Winchester Action on Climate Change are a local charity set up to tackle the climate crisis and a key partner in combatting the climate emergency. WinACC work with organisations and communities across the Winchester district to create positive, sustainable change and offer a range of information on topics including renewable energy, retrofitting and sustainable transport.

The Winchester Climate Action Network (WeCAN) project has been run by local charity, Winchester Action on the Climate Crisis (WinACC) for the past four years. WeCAN brings together people who care about the climate crisis and want to do something about it.

The project develops and supports 17 local climate action groups across Winchester District (listed below), helping people set up projects in their local area that have a real impact on reducing greenhouse gas emissions.

The projects and activities focus on all aspects of the climate crisis – energy, travel, waste prevention and food.  They include thermal imaging loan schemes, green open home events, repair cafes, green fairs, swap events, renewable energy workshops, school bike buses, community allotments and wildflower meadows.

Alresford New Leaf	Climate Action for Newtown and Soberton
Sustainable Bishops Waltham	Sustainable Olivers Battery
Colden Common Climate Action	Otterbourne and Allbrook Climate Solutions
Greening Droxford	Green Owslebury
Greening Denmead	South Wonston Sustainability
Hambledon Greening	Action on Carbon in Twyford
Highcliffe Climate Action	Upham Action on the Climate Crisis
Itchen Valley Parish Council Environment Working Group	Sustainable Waltham Chase and Swanmore
Littleton and Harestock Parish Action on the Climate Emergency

If you would like to get involved with one of these groups, or if your area isn’t covered in the list and you would like help setting up a WeCAN group for your community, please contact WinACC at contactus@winacc.org.uk or visit the WeCAN webpage.

Winchester City Council sits on the steering group of the Winchester Food Partnership. WFP is a network of organisations from across the district who work around five key themes:

1. Good food for all
2. Strengthen the local economy
3. Environmental sustainability
4. Strong and resilient communities
5. Fairness in the food chain

The Winchester Food Partnership have produced some handy toolkits which explain how communities can create and get involved with sustainable food projects. The toolkits cover topics such as community composting, sharing surplus food and reducing food waste. They are available to read on this link - Good Food Winchester – Winchester Food Partnership

As part of our work with the WFP, Winchester City Council signed the Good Food Charter in March 2023. We have committed to serving vegetarian food when catering is required at events or meetings and sourcing local and ethically produced food where possible.

If you would like to find out more information about the Winchester Food Partnership, please visit their website Winchester Food Partnership.

We have supported some great community initiatives through our Go Greener Faster Grant scheme.

Examples include:

• Future Energy Landscape Workshops, facilitated by Energise South Downs

• A Solar Irrigation Scheme at Hampshire Market Garden
• Independent energy review of the Day Centre at Trinity, Winchester
• A solar PV array on the Gratton Trust Pavillion in Sutton Scotney

The current round of Go Greener Faster grants is now closed but you can find more information and case studies here.

The Community Solar Support Scheme is a WinACC initiative, supported by Winchester City Council. It is funded by the UK Shared Prosperity Fund and is designed to assist with getting solar panels installed on community buildings. Switching to solar power helps decrease carbon emissions and can reduce energy costs, allowing more funds to be available for other projects.

The Community Solar Support Scheme has engaged with 26 community buildings overall.  Five of these buildings now have a solar panel system installed (including the Gratton Trust Pavilion featured above) and another five have recently received funding.

This scheme will run until the end of March 2025. If you would like to get in contact about a community building in your local area, please email stuart.mills@winacc.org.uk.

These events are for residents to bring along broken household items and connect with a volunteer who can help them repair them. There are currently Repair Cafes in these areas:

• Badger Farm
• Owslebury
• South Wonston
• Denmead and Hambledon
• Meon Valley
• Wickham Men’s Shed

A bike bus is an organised group cycle on a set route, with timetabled stops along the way.  Being surrounded by others on bikes helps to increase people’s confidence and experience of travelling on roads amongst traffic.

There are now five school bike buses running in the Winchester district, set up by parents and supported by Cycle Winchester and Winchester City Council. They aim to encourage more children to cycle to school and include:

• Abbotts Barton to St.Bede’s
• Abbotts Barton to Barton Farm
• Twyford to Westgate & Kings
• Badger Farm to Olivers Battery
• Kennels Lane to Olivers Battery

To find out how to set up your own bike bus, download the leaflet on the right of the page. For help and support, email hello@cyclewinchester.org.uk.

If you would like to share an idea or get in contact with the sustainability team, please email climateemergency@winchester.gov.uk.