Brighton became an official Transition Town (number 20) in early September. Since then, we have set up a coordinating hub, started our first transition programme (education and awareness raising) and established a website: www.transitionbrightonandhove.org.uk
We are now ready to set up neighbourhood groups (as well as function or specialist groups – see separate guidelines on “setting up function or specialist groups” specialising in key areas of need or function such as food, transport, buildings etc).
What are “neighbourhood groups”? And what is their Role?
Neighbourhood groups are formed by people living in close proximity who wish to work together to address sustainability issues, with a particular focus on climate change and energy, in line with Transition Brighton and Hove Network’s purpose.
So neighbourhood groups within Transition Brighton and Hove meet to carry out the work of the network on a local scale and help us achieve our shared purpose:
“To inspire, educate and support our city in mobilising community and personal responses to the challenges of climate change and peak oil. In doing this we seek to work in partnership with local government and business, other community and environmental groups, schools and universities, and neighbourhood associations, and to play our part in the change personally.”
Cities, with larger areas and populations, need neighbourhood groups, whereas smaller towns or villages may not.
Neighbourhood groups can:
o Work with local community organisations, residents associations, schools and businesses to raise awareness and plan local community responses to them
o Foster co-operation between people in neighbourhoods, streets or apartment blocks that enables them to make changes that they could not on their own.
o Help people to make personal life style changes with support from others
The first steps in our transition journey are to
o Raise awareness of the issues and their implications, find possible solutions to them (what others are doing), find the benefits and costs of these solutions, make key measures of our current state and future progress. (See our website for an update on our education and awareness raising programme).
o Bring in people of all ages, income levels and backgrounds as part of a continuous process of community inclusion. Liaise with key parts of the community in and around the city: businesses, food producers, local government, schools, universities, community and environmental groups etc.
o Build a vision with all these key stakeholders and groups in our city that will lead on to community planning around energy and climate change for up to 20 years ahead.
o Show how working together and co-operating as a community not only makes necessary transition possible but also improves our quality of life, and our enjoyment of it - drawing on the experience of the Transition Towns Network and other examples around the world, while learning new skills in our community.
We will discuss and plan the transition process as it progresses in our whole network meetings.
In short, while initiating local projects of their own, we would hope they would conduct an education and awareness programme in their locality, and link in with other local groups and organisations such as schools, businesses, local councillors and community or residents’ associations. Neighbourhood groups will contribute to the shared vision of our city as a whole developing in line with others in our network.
What is a Neighbourhood Area?
We are following the Wards to start with, combined with names of existing neighbourhoods or residents’ association areas within these, see: http://forum.transitionbrightonandhove.org.uk/index.php?c=4
More detailed post codes may also be useful for group co-ordinators or moderators as well. But essentially this will be worked out by local groups within and across broad areas.
Where the numbers are larger the neighbourhood may choose to have both a large group meeting and small groups, as the city network does.
Main Areas in South-to-North sections starting from the East, 21 in all:
(1) Rottingdean Coastal, Ovingdean and Marina
(2) Woodingdean
(3) East Brighton and Whitehawk
(4) Queens Park and Kemp Town
(5) Hanover and Elm Grove
(6) Moulsecoomb and Bevendean
(7) Hollingbury and Stanmer
(8) Regency, Montpellier and Seven Dials
(9) St Peters, North Laine and Roundhill
(10) Preston Park and Hollingdean
(11) Patcham
(12) Brunswick and Adelaide, Brighton-Hove Border
(13) Goldsmid
(14) Withdean and Dyke Road East
(15) Central Hove
(16) Stanford and Dyke Road West
(17) Westbourne and Wish
(18) Hangleton and Knoll
(19) South Portslade
(20) North Portslade
(21) Shoreham
How are neighbourhood groups going to start and operate?
Starting up:
A few people may meet locally to discuss how to start. One or two people may start by approaching existing residents or community associations and see if some of them want to work on these issues with us. In the process they could define what their area is.
First Meeting:
You may want to have someone outside your area but in the network to help facilitate this (e.g. through contacting the hub, through the website hub discussion forum).
In the first meeting someone should say what Transition Brighton and Hove is about, and the national Transition Towns network. It would be useful for the coordinator of the meeting to read the Transition Town Primer (on the website under 'Transition links' and perhaps watch the YouTube video of Rob Hopkins about the Transition 12 Steps.
Basic questions in the first meeting may cover: Who is here? What do we want from a neighbourhood group? How does this link to the purpose of Transition Brighton and Hove? How are we to organize ourselves (the minimum required to get us going)? How are we going to work with the rest of the network? (see next section). Are 1 or 2 people willing to help in this and to co-ordinate the group with the rest of the network and represent us on the website? Will some of us visit the website and represent us at whole network meetings?
After That:
You can always ask others in the network, especially those in other neighbourhood groups or in the hub, what they are doing or planning. You may see some of this on the website or ask for it on their discussion forum.
A handy template for planning activities can follow the old format of the basic questions of why, what, how, who, where, when etc:
o Why – our aims, links to the two core issues (Climate Change and Peak Oil),
o What – what we are to say or do to play our part in the transition process at this moment locally, or in supporting each other personally
o How – supporting and inspiring others and setting an example ourselves, and using the knowledge and resources of people inside our network, and of others in the city and worldwide
o Who with – key groups to partner with, inside and outside our network and our city, in order to find out how much more we can do through co-operation
o Where and When – project planning
Co-ordinating neighbourhood groups with the rest of the Transition Brighton & Hove network
Neighbourhood groups will need to have a coordinator, though this role may be split between two or more people. Coordinators co-ordinate the work they are doing in their group with other groups and the rest of the network. They moderate the website for their group: they advertise meetings and events relating to their group on the website, watch the discussions in their section of the forum for key facts, for core themes and for ideas for future actions. They may choose to participate in hub meetings as representatives of their group.
All members of all groups are invited to attend whole network meetings, announced on the homepage of our website, and hopefully soon in local papers. Attending whole network meetings will be the main way for all group representatives to make sure what they are doing is in line with the network as a whole – our purpose and approach, the activities and local contacts of other groups etc. To get your issues or questions on the agenda of these meetings please raise it on our website in the Hub Discussion Forum, or if that is not possible, contact a Hub member.
Discussion forums on the website are open to all, regardless of what groups they belong to, and all members can participate in any discussion whenever they have useful input.
Hub meetings are open for all to attend and hub group meetings, agenda, dates, times and venues, on-line discussion and meeting notes are all posted in the Hub Discussion Forum on the website. You can all raise issues with those in the Hub this way and let us know you will be attending a meeting.
To know your way around the network as a whole, a map (“netmap”) has been drawn up and will be posted on the website. This shows us what the different types of group are within our network (function, neighbourhood, hub, project) and how they link with each other in supporting our transition journey in collaboration with others in our city.
Accessing the Resources of the Whole Network and Other Groups and Organisations in our City and beyond
We can access what each group within our network can offer:
o Function or Specialist groups that specialise in the way we meet a basic need (food, housing, transport, energy, waste and resources, textiles etc) or give specific kinds of help – such as advice on Science and Technology or on Personal Life Style changes.
o Transition Programme Project groups (e.g. Education and Awareness raising – leaflets, info sheets etc)
o Hub and other group co-ordinators/moderators who co-ordinate what a group is doing with what others are doing, and who help you find your way around the network
o Contact and Liaison people: Hub members and others (to be listed on the website) can help in finding out contacts in local organisations (business, government, community, schools etc), and act as a single point of contact for these organisations with the network
o Library resources around the city (DVDs, weblinks, papers, books etc)
o Facilitators: a number of people around the network are able to help with this – either for a neighbourhood group meeting or a meeting with other local organisations. Contact a hub member for this.
o Website for information on our activities and people, and for on-line discussions, and for links to other organisations locally, nationally and globally (e.g. www.oldsteine.co.uk for local organisations), and for links to other Transition Towns in our network (including Rob Hopkins’ Blog on our national network website)
o Funding: Hub and Function groups – and our network Transition Towns nationally - for learning how to attract funds (enabling conditions), find sources of funding and write funding applications or proposals.
So, how do I join a neighbourhood group?
If you are interested in participating in a neighbourhood group in the Transition Brighton & Hove network please read below:
You can register your interest in participating in a neighbourhood group in our website by following these instructions:
1. Visit our website at www.transitionbrightonandhove.org.uk
2. Click on "forum" to get to the forums.
3. Click on "Usergroups" on the top menu of the forums. If you are asked to log in, use the username and password for the forums you received in the email invitation to join the Transition Brighton and Hove forums. If you didn't get this email, you can register by clicking on "Register" on the top menu.
4. Pick a group from the drop-down menu that most closely represents the area in which you live and click on "View information"
5. Click on the "Join group" button to request membership.
The neighbourhood group moderator then will approve your membership and you will be contacted for meetings, announcements, etc. If you have any problem in following the instructions, contact our web person (Chris Callard) at webmaster*at*transitionbrightonandhove.org.uk
Setting up Neighbourhood Groups
