Are You Leading on Climate Change in Your Authority? We Need Your Help
At the most recent meeting of the East of England LGA’s Improvement Panel, the members of the Panel agreed that one of their three focus areas for the next 12 months should be “Climate Change”. The Climate Change issue has never been more politically and socially important than it is in 2019; 30 of the 50 local authorities in the East of England have now declared a Climate Emergency and many others are considering doing so. A recent YouGov poll also cited “Environment” as one of the current top three issues for voters: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-50307304, with concern about Climate Change at the highest level since tracking of the issue began in 2010.
As the first stage of EELGA’s work, we have engaged a Policy Research Intern to undertake a focussed 3 month investigation into the current activities of local authorities in the East of England in relation to Climate Change. Our intern, Lorna McBride, has now largely completed the “desktop” phase of her research and is keen to speak to local authority officers across the region who are working directly on this agenda. We want to validate the findings of the desktop research, which uses publicly available information, mainly gleaned from local authority websites. Lorna would also like to gain a more up-to-date insight on progress with any Climate Change Action Plans, Projects or Policy Development in East of England local authorities.
By bringing together a picture of activity across the region, we would hope to identify good practice, generate opportunities for collaboration and to showcase the work of the leading authorities in the region in the Climate Change field. So whether you are doing amazing things and want to share them with others or you are just starting on this journey and are keen to learn from what others have already done, then we would love to hear from you.
Please contact either:
Lorna McBride, Policy Research Intern, on 01284 758323 or Lorna.McBride@eelga.gov.uk
(please note that Lorna works only on Monday, Tuesday and Thursday)
Eddie Gibson, Senior Manager, on 01284 758310 or eddie.gibson@eelga.gov.uk