[matilda] 4: biodiesel...

[dan at aktivix.org]

Allo,

Last proposal: following on from what Julie and ATW have said - 

(I've cc'd in Jillian Creasy to this e-mail... Jillian - who in the council
should we go and talk to?)

4. Making biodiesel in Sheffield: who's gonna buy?

Well - here's what I think we could do.  Sheffield Uni already have some of
their fleet running on biodiesel.  Sheffield Council doesn't - but they have
recently had a big green meeting, and may want to be going that way.

Nottingham Council (I think) has already converted its fleet to biodiesel, so
there is a precedent to research...

What I propose we do is this: 

*This is a long-term plan: go and talk to Sheffield City Council (SCC) about the
fact that we're aiming to set up a biodiesel production company in Sheffield -
talk to them about a plan for converting part / all of their fleet to
biodiesel, and how it would work.  (We'd need a plan that guaranteed a supply.)


That would get us a guaranteed regular customer.

*Talk also to NCC (if it was them!  I'll find out) about the logistics, costs
etc.

*Talk to SY Key Fund, and to Sheffield Co-operative Development Group, to see if
we can get any help. (SCDG definitely will, I would say.  I've got their
business plan model too, so we can work through that.)  Specifically, on the
technicalities of production / appropriate planning permissions for light
industrial or whatever category the premises we'd use would come under.

At the end of that, someone / more than one person might have a non-profit job.
It wouldn't need to be any of us that actually work to set it up either...

Now, I think that counts direct action - but it's definitely not confrontational
and doesn't involve civil disobedience.  In fact, it involves trying to work
with the public sector and other local agencies... There's a little bit of
overlap, I'd say between this kind of direct action and social
entrepreneurialism - which fits in with a lot of the Blairite statements we
came up with last night, like 'creating opportunity!'

Ain't language a funny thing?

Up for that?

Dan