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Local Climate Engagement (LCE) is a new programme to support local authorities from across England and the political spectrum to deliver high-quality public engagement projects on climate policy.

Which local authorities we’ll be working with

We are delighted to announce the local authorities we will be working with to engage their local communities on the climate emergency.

We were blown away to see so many councils express interest in taking part in the Local Climate Engagement Programme, with 75 applications for the 21 spaces available, and interest from every region in England.

The LCE Programme, organised by Shared Future, Involve, UK100, Democratic Society and Climate Outreach, will work with local authorities from across England and the political spectrum to deliver high-quality public engagement projects on climate policy.

We are pleased to announce the local authorities we will be working with as part of the programme.

We will be delivering training, in depth project support and providing peer learning sessions for the following areas:

• Derbyshire County Council
• Warwick District Council & Stratford District Council
• Essex County Council
• Lancaster City Council
• Sunderland City Council

We will be delivering training, mentoring, and providing peer learning sessions for the following 16 Local Authorities:

• Stevenage Borough Council
• South Tyneside
• Stockport Metropolitan Borough Council
• Rochdale Borough Council
• Liverpool City Council
• West Berkshire District Council
• Brighton and Hove City Council
• Winchester City Council
• Reigate and Banstead Borough Council
• West Midlands Combined Authority
• Kensington and Chelsea
• Hebden Royd Town Council and Todmorden Town Council
• Kirklees Council
• Sheffield City Council
• East Riding of Yorkshire
• Reading

Initial analysis of the 75 applications we received shows an excellent spread across geographic regions, the political spectrum and types of local authority:

• Political Administration: 33% Conservative led councils, 41.3% Labour led and 12% were Coalition led
• Region: The highest number of EOIs were received from the South East & North West; then Yorkshire; South West & West Midlands and the other regions.
• Make up of rural/urban/mixed areas: 37% Rural; 41% Urban & 22% Mixed

These applications demonstrated a strong cross-party desire for a community-backed transition and the understanding that we can’t achieve Net Zero without public involvement in climate decision-making. Our Local Climate Engagement Programme will help support Local Authorities to do just that.

Background on the programme

Local authorities have a unique leadership role in reducing greenhouse gas emissions and helping local areas adapt to the effects of climate change. Across the country they have shown bold leadership by setting Net Zero targets that are years ahead of the national government. However they will only be able to deliver their role effectively and achieve a fair Net Zero transition by enabling public participation in their climate decision-making.

Local Climate Engagement (LCE) is a new programme to support local authorities in England to plan, commission and deliver high quality public engagement in their climate decision-making, in a way that benefits both them and their local population.

Through the programme we will work with two groups of local authorities:

• The Coaching Group: Local authorities who join the Coaching Group will develop their capability and confidence in planning, commissioning and overseeing public engagement in climate decision-making. The programme content includes training for council officers, draw-down mentoring time, and peer learning sessions.  

•  The Project Group: Local authorities who join the Project Group will work with us to deliver a high quality piece of local public engagement in climate decision-making, and start to embed the approaches and skills needed for future participation work. The programme content includes training for council officers, up to £45,000 of our time (pro-bono) to support each local authority to plan and deliver a piece of public engagement work, and peer learning sessions.

The National Advisory Group

The Programme has a National Advisory Group that will meet six times between March 2022 and March 2023 to offer advice and guidance to the Programme. The National Advisory Group members include:

• Rebecca Willis, Lancaster University – Chair of the National Advisory Group
• Alice Owen, Place Based Climate Action Network
• Bonny Ibhawoh, Participedia Project Direcror
• Ewa Kmietowicz, Climate Change Committee
• Isobel Wade, Greater Cambridge Partnership
• Jess Studdert, New Local
• Judy Ling Wong, Founder of Black Environment Network (Twitter: @ling_judy)
• Louise Marix Evans, Director of Quantum Strategy & Technology (LinkedIn & Twitter: @QuantumStraTech)
• Martin Hunt, Forum for the Future (LinkedIn)
• Paul Anderson, Voyage Youth
• Tanya Pascual, Hertfordshire County Council (LinkedIn )

The programme is funded by Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation (UK branch) and Esmée Fairbairn Foundation.

Finding out more

The Subsequent report of its first part of findings is available to view here.