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Grass roots campaigning needs resources to sustain its growth into a fully fledged social movement, and the Manuka Club supports one-off and ongoing projects to build capacity and serve the strategic interests of community groups overall.
More people than ever are taking action to protect the British countryside. It is no longer common for new roads, runways, waste incinerators or urban sprawl to be built unopposed. A large number of schemes now have a campaign group attached to them, doggedly following the twists of each planning application and making sure that unsustainable development is no longer the easy option.
As the ranks of community campaigners grow, opportunities arise to look beyond local issues towards the building of a broader movement, one which delivers a more sustainable balance between countryside protection and new development.
The formation of campaign networks helps local groups grow and thrive, and is an approach the Club has supported from the outset. Networks serve as hubs of information and expertise, saving their members time and money. They can also help dispersed campaign groups lay out a common set of demands, focusing attention upon the national policy frameworks that give rise to local environmental damage.
The Club works closely with networks in all four of its priority areas. These organisations are:
- AirportWatch, an umbrella movement uniting national environmental organisations and community groups against airport expansion, founded in 2000
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- RoadBlock, a source of advice to local groups opposing new road schemes, founded in 2005 and becoming a project of the Campaign for Better Transport in 2007
Visit the website
- UK Without Incineration Network, a new network for groups opposing mass-burn incineration, which has signed up over 40 groups since its launch in 2008
Visit the website
- Campaign to Protect Rural England, a respected and expert voice upon sustainable house-building and the planning system overall, with a network of regional and local branches
Visit the website
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Other projects the Manuka Club considers for strategic grants include research of relevance to a range of local scenarios, for instance to explore credible alternatives to road-building. The Club also supports work aimed at increasing access and understanding of the planning system by community groups. .
Another aspect of the Club's work is concerned with improving the functioning of the planning system itself, whose integrity is under threat from provisions in the current Planning Bill that would restrict the ability of local groups to challenge large development schemes.
"It's safe to say that without the grant there would be no national network of anti-incineration campaigners for the UK. This has succeeded in providing a central focus for campaigners throughout the country."
Shlomo Dowen, Network Coordinator, UK WIN
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