Before MSP Robin Harper of the Scottish Green Party visited Castlemilk recently, the place was already developing serious green tendencies.

The idea of a community-run wind farm is in the air and green audits and re-cycling are already being addressed in a business-like way, all assisted by Castlemilk Economic Development Agency (CEDA)

Said Margo Smith, CEDA's Third Sector Development Officer 'We take the Rio Summit mission statement of 'Think Global, Act Local' very seriously in Castlemilk. We wanted to show Robin Harper examples of how local

people can get involved and make a difference and would hope that he can take knowledge of our practical projects to the Earth Summit in Johannesburg as well as to the Scottish Parliament.'

The organisation which carries out 'green' audits for community groups and businesses, C-BETA, was preparing to do an environmental audit on Community Can Cycle when Robin arrived off the local bus.

Community Can Cycle is a recycling project which enables safe bikes to be sold for between £10 and £30 to prevent people getting into debt buying a cycle, especially around Christmas. It also collects glass and cans for recycling to help the cash flow.

The audit carried out by C-BETA is a professional check of an organisation's procedures to see how much more environmentally friendly they could be AND save money into the bargain. For example, Castlemilk After School Care (CASC) saved around £1000 by adopting 'greener' strategies following their audit. They used the savings to implement an Environmental Management System and adopt a 'Green Office' strategy.

Set up in Nov 2000, C-BETA is a recognised Scottish Charity and operates to the European ISO 14001 standards in environmental practices. Said Derek Elder the local lad who was one of the founders of the company, 'It's great that Robin Harper has come here to find out for himself what Castlemilk is doing. There is an appetite in the community for environmental audits but they need to be adequately resourced..' Chairman of the Environmental Trust, Matthew Finkle, added, 'The Trust acts as an umbrella for environment issues and C-BETA's idea came at the right time.'

Stephen Brooks, a Project officer at CEDA found the constant need for a green policy similar in style to an equality policy or health and safety policy, when applying for grant funding for projects. After consulting with the Castlemilk people interested in environmental issues, C-BETA was born. This was a pilot project set up with the support of Glasgow Key Fund and the Castlemilk Environment Trust. It trained 8 local people to identify and develop a green audit process. This showed, clearly, the benefits of energy use, recycling and improved awareness in small organisations and how that enhanced performance. Once the audit process was developed it was offered to local community groups and 23 took up the offer.

Said Margo, 'C-BETA has recently been awarded funding from Communities Scotland and Shell Better Britain. They have also won a contract with the Scottish Council for Voluntary Organisations.'

But the environmental audit project was not the only concept CEDA was able to discuss with Robin Harper. 'We are considering the possibilities of a community run wind farm,' said David Coyne, CEDA Chief Executive. 'We are at a very early stage in our discussions but it is a concept we are interested in.'

Commented Robin Harper, 'I thoroughly enjoyed my visit and found a great deal of cheer and encouragement in what people in Castlemilk are doing. The involvement of community groups such as Community Can Cycle and C-BETA in re-cycling is crucial to the Area Waste Plans and must be given full recognition by the Scottish Executive. The idea of a community run wind farm is fantastic. What CEDA is doing fits in very well with other things happening in Scotland. It is vital that voluntary organisations operate as efficiently as possible on limited means. It makes good sense. Even a small thing, such as the childcare project's energy savings, can produce significant change. The no-cost options which C-BETA can identify through their audit can save a lot of money for voluntary groups. That can only be good.'

Mr Harper said there were some very useful and innovative ideas being developed in Castlemilk. 'I'm impressed by the concern for the environment and for the efforts to find practical applications. Castlemilk Economic Development Agency is certainly playing an important part in doing that in their part of Glasgow.'

FURTHER INFORMATION FROM:
Margo Smith, Third Sector Development Officer. CEDA Tel 0141 634 1024 margo.smith@ceda.org.uk