One jar of honey is the annual rent that Corpus Christi College will charge West Oxford Community Renewables Ltd for leasing their Sports Ground from the summer of 2010

West Oxford Community Renewables Ltd (WOCR) plans to establish an Ecology centre on the grounds as a centre of excellence for sustainable living. The Centre will be a place of inspiration and education, promoting the transformation from a heavily carbon-based existence to a shared low carbon future.

What WOCR and LCWO plan to do with the land

WOCR will work with LCWO to establish an interlocking set of projects which will both impact on the overall carbon output of the area and which will add to the ecology of the site to create a rich biodiversity.

1. Carbon Sequestration through tree-planting and building soil carbon through low-input agriculture.
2. Community beehives will increase the number of bees available for pollination on and off the site and will replace some of the colonies that have been affected by virus and habitat-reduction.
3. A community orchard will produce fruit and nuts. Local food production reduces the need for carbon-intensive transport from outside the community and delivers healthy, naturally-produced food locally.
4. Growing vegetables. We will investigate what other forms of food production can be achieved taking into account the size and sensitivity of the site. We will try to support our food production with local composting. We hope to work with a local organisation, My Life My Choice to grow food for their new café in West Oxford Community Centre which opens in April.
5. Renewable Energy. We will look at the possibility of installing Solar PVS and erecting a small-scale 6Kw wind turbine. This would be subject to public consultation and planning applications.
6. Training Events. Community renewable schemes are taking off all over the country and LWCO is recognised as one of the most successful path-finding projects in the UK. We would hope to use the pavilion as a centre to train people from other communities in how to set up and run their own projects. The site could become something of a national focus for the Low-Carbon network. We already enjoy links with local schools and would seek to further our involvement by offering some classroom sessions at the site.
7. Community Events. We will plan a series of events designed to bring about greater awareness of our activities.

“This is a very generous offer from Corpus Christi College and we are really looking forward to a long and successful relationship with them. We are keen for this to be a joint project with local residents from Grandpont as well as West Oxford”.

Anyone who is interested in getting involved should contact us by following the link Contact Us.

Lois Muddiman, Director West Oxford Community Renewables Ltd.

 
Children from West Oxford and Grandpont community outside the Corpus Christi College Pavillion