Elmbridge Climate Change Citizens’ Panel
Shared Future’s staff and associates are facilitating our latest Climate Assembly. The Elmbridge Climate Change Citizens’ Panel has been meeting since June 2025. The panel will continue to meet until October, for a total of 5 full days.
The Question
The question the panel is tasked with addressing is:
What steps can we take locally to address climate change and protect the environment?
The first session took place at the Brooklands Technical College on the 14th June 2025, followed by the second session on Saturday the 5th July. The highly participatory process has already generated a load of sticky notes and plenty of conversations, as this image from the first session shows.
Check back later to get updates on this exciting new initiative. And read more below on the structure and elements of the project.
More about the elements that make up Elmbridge’s Climate Change Citizens’ Panel
A Citizen’s Panel is a way of involving members of the public in the making of important decisions. This panel will bring together a group of around 22 randomly chosen people, who reflect the demographic make-up of residents of the whole of Elmbridge. Panel members talk about an issue, share ideas and together come up with a set of recommendations. They are helped by experienced facilitators who make sure everyone has a fair say and that the task is achieved. During the sessions, the facilitators will help make people feel relaxed, safe, and able to take part.
A lot of people feel they don’t get a real say in decisions that affect their lives. But, when people are given the time, space, and reliable sources of information, through the use of Panels, experience shows that members of the public will develop well-informed recommendations. This is what we aim to do here in Elmbridge.
Shared Future – specialists in public engagement were hired to run the panel on behalf of Elmbridge Borough Council. Shared Future has lots of experience running citizens panels, juries, and assemblies like these.
An Oversight Group was also set up to ensure the Panel is run fairly. It has a wide range of representatives, including: Elmbridge Borough Council, Walton Charity, Brooklands Technical College, Surrey Climate Commission, Green Elmbridge, Surrey County Council, Claygate Parish Council, Surrey University and NHS Surrey Heartlands.
We sent invitation letters to 5,000 addresses in Elmbridge selected at random from the Royal Mail Address Database. Those that responded provided some basic information about themselves. We then used that information to select the final participants, ensuring they reflected the diversity of the population of Elmbridge
Those selected to take part have the opportunity to meet with people from different walks of life who live in Elmbridge. They will hear from engaging speakers, and then discuss the issues involved in small groups. Each group will have a facilitator to make sure everyone has their voice heard. Participants do not need to have any knowledge of the topics – all the information needed will be provided during the sessions.
Sessions will take place from 10am to 4:30pm, in-person on the following dates:
- Session 1: Saturday 14 June
- Session 2: Saturday 5 July
- Session 3: Saturday 20 September
- Session 4: Saturday 4 October
- Session 5: Saturday 18 October
The recommendations will be written by the Citizens’ Panel members with support from the facilitators. These recommendations will become the central part of a report that will also include a detailed explanation of the process followed. Elmbridge Borough Council will respond to all recommendations made by the Panel, confirming what action will be taken.
Read about the Citizens’ Panel on the Elmbridge Borough Council website
