 It was a bold claim to make. Last year, Be Green reported how residents of the Brecon Beacons village of Llangattock made it their aim that the 420-home settlement on the banks of the River Usk would be "carbon negative" by 2015.  This means that heating and powering the village's homes will not just produce zero carbon dioxide emissions, but that renewable activities will help contribute to lowering emissions from a wider area.  Last year, the villagers involved with the project were full of enthusiasm for their plans. There was a woodland group, an allotment group, a litter group and others, all focused on improving the environment around them and reducing the village's need for fossil fuels.  But optimism is one thing. Sheer hard graft is another. How have the pioneers got on in the past 12 months, and are they on their way towards their goal of becoming Britain's first carbon-negative community?  I can report that their enthusiasm is undimmed and that although the year has been far from an easy ride, they all still believe they are on track to be carbon-free in four years' time. There is also a strong feeling that the village has benefited from residents pulling together with a common goal.  "The whole village has been reinvigorated and re-energised," says Pete Bates, a retired teacher who coordinates the residential group. "Like many rural communities, Llangattock's spirit had been slowly declining, with four village clubs in 2000 compared to 26 in 1950. Today we've got a groundswell of community feeling and it's all because of the carbon negative project."  audited emissions reductions from homes taking part in the first wave of eco-makeovers show that over 14 months of monitoring, CO2 emissions have gone down by 16 per cent, according to a report by the Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR). This has been through a combination of small-scale improvements such as draught-proofing and CHRISTOPHER JONES changing habits to large-scale measures such as installing solar panels.  Instrumental to the changes being made is the woodland group, organised by Jackie Charlton, whose volunteers manage 20 acres of alder, hazel and ash coppice and who sell the logs from the village wood store. "We've got chimneys popping up all over the place and at least seven new woodburners in the village," says Jackie. "We now need to employ our firs 