Fantastic news – Camden Council has won a bid to make Belsize and the surrounding area a Home Energy Efficiency Programme pilot for the whole of London. That means up to 1,000 households will each receive 10 energy and water efficiency measures installed for free. The aim is to test the concept for the whole of London. Those who have hard-to-heat homes which need solid wall insulation and double glazing will also be offered the chance to take part in a new Pay-As-You-Save pilot, which Cllr Alexis Rowell spent a year arguing for with the government. Basically the PAYS scheme will mean Camden Council lending money to homeowners who will pay it back out of energy bill savings or when they sell the property. This is great for Belsize and, if the two pilots are successful, for London and the UK as well. If you would like a free energy efficiency audit of your home, then please contact the Small Steps team at Camden Council on 0800 801 738 or by emailing info@smallstepsenergyvisits.co.uk.

Lib Dem campaigner Tom Simon has been giving local residents a hand to grow food. The Hancock Nunn Gardening Club on the Fellows Road Estate, which was founded with help from Belsize Lib Dem Councillor Alexis Rowell, received a shipment of compost recently. They needed some help to put it on their new community garden so Tom pitched in.

The Hancock Nunn Gardening Club is one of a number of Transition Belsize initiatives. Tom is a member of Transition Belsize. On joining he said: “I am concerned about the future of this planet - Transition Towns is something well worth exploring.”

Transition Belsize is a community attempt to address climate change and the end of cheap oil. Climate change will dramatically alter life as we know it. Global oil production is about to peak forcing the price up and provoking social and economic dislocation.

Cllr Rowell said: “We need to start preparing for life after cheap oil. That sounds cataclysmic but the news isn’t all bad - the residents involved in Transition Belsize believe that, if we make the necessary changes now, life after oil will be more local, less stressed, more friendly, more in touch with nature, less chemical and much more fun.”

Transition Belsize is loosely based on NW3 in North London. For more about this grassroots initiative read here: www.transitionbelsize.org.uk . For more about the Transition Town movement read here: www.transitiontowns.org