Council contributes to Byfleet Primary School's environmental message

12 February 2007

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The important environmental work carried out by children from Byfleet Primary School will be documented on a short film, after Councillors agreed at last week's Executive meeting (Thursday 8 February) to help fund the project.

The film will be the culmination of months of work by Byfleet Primary School to promote important messages about water conservation to their local community, as part of the ChangeLAB project.

ChangeLAB (Changing Lifestyles and Behaviours) is a European project about changing lifestyles and attitudes. Surrey County Council (SCC) is a partner in the ChangeLAB project and has developed several initiatives based on successful projects from other European partners.

One such initiative is the Byfleet Primary School ChangeLAB project for water consumption, which was very successful in the Netherlands. Along with SCC, Woking Borough Council, Woking LA21 Group and Three Valleys Water all signed up to an agreement to help the school learn more about water conservation, and promote these messages within the community.

The school developed a number of proposals for engaging the local community, which included the production of posters and leaflets about water conservation, and the children arranged an open afternoon at Byfleet Village Hall where members of the public could find out more.

Following the success of the project, the partners wanted to document the children's work by arranging for the professional production of a seven minute digital `film' to be made. The idea is for the film to be accessed online and shown at promotional events. The cost to produce the film is £5085, and all partners have now agreed to contribute £1500 each to cover the cost.

Cllr Ken Howard, Woking Borough Council's Portfolio Holder for the Environment and Sustainability, said: "This has been a great project and has shown how successful partnership work can bring about excellent results. We hope to use this film in other local schools to encourage them to develop similar programmes to address environmental issues within their communities. Educating our younger generation is vital, as they will ultimately be responsible for the environment in the future, I am delighted that we are working with our younger community on such important issues."

For more information about the project, please contact Tim Lowe, Woking Borough Council's Senior Policy Officer, on 01483 743413. For more information on ChangeLAB, please visit the website www.changelabproject.org