News

FREE THERMAL CAMERA PROPERTY SURVEY

Community Energy Champions are currently carrying out free thermal camera property surveys for local residents (as well as residents in Uplyme & Charmouth) to identify where energy savings might be possible. Please contact Philip May on 07740 974304 or email energychampslyme@gmail.com before the end of March 2024 to book your survey.

Energy saving tips:

- Control your thermostat – keeping it at a slightly lower temperature when possible and/or switching off the heating when you are out (or in bed)

- Make sure all your lightbulbs are energy saving LED ones

- Keep your curtains/blinds drawn at night (to keep heat in), but open to let the sun’s energy in during the day

- Don’t boil more water than you need in your kettle

- Take shortish showers rather than baths

We also know that properties typically lose heat, as follows:

25% through the roof – addressable with good loft insulation at least 270mm thick

35% through walls (harder to deal with although wall insulation products are available)

10% through windows and doors (double glazing and good door insulation will help here)

At least another 15% is lost through draughts

Lyme Regis now has a new tool to help us reduce heat loss from our properties – the thermal imaging camera.

This clever little gadget can help you find cold spots in your property where heat is getting out and the cold is getting in.

It works best in autumn/winter when your house is (hopefully) warm and it’s cold outside.

It looks a bit like a gun with a screen. You point it at the area of your house you’d like to investigate and instantly you get a colour picture of the temperature of that area.

Basically white (very hot), red (hot) and orange indicate warm spots (therefore areas of potential heat loss), and blue through to dark purple show the cold areas.

Once identified you can decide whether more insulation, better glazing or draught proofing is required to prevent unwanted heat loss.

Lyme Regis area energy champions have two of these thermal imaging cameras that we can offer to survey your property.

The first was sponsored by Lyme Regis Town Council while the second was purchased with a grant from Dorset Community Energy.

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Oak Tree

On Friday 8 December, a new oak tree was planted at the Playing Field to commemorate Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II.  The tree was kindly donated by Lyme Regis Rotary Club and John McCallum of LR Rotary can be seen in the photo along with Cllr Jane Bremner, Chair of Charmouth Parish Council.

Dog Restrictions

The Parish Council is now part of the Dorset Council Dog related Public Space Protection Order and as such dogs should be on leads at all times in all car parks and footpaths around the beach.  Dogs are permitted off leads on East Beach (east of the River Char) at any time of the year, however, dogs are not permitted on West Beach (West of the River Char to level with the end of the promenade) from 1 May-30 September. 

Council staff have authority to issue fixed penalty notices for breach of these restrictions, for dog fouling offences and general littering.

Polite Notice

If you walk at Charmouth Foreshore with your dog you should be aware that the whole area is part of the Dorset Council Dog Related Public Space Protection Order.  This means that in line with this map, although dogs are allowed to be off leads on both beaches during the winter, they should still be on leads all year round when in the car parks and surrounding footpaths (yellow areas).  This is for the safety of the dogs as well as for hygiene purposes. Unfortunately, people are not following these rules and this is causing Parish Council staff to suffer abuse when they try to enforce them as well as a big increase in dog fouling.  Parish Council staff are able to enforce the rules by the issue of a fixed penalty notice and although this is the last resort, and none have yet to be issued in Charmouth, we will have no choice for this to be the next course of action with repeat offenders.