TIMELINE

Begun at the Unleashing, this is a verbatim transcript of dozens of post-it notes - more about the Unleashing here. There are some photos of the unleashing here

2009

• Great Unleashing of Sustainable Bungay
• Give and Take Days become quarterly events funded by town council
• Use current and reintroduce derelict allotments
• Seed and plant swapping
• Give and Take surplus veg and fruit day
• Encouraging local food and seasonal food, organic food boxes and farmers markets
• Wholesale grocery buying group
• Local farmers conference
• Pig club
• Walk not drive, easier to walk into town
• Doing several things on one trip, avoiding lots of individual trips, think, organise
• Car sharing scheme using the web
• Cycle clubs
• Cycle maintenance workshops introduced
• Wildlife club regular family sessions
• Time bank set up
• Free wireless in Bungay
• People relearn to shave with a bar of soap and razor
• Massive outbreak of avian flu decimates Bungay population and makes it sustainable for 20 years!!!

2010

• Raise building standards to those of Scandinavia, with triple glazing, roof, wall and floor insulation, but with built in solar water heating, water catchment and heat exchange air conditioning
• Switching off rather than leaving on standby becomes the norm
• More places to get things fixed – handyman repair shop opens
• Connect the whole community of Bungay together, discuss the issues realistically
• Improved playground facilities for families
• Linked public transport system, bus, train
• Encourage cycling making it safer, dedicated cycle routes and cycle storage
• Cycle paths, especially connecting new estates
• Local cyclist rescue service – AA for bikes!
• Community supported agriculture scheme set up on Bungay farm
• Horticultural training days in Bungay, tutor from college?
• Mapping local available produce
• Encourage local food in local shops when cost of food transport goes up
• Sharing gardens and dig for victory
• Learning to trim hedges, look after lawns, prune trees

2011

• Bungay is pedestrianised
• Dial a bus flexi-buses
• Bungay’s bicycle rickshaw taxi service launched
• Established cycle routes to allow children to cycle to school, everyone to feel safe on a bike
• More cycle paths into Bungay from outlying villages, easier for people to bike to town safely as there are so many lorries on the roads supplying the numerous local factories and superstores
• More schools gaining Ecoschools status in and around Bungay
• School curriculum adds sewing, repair and other practical skills
• UK government introduces tradable energy quotas
• Thriving barter system, i..e cheese for jam, also skills swaps, similar to LETS scheme
• Encourage solar heating for water by local scheme for cheap purchase of equipment
• Ban bottled water
• All pesticides and herbicides banned in agriculture
• Compost bin and water butt in every garden
• Composting schemes at each community – each has its own composting sites
• Regular outlet for surplus home-grown produce starts

2012

• Packaging tax introduced – supermarkets get large fines
• No Tesco, less traffic, less speed, local police
• Shared distribution of goods
• 90% Bungay businesses involved in cycle to work scheme
• Local generation and storage of electricity
• Give responsibility to local people to decide planning
• Community scheme for installing rain water capture systems for homes and recycle water for car washing etc
• Water limited in this part of the country
• More community supported agriculture schemes, tightening links between producers, consumers and sellers
• Every village in the area has a CSA like Greengrow
• All local apples are collected and juiced and sold locally
• Sewing machine sales and repairs go through the roof!

2013

• Licence fee per TV to reduce consumption
• Machinery rings – agricultural coops – small farmers sharing equipment and knowledge
• Cooperative garden upkeep and garden growing
• Organic growing included in the national curriculum
• First anaerobic digester set up on a local farm
• Town harnesses the energy of the river Waveney
• Encourage growth of willow on marshland (rather than grazing cattle) to use as fuel for biomass
• Rocketing food prices, petrol shortages, agricultural input shortages
• When fuel prices go yet higher, rethink public transport, make it free? Encourage car sharing
• Free and frequent public transport

2014

• Supermarkets closed- poorly stocked
• More Ecoschools, including sourcing local food
• Bungay primary school becomes an Ecoschool
• Bungay to be more self-contained with wider range of independent shops and ‘useful’ shops
• 50% of journeys through Bungay are by bicycle
• Encourage district heating schemes on new housing developments (perhaps biomass)
• Wildflowers and plants are treasured and loved by everyone for themselves, for food, for medicine
• Local businesses growing salads, sprouts and young veg plants

2015

• Use the methane gas from landfill and sewage treatment plants to create energy, construct anaerobic digesters on dairy and pig farms
• All houses and property appropriately insulated
• Insulate all housing and workplaces by 2015 with waste paper or wool etc, low energy products, create coops to fund this so that it is a cost price offer
• National speed limit reduced to 50mph
• Large supermarkets go out of business due to small local suppliers
• Traditional meat growing areas be used for fuel wood
• Changes in diets, beans, pulses

2016

• No new car sales – no new registrations as older car are maintained
• Horse and cart bus service introduced
• Ban cremation except through power plants i.e. producing instead of using energy, burial to be allowed as it is carbon neutral
• Increased growing of willow for fuel – which farmers are willing to do this?
• Time bank, exchange favours (& local tokens) – free of tax involvement
• Medicine plants replace pharmaceuticals

2017

• 80% Bungay population involved with community growing scheme
• Create a community bank
• Revert to terraced and multi-use occupancy buildings, flats etc, it may be necessary to put pressure on single or double occupancy households to downsize and allow others to upsize

2018

• British Airways goes bust!
• Water shortages and (paradoxically) flooding
• 50% Bungay households bake own bread (use community bakery)

2019

• Community story telling evenings more popular than nights in with the TV
• 60% population have gardens sufficient to grow vegetables and able to maintain

2020

• Bungay becomes first Zero Waste town in Suffolk

2021

• Bungay marooned due to winter flooding – canoeing and rowing seen as viable transport
• Reduce the House of Commons to only 401 MPs and pay on performance basis therefore cut cost by 60%

2022

• 50% of Bungay households own bees (hives)

2023

• All baby clothes (woollen) are hand knitted in Bungay using local wool (sheep – llama – camel?!)

2024

• UK emissions hit zero
• First badger elected to council (?!)
  
• Horse share scheme takes off, community livery stable provides shit for allotments!

2025

• Rates of depression and stress related breakdowns are halved
• UK oil and gas production reaches virtually zero, imports also expensive and dwindling

2026

• Agricultural workers have increased fourfold

2027

• Hemp production excels around Bungay as more people use hemp cloth for dressmaking/textile stuff

2028

• UK population falls below 50 million
• Bungay’s sea-front marina is most popular ‘old’ development in Waveney valley

2029

• 75% Bungay households own beehives
• If we do nothing… Tesco accounts for £1 in every £3 spent in the UK (currently £1 in £8)
• Alternative fuel car sales  overtake petrol/diesel