Research, surveys and reports

PAGE BEING BUILT - LINKS NOT YET WORKING!

This information is for people who want to know more about the Transition Streets project from a management perspective.

We have accumulated a wide range of useful information from running this project, and we are keen to share this as widely as possible...

For a full summary of the project, please see our Project Report . This document explains how the project worked until that date, our partnerships, our processes, what we achieved, what was learnt and where we are heading next.

To help monitor and evaluate its Low Carbon Communities Challenge (LCCC) project, DECC commissioned some research for each of the 20 communities which received funding, including Totnes. 

Around 300 households were surveyed at random to establish the baseline position (i.e. before the Transition Streets project), and a follow up survey later in 2011 will be used to assess what impact the LCCC has had on local attitudes and behaviours relating to energy and sustainability. Results are reported against national, Totnes, control (Paignton) and all LCCC areas.

There is a detailed report and a summary of main findings.

 Our project also commissioned some research with two aims:

1. to provide evidence of impacts and benefits to the funders and other external agencies with an interest in community and/or Transition projects [external focus]; and
2. to provide TTT and the wider Transition movement with lessons in its own processes of
   community engagement [internal focus].

We issued an online survey to all participants and published a summary of the key findings from the survey.

We then interviewed a number of the participants directly to explore further the benefits and motivations in particular. The full report also reviews some of the survey findings and also summarises outcomes of the qualitative data collection processes, with an emphasis on supporting reflection and future action on the part of the Transition movement.

This has greatly informed  our plans for how we might best continue the project.

 The Health Impacts of the project are being explored, with this initial summary provided by Janet Richardson, Professor of Health Service Research at the University of Plymouth. The paper makes a good point about needing to ensure 'inculsivity and access' for all.

We agree that there is more to do to ensure that everyone in our community knows about the project, and has a chance to participate. We have addressed this so far by ensuring that 34% of group participants were low income households (and those that had PV got a higher grant), and we have now started a pilot group with much older people (70+ years). We continue to promote the scheme across all parts of our community, and work to remove any barriers to participation. We also recognise that group work does not appeal to everyone!