In the late summer and autumn of 2024, Future Wellow conducted a survey across the Parish of Wellow to ascertain the opinions of local people about climate change and biodiversity, including their views on actions they might be willing to take to help address these issues. This report details what people said. We would like to thank all the people who took the time to complete and return the questionnaire. Participation in village actions like this is one of the things that makes Wellow what it is.
How the Survey Was Done
The survey could be completed online through the ‘Survey Monkey’ facility or in hard copy through the village shop. In addition, with the intention of ensuring responses came from a representative section of the community, a young person was engaged to conduct a limited number of door-to-door surveys. The survey was publicised in four ways:
- Through the ‘Parish Post’ with a link to the online version
- Through the Church newsletter
- Through the Parlour Shop
- Through a mailing to people who had previously engaged with Future Wellow.
Response Rate
A total of 60 responses were received:
- 41 online through Survey Monkey
- 12 from door-knocking
- 5 returned to the shop
- 2 from a ‘pilot’ run to test the survey prior to its launch
Over half provided their name – with anonymity of respondents in this report is guaranteed.
We believe that almost all of these were from different households, with only two different sets of returns appeared to be from the same households. The number of households participating is thus very high compared to (as we understand it) other village surveys – being just under 30% of households. Whilst not claiming it is fully representative, it is also thought to be reasonably representative in that at least 23% of returns were from the ‘social housing’ within the parish, there were returns from the long-standing farming community and, by dint of the door knocking, the survey results did not come solely from people actively interested in the subject.
This report goes through each question, summarising the responses and suggesting possible action for Future Wellow, The Parish Council, individual residents and for B&NES Council.
Section One – Wellow Public Overview of the Issues
Q1. Is Climate Change a Problem for the World?
93% of people stated that climate change is a problem and 7% that it is not. No-one was uncertain!
Q2. Is loss of Biodiversity a Problem for the UK?
83% of people felt loss of biodiversity was a problem, 10% that it was not, whilst 7% were unsure.
Q3. Action by Government, Councils and public bodies.
People were asked whether they felt public bodies, could help these issues by taking action. 79% felt they could/should, 6% not, whilst 15% were unsure.
Conclusions:
There is clearly an overwhelming view amongst parishioners that climate change is a matter for concern and (to a slightly lesser extent) so too is a loss of biodiversity. There is also a clear belief that public bodies, (thus including the Parish Council), could and should be taking more actions to help mitigate the effects of climate change and biodiversity.
Section Two – Energy Use in the Home
Q4. Current Usage
Wellow is still significantly dependent upon oil for its home energy. 47% of households that responded are using oil, though 18% have already moved to renewable energy systems – most noticeably eight air source heat pumps plus one ground source and one water source system. One household is using LPG, one self-grown wood and five use other electrical systems.
Of particular note are the further 14 respondents that are from Manor Close. They are dependent upon the Curo system which, we understand, is electrical storage heaters.
Qs 5 and 6. Willingness to Switch to a Renewable Source
Of those currently using oil or not constrained by the Curo system, an encouraging 45% said they would switch to a heat pump, whilst a further 38% said they would consider switching. Just 17% said they would not.
The reasons currently preventing people from switching are varied, but most significantly were concerns about cost and a belief that a heat pump would not work in their property. There were also less common reasons of a lack of information and concern about noise. The ‘other’ reasons given included; waiting for the current boiler to end its useful life, specific installation challenges, difficulty in accessing qualified people to maintain systems, inability to insulate the property to a sufficient level and people renting from a private landlord. One person simply gave their reason as “personal choice” without explaining the rationale.
Amongst those willing to consider a heat pump, cost and a belief a heat pump would not work in their property were even more noticeable factors – 71% and 46% respectively.
Additionally, a small number of people in Curo properties said they would be willing to explore heat pumps but were unable to do so because they were Curo tenants.
Qs 7 and 8. Solar Panels
22% of responding households already have solar panels, the remainder do not. Reasons stated for not having them are most noticeably cost (cited by 33% of people) along with a range of factors why panels would/could not work on the person’s house, (e.g. the building being listed or facing in the wrong direction), renting from a private landlord and one person feeling they are visually unattractive.
In addition, a handful of people living at Manor Close stated their willingness to have solar panels, but are currently unable to do so because they are Curo tenants.
Discussion:
There is a clear openness amongst many people to switch to renewable heating systems. Their reasons for doing so are perhaps based on historical concerns that, with further information, might lead to them taking a different view. For example:
- With new government grants, the initial costs of a heat pump can be quite low – particularly for smaller properties, whilst longer term bills are usually lower.
- Modern heat pumps are generally very quiet – particularly compared to the noisier early generation ones
- Advice from groups such as Bath and West Community Energy indicates that, in their experience, many people who believe their property is not appropriate for a heat pump find that is not the case when supported to explore heating options by a renewables expert. Unfortunately, most people stating they believed a heat pump would not work in their property did not give their name, thus making it difficult to engage with them to explore the reasons and whether technological developments can now help.
Similarly, there appears to be interest in greater use of solar panels, with perceived obstacles also (sometimes) being possible to overcome. For example:
- Clearly there are cases where solar panels are not feasible (one person commented that their roof is shaded by a very large neighbour’s tree), but equally it is possible nowadays to find ways around what were previously obstacles. One respondent told us how, having been advised in the past that they could not make use of solar panels, an advisor has now found an elevation on the property where they will work.
- We understand that B&NES Council is now being more flexible about solar generation at listed properties than it was a few years ago.
Possible Actions:
For Future Wellow:
- Explore arranging information sharing sessions with technical experts in both heat pumps and solar panels to explore whether there are solutions to people’s current reasons for not progressing with either.
For the Parish Council:
- Engage with Curo to explore their willingness to (a) replace the heating systems at Manor Close with renewable systems and (b) install solar panels and battery storage at some or all of the properties or on the site in general.
For B&NES
- Give further consideration to how Planning Officer decisions/advice can positively support heat pump and solar panel installations, including publicising that the Council is now more supportive than previous decision making perhaps implies.
Section Three: Transport and Travel
Qs 9, 10, 11 and 12: Car and Vehicle Usage
Not surprisingly, given its location and limited public transport, Wellow residents are very dependent upon cars. 93% of households have their own vehicle – 38% with one car, 40% with two and 15% with three or more.
Of those households that have vehicles, 70% have a petrol or diesel vehicle, 23% electric and 7% hybrids. 30% of current petrol/diesel owners intend purchasing electric when they next sell their car – with some explicitly saying they believe in waiting for the current car to need replacing because of the environmental costs of car production
The major reason for petrol/diesel owners not switching to electric was cost – cited by 52% of those owning a car that was not electric. The lack of a charging point (or ability to install one at their property) was cited by 22% of non-electric owners.
A range of other reasons were also offered including range anxiety, concern about the current national charging infrastructure, a concern about the future disposal of electric batteries and the environmental impact of mineral mining. 17% of non-electric owners stated they felt that electric cars were not a solution though generally did not give reasons why – other than one person waiting for future technologies such as hydrogen.
The questionnaire also explored a suggestion of purchasing a communal village electric car and/or electric bikes, that would then be available for hire. There was some interest in a communal electric car (13 people or 22% of respondents) and a bit more interest in having electric bikes for hire (21 people or 35%).
Qs 13 and 14: WeCOF
Finally in this section, people were asked about willingness to contribute to the Wellow Carbon Offset Fund (WeCOF) – a fund people can contribute to as an ‘offset’ when they fly. The Fund’s proceeds will be used to directly invest in reducing the parish’s carbon footprint.
10% of people stated they already contributed to WeCOF whilst a further 25% said they would when they take their next flight. Others stated they would not contribute either because they never fly, could not afford it, already offset in other ways or (for 12%) did not agree with the principle of it.
A small proportion of Wellow Oil users (14%) also indicated a willingness to contribute to the fund when they next order whilst 5% stated they already do.
Discussion:
There will clearly be a growing number of electric cars in Wellow. Whilst electric cars are certainly not environmentally neutral, all reputable evidence shows their overall environmental impact is significantly lower than either petrol or diesel.
There is potentially some benefit from exploring the installation of a public electric car charging point in the village as it might enable people unable to install one at their property to have access to a charging point. (One person specifically stated this was why they have not bought a car whilst another, with a car, expressed a desire for one to be installed). However, demand is not currently huge and it should not be assumed that all those giving a lack of charging point as a reason for not buying electric would either (a) use a local charging point, or (b) buy electric if one was installed. Further research is needed on this prior to investing in such a facility.
Similarly, a degree of caution should be applied as what these figures say about the potential demand for a village owned/hired electric car or bike. Some positive responses were accompanied by comments such as ‘maybe’ and others for the bike with ‘if I am well enough’. Other positive responses included people noting they already had their own electric bike. Further investigation of real demand is also needed for these ideas.
The WeCOF Fund appears to have a reasonable level of potential ‘buy-in’ from residents beyond those who currently contribute to it. As intended when it was established, its proceeds could be used to invest in progressing the issues discussed in this report.
Possible Actions:
- Future Wellow and the Parish Council to work together to explore the potential demand and feasibility of a village car charging point and village electric hire bikes.
- Future Wellow to continue to promote WeCOF and use the findings from this survey as one basis for potential application of funds once the total fund has grown.
Section Four – Biodiversity
There is clearly already a substantial awareness amongst Wellow residents of the need to take action in gardens to address biodiversity. A total of 138 actions were reported to have already been undertaken – an average of over 2.5 actions per household. These are described in the attached chart. The most common actions were planting pollinator-attracting plants and creating a ‘wild’ section. Only 3 households (5% of responses) stated they did not wish to encourage biodiversity. No reasons were given as to why not.
In terms of what would encourage people to take more action, there was no clear demand for any specific initiative – with modest, low-level support for more written information but limited demand for talks or similar. A few people noted they would welcome practical help (in some cases because of age/physical ability). The most common answer was that people feel they do enough already. This is probably a fair comment, as such respondents listed several examples of current action. This high level of activity is possibly, in part, a tribute to the focus of work over several years by the Wellow Horticultural Society.
One respondent, who stated they were a biodiversity expert, stated the actions listed in the questionnaire would not help biodiversity – but did not offer other ideas or identify themselves for purposes of discussion. With hindsight, the questionnaire should also have asked about people’s use of chemicals and pesticides, but sadly did not.
Discussion and Possible Action:
Given the awareness that does exist and the limited enthusiasm for talks or similar it appears that continuing to provide low level information and advice (perhaps in conjunction with the Horticultural Society, if it will agree) is the most appropriate way forward.
Section Five – Food Production
People were asked about whether their food buying decisions are influenced by it being (a) produced locally, (b) organic, (c) cheap and (d) from an environmentally positive source. For all four questions, people said those factors influenced them either a lot or a little (between 74% and 94%). However, it is perhaps difficult to draw conclusions for actions from this as, for all four questions the “a bit” answer was most common. Given that the ‘cheap’ factor was equally strong, this might limit strong commitment to buying organic or environmentally sourced as these can have a negative influence on price. The exception to this, possibly, is a desire for locally sourced food, where 94% said this influenced their buying a lot or a bit.
People were also asked whether they would be interested in participating in a local scheme to grow more food and share surplus product with neighbours. There was reasonable interest in this (38% saying yes and a further 38% saying maybe). Again, caution must be taken with this as, on several returns, people commented that their interest was in receiving produce rather than growing/sharing it. One person suggested it should be done from a dedicated community vegetable plot rather than people’s private gardens.
Discussion and Actions
The food production section of the survey produced perhaps the least clear results – the data implying there is some interest in locally produced, environmentally grown and shared produce – but perhaps limited evidence of a willingness to actively participate in changing how we source our food. For example, seven people responding positively to the food sharing idea would probably be unable, for varying reasons, to contribute towards production and thus would solely be recipients. There is, however, a case for some further exploration – but it will need some clear commitment from a wider number of people before any such scheme could be introduced.
Section Six – Other issues
Finally, people were asked if they had any other suggestions or comments to make about what Wellow could do in relation to climate change and biodiversity. There were a number of interesting suggestions, including:
- Explore bulk purchase of solar panels. (This is already done by organisations in the region, with B&NES Council support – so Future Wellow will endeavour to give added publicity to these opportunities).
- Carry out a study to purchase a stake in a windfarm to help secure energy supply for the village.
- Similarly, explore the establishment of a local wind turbine. (A B&NES supported initiative explored this some months ago and, at a meeting that involved people from Wellow, made a number of recommendations).
- Have our own village solar farm on under used land. (A Future Wellow Group has already started exploring this – see below).
- Identify areas around the village that would be suitable for a larger re-wilding project (Two people suggested this)
- A concern that the roads in and around Wellow and the lack of footpaths prevent more cycle usage makes life unsafe for children, thus encouraging greater car usage.
- Have community owned animals. (Not clear whether this was for food, land management, recreational or other reasons).
- Install swift and house martin nest boxes across the village to encourage their return in greater numbers. (There was an initiative to do this a few years ago, and it may be worth exploring updating what was done then).
- Require all outside lights to be motion sensitive to reduce light pollution. Also ensure they are solar powered and pointing downwards.
- There should be engagement with farmers about encouraging a reduced use of pesticides.
- The shop could sell more locally donated food produce.
- Compost all food waste
- There is a need for a more regular bus service – as the community bus timetable is too limited to make using it a viable option.
On a more critical level, one person was negative about what is done in Wellow around environmental issues, stating that tree planting is destructive, criticising tree felling in Wellow and stating that neither the village nor the Parish Council really welcomes change and action on environmental issues.
Looking at the bigger picture, two respondents implied scepticism about the merits of local action given that (for one person) only international action would make a difference and (for the other) the self and profit interest of big business would undermine any community action. However, that view contrasted with one other respondent who urged the Parish Council to (like other parishes in the area) declare a climate emergency, stating that (in their words) “far from doing this being ‘virtue signalling’, not doing so is ‘ignorance signalling’”
Discussion and Actions
There are a number of interesting ideas contained in the ‘other issues’ responses.
- Some relate to work already being progressed by Future Wellow – such as exploring the potential for local solar energy generation. On this, Future Wellow is in discussions with Bath and West Community Energy and others to explore the feasibility of village involvement in a local solar farm and we will report back on this in due course.
- Some are being explored by groups beyond Wellow to which the village (through both the Parish Council and Future Wellow) needs to be better connected – such as the ideas for wind generation and bulk purchase of solar panels
- Some are probably best explored and possibly progressed by the Parish Council – such as suggestions around reducing light pollution, road safety and identifying land for re-wilding
- For some, other village groups or bodies are best placed to take them forward – for example selling more locally donated food in the shop and composting all food waste
- Some will need new people in the village coming forward to help in progressing them – for example perhaps those suggestions around nesting boxes and having community owned animals.
Perhaps most importantly, many of the ideas – along with those from earlier in the report – can be taken forward individually by households in the parish. Future Wellow will do its best to support and assist, but there is little better than individual action and responsibility.
Summary and Conclusion
This survey has clearly demonstrated that an overwhelming majority of people from the Wellow parish are concerned about climate change and a loss of biodiversity. Yes, there are differing opinions about the issues that should be treated respectfully, varying from not believing they are issues of concern through to believing almost any action is insufficient, but there is a clear prevailing view that more should be done.
The survey has shown how many people are already taking action themselves, across areas such as energy generation, vehicle pollution and promoting biodiversity. It has also shown a willingness to do more, and has helped to identify a number of themes that Future Wellow could further explore.
Given these survey results, Future Wellow has decided to invest most of its efforts into helping Wellow residents to change their household energy systems (particularly oil and electric storage) to more renewable types such as heat pumps as there is clearly a willingness in the parish for more people to move away from the most environmentally damaging sources.
We will also continue to explore other issues flagged up in this report, but our capacity to do so will not be great. We will, therefore, welcome with open arms any villagers wanting to get involved with us in addressing any of these important issues.
We hope and ask that the Parish Council, recognising both the strength of opinion in this survey and the fact that climate change was the second highest rated area for action in their own recent survey, commits anew to engaging with and acting on this agenda. We also ask that the Parish Council help to communicate the results of this survey to B&NES in order to seek to influence the work of the Council on planning and other matters. Wellow’s two B&NES Councillors have already expressed an interest in receiving the results from this survey and considering what action might be appropriate for B&NES Council to take.
Finally, individual action is at the core of societal change, and therefore we ask people across the Parish to read and reflect on this report and consider what they, in their day to day lives, can do differently to help in making Wellow’s small, but important, contribution to addressing climate change and loss of biodiversity. To quote Vincent Van Gogh (an unlikely source!) “Great things are done by a series of small things brought together” – or from a perhaps more usually quoted person, “I alone cannot change the world, but I can cast a stone across the waters to create many ripples” (Mother Teresa).
Future Wellow
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