The 2024 Wellow Parish Survey

In the late summer and early autumn of 2424, Future Wellow carried out a survey of people in Wellow about the views and actions on climate change and biodiversity.

There was a really good response – with 60 replies – nearly 30% of Wellow. You can access the full report here.

Some headlines from the survey results are:

Overview

• 93% of people think that climate change is a problem
• 83% think that a loss of biodiversity is a problem in the UK
• 78% of people think that public bodies (like the Parish Council) can and should do more about these issues

Household Energy Sources

• 47% of households still use oil, but
• 83% of oil using households would be willing to consider switching to a heat pump or similar
• Cost and concerns about whether heat pumps will work in a property (including listed planning problems) are the main things stopping this switch
• 22% of households already have solar panels
• Cost is the main thing stopping other households installing them
• The Curo-owned properties in the village have neither heat pumps nor solar panels and some residents would welcome that changing.

Transport

• 70% of households have a petrol or diesel vehicle and 23% an electric one. 30% of petrol/diesel owners plan on buying electric next time.
• Cost is the main reason stopping other people making the switch
• There is a modest amount of interest in setting up a village scheme to hire either electric cars or electric bikes
• 35% of households are either already contributing to the Wellow Carbon Offset Fund (WeCOF) or will do so when they next fly

Biodiversity and Food Production

• Respondents have already carried out 138 actions in their gardens to promote biodiversity – such as installing a pond, creating wild plant areas or similar
• People are generally quite interested in their food being sourced locally and sustainably – but are also concerned about cost.
• There is some interest in setting up a community shared food production project.

Respondents also suggested various other ideas including buying a stake in a local wind farm, identifying village areas suitable for rewinding and making all lights in the village motion sensitive to reduce light pollution.

The Future Wellow Team will be considering all of this in order to agree what to take forward as a priority. The Parish Council will also be asked to act upon these findings and the report will be shared with B&NES Council.