions to environmental problems. Our website is up and running - it hasn't quite got to the all singing, all dancing stage - sort of humming and shuffling its feet is more like it - but it is working and live at
Do take a look - we would be pleased to get any comments you may have.
If you would be so kind as to send our web address on to any friends you have with even a faint interest in practical solutions to environmental problems, organic gardening, sustainability, eco building and other 'green' stuff - it would be much appreciated.
best wishes
Peter Andrews
Models for 21st Century Living. In October 1995 at Findhorn, a week-long
conference was had on Eco-Villages and Sustainable Communities. A book, based
on the main talks and workshops during the conference, has resulted, with
essays from various sustainablity activists. Contributors include Guy Dauncey,
Declan and Margrit Kennedy, Jonathan Porritt, John and Nancy Jack Todd.
£6.50, available from the Findhorn Foundation.
Green Books is a small independent publishing company, whose aim is to inform
and inspire the general reader about ecological, spiritual and cultural issues
of our time. We publish around ten new titles each year, and also distribute
selected titles from Chelsea Green Publishing Company of White River Junction,
Vermont, who publish in the field of Sustainable Living, including renewable
energy, organic gardening and ecological building.
A bi-monthly magazine packed with useful and practical information, photos,
how to, plus articles from their roving reporters. Includes articles
about the Low Impact Living Organisation, Recipes for community glue, Ecovillage
start-up ideas, Planning options, Seed Sprouting charts, and a guide to making
your own fire-wanger! They have a publications list which includes The LILO
story, The Forest Village Project and Middle Wood News. Subscriptions vary
from £5 to £15 depending on how much money you have (but bear in
mind it costs £9.00 to cover costs).
Low Impact News
Tel 01524 222479
By Simon Fairlie from Tinker's Bubble. From the blurb: "This illustrated
report is designed to act as a guide, both for people who want to put forward
a low-impact planning application and live on the land in a sustainable manner,
and for planners and others who would like to enable them to do so. It includes
as number of policy recommendations and explanatory appendices, and is fully
referenced and indexed. As well as proposing changes to the law, the author
shows how existing regulations can be used to enable many environmentally
benign projects to take place."
Follow this link, if you
wish, to read Simon's introduction and look at the table of contents
Order for the cover price of £10.00, cheques payable to Simon
Fairlie, post free from:
Low Impact Development
01283 742950
0171 837 8727
01527 834400
Regular mag. of the Association of Environmentally Conscious Buildings
is a guide to shops, wholesalers, and other suppliers of organic produce,
as well as details of educational opportunities, visits to organic farms
and so on. Available from Green Books, Tel: 01803 863260, or check their
website:
http://www.greenbooks.co.uk/
by Rob Hopkins, is an investigation into four rural permaculture projects
in Britain, and into the reasons why they succeeded or failed to gain planning
permission. The book looks at Tinker's Bubble, Tir Penrhos Isaf, Brickhurst
Farm, and Hockerton, and gives detailed conclusions and recommendations at
the end.
Lists over 50 Permaculture sites in Britain. Available
fromPermanent Publications, The
Sustainability Centre, East Meon, Hampshire, GU32 1HR who also publish
Permaculture Magazine. Check out their website:
http://www.permaculture.co.uk
by Ken Fern is a guide to plants and their uses, listing edible plants and
how to prepare them, as well as plants that can be used for making dyes,
baskets, pest deterrents, ink and so on. Also has a section on trees and
shrubs. £16.95 from Permanent Publications (address above).
See Projects page
by Richard le Fleming. Packed full of information on how to find and claim
unregistered land. Available from the author at The Old Coach House, Hunny
Corner, Rounds Hill, Bracknell, Berks. RG42 1PP
not to be confused with The Land Is Ours' pending document of nearly the
same name (see the bit at the end), was put out by the Rural Resettlement
Group in 1984. It is now out of print, but can be ordered through the public
library (its published by Prism Alpha and Lighthouse Books). A very good
intro for "Back to the land-ers".
Don't let Scottish environmental reforms pass you by. A relevant and
thoughtful independent news digest for anyone with particular interest in
the natural environment of Scotland. Subscriptions vary from £38.00
to £18.00 and include an annual index. SCENES includes issues
such as planning, forestry, conservation and Land reform. Includes material
from the West Highland Free Press.
Contact:
Tel: 01520 722588
Email ScotEnNews@aol.com
by David Bainbridge, Athena and Bill Steen, shows how to build a home, a
studio, a garage or a playhouse in half the time and for as little as half
the cost; why straw is the cheap and durable option. 250 pages, with lots
of illustrations, and building plans. The book is available from Positive
Purchases (Six Bells, Bishop's Castle, SY9 5AA).
Well-researched guide to the many aspects of squatting, including legal issues,
finding a place, and practicalities. Available for 1 + 31p SAE from the Advisory
Service for Squatters, 2 St Pauls Rd, London N1.
A Practical handbook for sustainable living, available from David Watkins,
Cygnus Book Club, PO Box 15, Llandeilo, Dyfed, SA19 6YX.
A dissertation by Robin Carvell from his time at Anglia Polytechnic University
about 'What makes a Community healthy?'.
Sommerford Court,
Tel: 01285 653 477.
Mission: To generate sustainable rural communities through community led
partnership development, based upon ecological design principles.
Contact: Rod Hughes,
Lowe Raes Architects,
Tel: 01768 863812
E-mail -
rod@LoweRaeArchitects.co.uk
The EVN gives help and advice on forming sustainable permaculture communities.
British section is run by Persh Sassoon and based at 6 Edinburgh Crescent,
Leamington Spa, CV31 3LL.
Telephone 01926 424480
European Office:
For information/advice on ecological architecture. Contact Heather at EDA,
The British School, Slad Rd, Stroud, Gloucestershire, GL5 1QW. Tel: 01453
765575.
Friends and I created a land based trust (ELF) in 1992 and subsequently bought
land the following year.
has been producing micro-hydroelectric components since 1980, and presently
offers the Stream Engine, a breakthrough in hydro technology.
FFT is the best established travellers network in the country. They
have all sorts of short and long stay information and traveller contacts.
Top Floor, 33 High Street, GLASTONBURY, Somerset, BA6 9HT
They collect money to buy land for use by Travellers....(newsletter available
for an SAE).
c/o 9 Plasbach,
Oversees the networking of ecological living projects around the globe. A
daunting task that involves informing anyone with an interest via. their
continental secreteriats' newsletters and here on the internet.
GEN email lists from:
<requests@lists.gaia.org>
with "lists" in body
European
pages http://www.gen-europe.org
Lebensgarten
Ecovillagehttp://www.lebensgarten.de
Green-House the house listing site is now open. Please feel free to
visit us at www.green-house.co.uk - please remember however, this is a brand
new
Aims to empower homeless people to access the information, experience and
skills they need to help themselves. They produce a newsletter, manage a
website and are connected to 600 or so groups and individuals via the Internet.
A Network Initiative to work at a regional level is also being developed.
Website: Link to their website
The website includes an online version of the Self Help directory
Contact:
The Groundswell Project
Tel 0171 833 2071
Europe's largest organic gardening organisation.
We offer practical organic gardening advice and carry out scientific research
into horticultural techniques that do not rely on chemicals. The research
does not involve animal experimentation. We also run attractive organic display
gardens, in Great Britain, open to the public at Ryton in the Midlands, and
at Yalding, near Maidstone in Kent. Our Information and Education Department
runs courses on a wide range of organic and related subjects as well as promoting
organic gardening, farming and food. Other areas of our work include running
a Consultancy service on waste management, research projects, Third World
agriculture and garden design. We also aim to spread the organic message
far and wide through TV, radio, books, leaflets, newspaper and magazine articles
and now the World Wide Web
Stephan and Mieke Wik
Tel 098 28423
c/o Catalyst Collective, PO Box 5, Lostwithiel, Cornwall, PL22 0YT.
LILI is dedicated to helping protect the global environment by promoting
sustainable alternatives to various aspects of everyday life. Contact us
to find out more about our installations, workshops, presentations and manuals.
Low-Impact Living Initiative, Redfield Community, Buckingham Road,Winslow,
Bucks, MK18 3LZ
Meets to promote low impact issues.
Co- ordinator: Jon Atkinson F11, 53 Wood Rd, Whalley Range, Manchester, M16
8BJ.
Living Lightly - for less:
http://www.lowimpact.com
and his eco-detective journeys to the centre of scientific truth.
Although not accepted, as yet, by the conventional scientific establishment,
my work has been widely debated in Europe and I have lectured around the
world. My investigative journey into the origins of TSEs has been featured
on several UK television documentary films, and I have been invited to address
many UK government scientific advisory committees and the BSE Phillips Inquiry,
as well as meet to discuss with HRH Prince of Wales and the former UK Minister
of Defense, Lord Tom King.
Read about the current ecological imbalance of ultra violet radiation, manganese,
copper, organophosphate chemicals, dioxins, geomagnetism, low frequency
infrasound, radar, silver, magnesium molydenum and many more factors in our
modern environment. Discover how these prerequisites interact and combine
to bring about some of the mystery free radical based illnesses that blight
our modern times, most particularly, BSE.
Very useful website for SME's and larger businesses that have some serious
interest in business-environment issues, AND / OR management and production
efficiency. Also watch out for new Croners Special Report on Eco-Design.
Dear colleagues--see two new and updated websites covering 'producer
responsibility', eco-design, recycling and 'end of life' management
(EOLM)--cheers--martin charter
South Eastern Environmental Business
Association website
Has excellent information on woodland settlement projects in Scotland. Also
a good source of general news on what's happening North of the border.
21 Coates Crescent,
Tel: 0131 226 2496
Meets to draft criteria for sustainable land use. To be employed to lobby
the planning system and promote low impact developments as desirable living
solutions in accordance with Agenda 21 principles. Their latest document,
Defining Rural Sustainability, is on the internet at:
http://www.oneworld.org/tlio/research/defining.html
Link to the Chapter7 Home
page
Contact Simon Fairlie
Tel: 01935 881975/29693
University College London has been working in partnership with local authorities,
transport and planning consultants, the House Builders Federation and Central
Government to complete a project which investigated methods for increasing
sustainability in rural areas (especially in terms of increasing access and
reducing the need to travel) using new housing targets. The project was sponsored
by the EPSRC in the Sustainable Cities programme and ran from February 1997
- June 2000. The research covers a variety of interesting topics including:
® The impact of urban form (especially settlement size and provision
of services and facilities) on travel behaviour and access.
® Techniques for assessing the sustainability of development strategies
- in line with the revised PPG3 and PPG13.
® Methods for ensuring adequate provision of services and facilities
in new housing developments - design, phasing, partnerships, etc.
® The planning gain debate.
We wish to disseminate the findings of the project as widely as possible,
in a sustainable manner. Thus, we chose to deliver the information through
a website. There is absolutely NO COST for accessing the website, we just
ask that you complete the questionnaire provided. The website comprises the
following:
® An Executive Summary of findings
® A bibliography - linked to relevant publications produced by the project.
® A useful links page
® A questionnaire survey
Please visit our web site. and
let us know what you think of our findings and the techniques we have developed
to determine more sustainable development strategies. Your comments are essential
if we are to improve upon the research. If you have any queries regarding
the website, research findings or techniques developed please do not hesitate
to contact the project co-ordinator Joanna Williams at the following address:
email:
Joanna.Williams@ucl.ac.uk
Jo Williams BSc MPhil RTPI Project Co-ordinator - Research Fellow UCL
The Bartlett School of Planning,
Seven environmental coordinators of seven boroughs of West London have started
a new website called :
www.sustainabledevelopment.net
designed to to used as a forum for discussion on poor environmental practise,
to advertise environmental events taking place around UK, to have sustainable
development news items and so forth.
Email: Danae Meacock
Danae Meacock-Bashir,
The Polishing Room, Flax Drayton, South Petherton, Somerset TA13 5LR
0845 458 1473
A Workers' Co-operative helping to create and support viable co-operatives.
All over the country, co-operatives are proving that moral principle and
ecological awareness are compatible with commercial success. Your group could
join a growing network of social change enterprises. We want to help you
realise your full potential, by providing in-house and residential training
courses, and business services.
If you're setting up a new co-op, we can help develop shared goals and aims
for the group, take you through the process of registering, developing a
business plan, help you with loan and grant applications, and provide training
in basic co-operative, business and financial skills.
If you're an existing co-op, we can facilitate sessions for evaluation and
future planning, or help with mediation and conflict resolution. We can also
help with managing your finances and increasing your profitability without
pushing you away from your core objectives of serving your community sustainably.
Co-ops that do not require a fully qualified audit (which now includes most
small co-ops) could save money with our year end accounts package. We are
one of a handful of financial service providers specialising in the social
economy and co-ops.
Look in the Yellow Pages or other directory for land agents and, particularly
in large rural towns, estate agents.
A large proportion of land is bought and sold, without ever coming on
the market, by word of mouth. The only way to get hold of land this
way is by talking to landowners face-to-face, in a particular area you
are thinking of living.
It will make sense to look for land areas of more than 12 acres since you
don't need planning permission for most kinds of buildings on a plot
over this size.
Cleggs, who specialize in ex-forestry commission woodland
all over England. 01844 215800 Link
to their website
A trust which owns farmland, with the aim of securing organic status, and
encouraging systems of farming which build soil fertility and protect
bio-diversity. They rent farms out to family farmers, support part-time
farming, and are exploring new ways of connecting people to the land. Land
Heritage, The Pound, Whitestone, Exeter, Devon, EX4 2HP; Tel: 01647 61099.
Hazards of this should be obvious but faced with homelessness it can be a
viable temporary option.
See the Squatter's
Handbook (Publications) for more details.
Details on how to use the Land Registry to find out who (if anyone) owns
a particular property are included in a free leaflet called "Explanatory
leaflet no.15 - The Open Register", available from HM Land Registry, 32 Lincoln's
Inn Fields, London, WC2A 3PH.
A co-operative organisation set up to provide secure, cheap space, be it
land or property, for use by community groups. We raise money through our
members contributions, also supplementing this by fund raising and seeking
donations and grants. Asset Democracy Ltd. The Old School 29 Bailbrook Lane,
Bath, BA1 7AN. Telephone 01225 310376.
CAF publish a "Directory of Grant Making Trusts" which lists potential funding
bodies. Write to them at 48 Pembury Rd, Tonbridge, Kent, TN9 2JD.
Their Revolving Loan is currently with the Beech Hill Community in Devon.
The system is that the community holding the loan invites applications and
weighs these up, deciding which other community has the best case for borrowing
the money next. If your community would like to apply or you would like more
information, then contact Sarah Bunker at Beech Hill, Morchard Bishop, Crediton,
Devon, EX17 6RF; Tel: 01363 877 228.
or look at the entry in
Diggers and
Dreamers
publish similar directories, such as "Guide to major Trusts", "Environmental
Grants", and "Raising money from Trusts". 24 Stephenson Way, London, NW1
2DP.
is a national organisation which makes loans to radical co-ops set up by
disadvantaged people. Projects that have benefited so far include New Education
Housing Co-op Ltd in Birmingham, and the Living Land Housing Co-op, who were
given a 12,000 loan to help start an organic farming project in Manchester.
Ethical Investment Office, FREEPOST, BM2976, Birmingham, B18 5BR; Tel: 021
551 1679.
A Netherlands based bank with a UK branch in Bristol, lends money only to
organizations and businesses with social and environmental objectives. They
can help with ecovillage projects primarily in two ways: by channelling donations
in Borrowing Communities, and by channelling investments in Target Loans.
For more information contact Triodos Bank, Brunel House, 11 The Promenade,
Clifton, Bristol, BS8 3NN.
Eco Villages and
Sustainable Communities
Green Books
Low Impact News
Middle Wood
Roeburndale
Lancaster
LA2 8QX
Pager: 01426 249098
Low Impact Development
20 St. Michael's Road, Yeovil, Somerset, BA21
Self Build Magazine
Build It Magazine
Home Building and Renovation
Magazine
Building for a Future magazine
The Organic Directory
Permaculture:
A new approach for rural planning
The Permaculture Plot
Plants for a Future
Possessory Title To Land
and Property
The Rural Resettlement Handbook
SCENES - Scottish
Environment Newsletter
Michael and Sue Scott at:-
SCENES, Strome House
North Strome,
Strathcarron,
Ross-shire. IV54 8JY
The Straw Bale House
Squatter's Handbook
Urban Permaculture
What makes a Community Healthy?
Click here to open it
Networks and Groups
Action with Communities
in Rural England
Sommerford Rd,
Cirencester,
Gloucester,
GL7 1TW
Action for Sustainable
Rural Communities
Three Crowns Yard,
Penrith, Cumbria,
CA11 7PH.
Fax 01768 890067
British Earth Sheltering Organisation
U.K. Cohousing Network
Earth Village Network
Postbus 1179,
1000BD
Amsterdam,
Netherlands.
Ecological Design Association
ELF
My website for the trust is
http://www.love.telinco.co.uk
Roger Lovejoy ( Trusttee ELF)
Please also check out site
http://www.monsanto.org an aquired
domain in the struggle to bring Monsanto to public scrutiny and
responsibility.
Energy Systems and Design
Friends Families
and Travellers Support Group
Tel: 01458 832371
The Free Land Fund
Plasmawr Rd,
Fairwater,
Cardiff
Global
Ecovillage Network - GEN
For all information - http://www.gaia.org
Green-House
site and it will take time to become established - we hope that you will
bear with us during the development stage.
Background: The site for 'green houses' Welcome to Green-house, a site
dedicated to listing 'green' houses for that are for sale or listed simply
to 'showcase' the house for those interested in 'green housing technology'.
The site is broadly divided into three section, Buying, Selling and
Listing properties that incorporate green concepts such as solar panels,
grey water recycling, a wildlife garden or even a property that is situated
in or close to a SSSI or AONB.
Link to their website -
http://www.green-house.co.uk
The Groundswell Project
The National Homeless Alliance
5 - 15 Cromer Street
London WC1H 8LS
Fax 0171 278 6685
Henry Doubleday Research Association
Irish Ecovillage Information
Network
Streamstown
Westport, Co. Mayo
Ireland
Land Stewardship Trust
Low-Impact Living Initiative
tel / fax: (01296) 714184
Low Impact Steering Group
Low Impact Services
Mark Purdey
Producer Responsibility
Reforesting Scotland
Edinburgh,
EH13 7AF.
Fax: 0131 226 2503
Who's who in Renewable Energy Online
Rural Planning Group of "The Land Is Ours"
c/o 20 St Michaels Rd,
Yeovil, Somerset.
Rural Sustainability and The Sustainable Cities Project
Web Page
University College London
Wates House
22 Gordon Street
London WC1H 0QB
Tel. 020 7679 7501
Fax. 020 7679 7502
Sustainable Development
Environmental Liaison Officer,
London Borough of Harrow,
P.O Box 38,
Civic Centre,
Harrow,
HA1 2UZ
UpStart Services
upstart@co-op.org
http://users.cooptel.net/upstart
About our Services
New Ventures
Existing Co-operatives
Accountancy and Financial Services
Finding Land to buy:
Estate Agents
Woodlands for Sale,
Link to their website
Strutt and Parker, Link to their
website
Land Heritage
Squatting land
Sources of Funding
If you are careful enough with your plans, and show how they fit with Agenda
21, it may even be possible to get financial backing from your local authority.
Asset Democracy
The Charities Aid Foundation
The Communes Network
The Directory of Social Change
Radical Routes
Triodos Bank