If you are in Cromer do pop in to The Refill room which based within Cromer’s independent florist Sea of Flowers. Jessica created the refill room back in 2021 because she suffers with eczema and has young children which made her want to use more natural products on their skins and around the home, She also wanted to cut down the endless plastic she was throwing away. With these issues on her mind and having the space within her already busy little business Cromer’s first refill room was born.
They are stockists of Fill Cleaning products, Miniml, Faith in Nature, Who gives a Crap, Eco Egg, and Up Circle beauty products which are vegan, cruelty free and use no harsh chemicals.
You can purchase their glass bottles or you can bring your own reusable containers.
They have the following products available and hope to add more: Hand Soap, Washing Up Liquid, Laundry Liquid, Fabric Condition, Glass and Steel Cleaner, Bathroom Cleaner, All Purpose Cleaner, Shampoo, Conditioner, Shower Gel, Body Wash, Shampoo Soap, toilet roll, and skin care.
Soil, a precious and underrated resource
North Norfolk is one of the best places in the country to grow food so how we farm is a vital part of our local economy, providing decent, well paid employment but we need to produce healthy and affordable home grown food and to achieve this we must protect the soil!
Our precious soil is under attack from the chemicals that are constantly used, they harm our environment and wildlife and feeding the population on food covered with pesticides is not a healthy option.(1) The application of those chemicals affects all those who live by farms directly. How we farm can also help preserve and enhance our soil, low till, no till and regerative farming as well as having wide field margins One answer is to chose organically grown food that also creates more employment, much needed in our rural communities. Many farmers and multi national
chemical companies argue that we do not have enough agricultural acreage in our small island to produce the amount of food needed by organic methods, we would need even more land. This makes farmland a precious resource, vital to protect our food security, but in spite of this we are using thousands of acres of land to produce green energy from solar panels that should be on the roof tops of every suitable building, covering our car parks and only when all urban areas are covered should we consider using farmland and then only in conjunction with farming in and around the panels. We need a government led scheme to enable every community to generate their own power using all low or no carbon power sources from water power, solar on roofs, small turbines and ground source heat pumps.(2) Thousands of acres of land are also being used for growing crops to feed anaerobic digesters. The energy produced can come with a high carbon cost when everything is included such as the cost in the energy for growing and transporting crops many miles. One farmer reporting that transporting this feed to the nearest anaerobic digester consumed 220,000 litres of diesel in one year
(3). Anaerobic digesters sited next to a source of suitable waste material are a brilliant part of the energy mix, much of the Whitlingham water treatment plant near Norwich is powered by the energy produced by one. We are also using much of our farm land to grow crops to feed animals so cutting back on the amount of meat and dairy is good for food security and our waistlines!
We need a well thought through plan for the use of land and crops, one that leaves space for nature, space to grow chemical free food, space to build and space to harvest green energy.
(1) Pesticide Action UK: Many common UK food items now contain PFAS pesticides including Cherries, Spinach and tomatoes. Strawberries were found to be the worst offenders with 95% of the 120 samples tested by the UK government in 2022 containing these chemicals
(2) Campaign for the Protection of Rural England: Booklet 7 The problems with Solar Farms.
(3) National Association of Tenant Farmers: Media release 11
Electricity from Nuclear power is now more expensive than from renewable sources…
The North Norfolk Greens are totally against this development. Electricity from nuclear power is now much more expensive than from renewable sources not to mention the folly of building it on a notoriously eroding cliff. And after 70 years we still have no safe and permanent place to store the waste. https://www.edp24.co.uk/news/24672942.norfolk-village-target-site-nuclear-power-plant
Letter from our member, Stephen Green in the North Norfolk News on 17 October:
Bacton ideal for Green Hydrogen
The government’s announcement of £22 billion for carbon capture and storage (CCS) has sparked controversy among groups concerned about addressing the climate and ecological emergency. Keir Starmer’s heated response risks escalating tensions without addressing the core issues.
The proposed projects include a possible “blue hydrogen” plant at Bacton. Blue hydrogen production is fuelled by natural gas and may well increase imports of Liquified Natural Gas (LNG) from as far away as Qatar or Texas, and a new study shows that methane, a greenhouse gas far more potent than CO2, leaks during LNG production making LNG imports as polluting as coal.
Bacton could be an ideal site to produce “green hydrogen”, this uses a lot of energy to produce but leaves the fossil fuels, and therefore the CO2e, in the ground. Bacton could have a plentiful supply of clean and cheap electricity from wind and other renewable sources.
While applying CCS to existing facilities could reduce overall emissions, our Net Zero investments should prioritise reducing our reliance on fossil fuels.
£22bn could insulate leaky homes, kick-start British production of solar panels and wind turbines, support the British battery storage industry and fund continued research into better renewable technologies that use fewer precious metals.
Both the government and environmental groups want a growth in green jobs and clean energy industries. Investing in grid infrastructure to support decarbonised electricity generation by 2030 would be much better option and agree with Labour’s manifesto commitments. Some of the investment could also be in supporting the production, storage and use of electriciry at a local level to reduce the overload on the ancient and creaky national grid.
The government should engage in constructive dialogue with environmental groups and climate scientists and not give in to lobbying from the fossil fuel industry.
STEPHEN GREEN The Street, Erpingham
We need insects! Do try and let part of your garden go wild!
This is very worrying news, we want less pesticide on our food not more. Brexit could have enabled us to have more stringent rules but the opposite has happened.
July Election – Watch the BBC North Norfolk Hustings HERE
HUSTINGS At the moment six hustings have been organised and it would be great if you can come along and support our candidate, Liz Dixon, and clap in all the right places and even better if you have some really good questions.
13 June at Gresham’s School,Holt, 7.30pm.
18 June at St Nicholas Church, North Walsham, 7pm.
19 June at North Walsham Community Centre, 7pm.
25 June at Wells Maltings, 7pm.
26 June at Cromer Parish Hall 7:30pm.
27 June Stalham Baptist Church, 7pm.
MEETING 13 JUNE This meeting has been cancelled as there is a hustings that night in Holt, please come along to it instead!
POSTER BOARDS We’ve all seen them sprout up in people’s gardens at every election and they are good publicity. We probably won’t win this Parliamentary seat but keeping our profile high will help us in the County elections next year, and the District elections in 2027. We have made some boards you can use but if you have one or can create one that would be great. They need to be a minimum size of 297 x 420mm (A3). To get one or reply to this email.
If you have a smaller A4 board we have attached a poster you can print out at home. After printing please write your name and address at the bottom after “Printed by” Download Poster Here
Please note that if you live round Fakenham contact coordinator@broadland.greenparty.org.uk for posters, as you are in Broadland Constituency.
DONATIONS TOWARDS OUR DEPOSIT If you can help us with a one off donation for the deposit or even better a regular donation here are our bank details: Sort code 30-99-50 Account: 35063260 NORTH NORFOLK GREEN PARTY
