By the end of September 2009 over 400 staff and elected Members from Taunton Deane Borough Council will have attended a half day workshop on climate change and peak oil, run by Taunton Transition Town volunteers Chrissie Godfrey and Paul Birch.

The workshop, designed by Paul and Chrissie, includes a 45 minute illustrated talk on the key issues, followed by different exercises to prompt creative thinking and discussion about what will make Taunton Deane a ‘resilient’ Borough by 2026. It ends by all participants committing to individual changes they will make in their lives, together with calls for action the Council itself can take in the next few years. Each workshop has attracted an average of 35 participants drawn from right across the organisation – planners, plumbers, senior executives, gardeners, lawyers, receptionists and councillors all sharing their visions for a sustainable future. Backed by Senior Strategy Officer Kevin Toller, this workshop programme is the first step to raising awareness across the board within the Council itself for people both as individuals and as Council employees. And it is creating quite a buzz! For many people it has been a real wake up call in terms of the urgency of the issues facing us. For all, it has given them the chance to think positively and proactively about the future, not least in terms of where the Local Authority itself can make significant changes.

Once the workshop programme is finished, Paul and Chrissie will be drawing all the ideas for a resilient Borough together into one document, and giving a presentation to the full Council on the story they and their staff have as a collective told about the future, and about what needs to change now. As well as following through on their own personal commitments, people taking part can also volunteer to follow up the workshops in three additional ways. Firstly, they can elect to become an internal ‘green champion’, helping to keep the issues alive for all staff on a day to day basis. Paul and Chrissie will return in October to help this group decide how they want to do this. Secondly, people from any part of the Council can volunteer to join a green policy group. This group will, later in the autumn, meet with Transition representatives from across the Borough to decide what needs to happen to start the process of energy descent planning on a Borough wide basis. Thirdly, of course, people are invited to join their local Transition Town group.

This has been a fantastic opportunity and the response has been incredibly positive. Key strengths have been Kevin Toller’s commitment to making this a Council-wide issue, and that Chrissie and Paul are bringing their own professional skills as facilitators and trainers to the workshop design and delivery. Of course, it is just the beginning, and the challenge will be to see how to build on the energy generated in practical ways.