In March 2024, the Yorkshire & Humber Climate Commission published Climate Talking Points.
The briefing was presented to an online audience on 13 March by Senior Engagement and Impact Officer Andrew Wood before a panel of respondents, and followed by an open Q&A discussion. The event was chaired by Richard Beardsworth, Professor of International Politics at the University of Leeds.
0:44 | Andrew Wood, Yorkshire & Humber Climate Commission
9:08 | Melanie Taylor (Just Strategy)
16:02 | Rachael Balmer (North Yorks Council)
22:44 | Amogh Nagendra (Regional Youth Climate Assembly)
30:51 | Niki Roach (Chartered Institute of Water and Environmental Management)
37:55 | Paul Hayes (Senior Policy Fellow, Leeds University Business School)
43:56 | Q&A
In its Climate Talking Points briefing, the Commission identified four key policy changes needed to unlock climate action across Yorkshire and the Humber.
Read more and download the document: https://yorksandhumberclimate.org.uk/news/climate-talking-points-agenda-yorkshire-and-humber
Andrew Andrew Wood uh who is the senior engagement and impact officer uh for the yorksh hurg climate commission um is going to speak uh for about five minutes to The Climate talking points uh as an introduction to then the panel that will follow Andrew has a background as a planning and sustainability consultant
And an environmental campaigner his role at the commission is to build the application and impact of our work on local policy making the planning system and to contribute to influencing National policy so Andrew can I hand over to you please thank you very much and good
Evening yes um I’m hoping that you can now see my slides um so uh thanks for introduction it’s great to uh to see so many people here um I’m I’m not going to talk in um in particular detail about the uh the policy changes in the talking points
Because um that’s obviously what uh um uh what we’re hoping that our um our speakers will much better place to do um so the aim um of the work here is to produce a clear and straight forward agenda for policy change that we’re confident applies whatever the outcome of the forthcoming
Um uh all all the um the local and the maral and the national elections um that that are facing us this year and it’s really heartening that um uh each of our vice chairs who come from across the region and across the uh across the party political Spectrum have been happy
To support the work so firstly uh a quick reminder the policies and the decisions that we put in place now will make a genuine difference to the Future that we experience in particular I think the future that our children and grandchildren experience because our success in reducing carbon emissions has an impact
On the warming scenarios that we’re looking at and the warming scenarios have an effect on the places we live in um the kind of the kind of weather we’re experience uh and the state of nature um so we know that the public support for and the public
Um uh the scale of sort of like the the um uh the appetite for climate change is strong and we know that most people are to a greater um uh I’m just being attacked by cat excuse me um to a greater or lesser degree uh worried about their future and a change in
Climate but action is not really keeping up with that demand so in the um in the talken B document we’ve identified the general types of action that are needed in terms of reducing emissions in terms of rebuilding nature and recognizing that the only viable future economically
Is a green future um and ultimately it’s about making people’s lives better because people have to be able to live and thrive in a changing climate um and as we pursue that uh we have to be we have to specifically address the change that are facing uh the people who are
Who now are already struggling um so uh there are lots of specific actions within each each of those areas and through our work at the commission we know of projects that are happening in the region operating in all these areas of action and one thing that’s uh really striking from talking to our
Colleagues um in the local uh and the combined authorities Mar authorities is how how determined they are to make progress on these actions because um they’re responsible for the future of their places and they know that all these actions are necessary um the the problem being at present um only a very
Small number of those actions really are genuinely supported by national level regulation and policy um so we have seen a strengthening of the regulatory requirements for nature recovery which is great um and whilst it’s perhaps faltered a little recently um efforts to decarbonize our fuel sources particularly around the
Electricity grid are are continuing but looking at all the other bullets on this slide which I won’t go through but but you can see that they’re there um uh there’s not a great deal else uh of those that are genuinely supported by national regulation and policy and I don’t think that really um
Translates to a lack of Interest or appetite at National level my impression is that uh most civil servants and the majority of national politicians want to do this and they ultimately they have to do it and they’re trying to do it but the real Gap the real problem I think
Seems to be around lack of strategic approaches um actions being sort of divided up between different strategies with different organizations or departments leading them and lack of joining up in particular around how budgets and Investments are planned and implemented so when you look at at the talking points um the policy changes
That we’ve identified to unlock action um which are basically enabling places to go further and faster on their carbon reduction Journey um having much more integrated Lo um uh integrated locally managed and longer term funding funding parts to enable that joined up work to happen um seeing that various strategies
Need to be interlined and that they look to tackle society’s other big challenges alongside climate and take a much more nature first approach to publicly funded infrastructure um uh so that we can build the the health and the resilience of nature these are messages we hear
Again and again from um from uh all sectors from senior leaders as well as individuals and businesses and I think you can hopefully see that what they what they all amount to really is addressing just those two gaps I mentioned the need for joined up strategy and for joined up funding and
Financial planning so uh to conclude whatever the outcome um of of the various elections that will be taking place this year speaking as objectively as possible uh these are the changes that we need future future policy makers to be embracing so um that’s my introduction I’ll stop there and I look
Forward to hearing from our other speakers as to how this chimes with um their experience uh in their different areas of work thank you thank you very much Andrew sorry I was taking a little bit of time to unmute myself uh thank you Andrew very much for that introduction
To the why wherefores of of the climate talking points and their importance especially in electoral uh year um and how we can all use them um to put pressure on um our political um stakeholders the the next sort of half an hour 35 minutes we’ll see how uh we go and I’ll
Manage it carefully uh but also generously because we have time um are the reflections from the panel with regard to these uh talking points and the for policy changes that Andrew has just taken us through um it’s Melanie Rachel amog Nikki and Paul who are going
To speak I’m going to introduce each one of them uh in turn um and I’ll start with Mel um but just to say I’m going to keep you you five to five minutes um but I won’t say anything until the five minutes is up so if there’s a sort of
30- Second Edition that’s needed to end to um finish your comments that’s fine um because I don’t want to interrupt you so five minutes each please try and keep to the time with your own stopwatches thank you very much indeed so uh Mel Melanie Taylor uh Mel is the founder of
Just strategy a northern-based strategy consultancy for place-based customer Centric Net Zero transitions she is the co-chair of the commission’s communities and engagement panel and is a non-exec board member of solutions for the planet and the Northeast and Yorkshire Net Zero Hub Mel over to you thank you Richard for that
Introduction and um hello everyone it’s really lovely to um be speaking with you tonight it feels like a really timely moment to be having a conversation about bold leadership and I know that the the timeliness is partly because we’ve got this whole variety of different ele
Coming up on the horizon but I think it’s also timely because there’s a feeling at the moment or certainly a feeling that I have that of a bit of stuckness in in climate policy and I think you can feel that feeling if you’re if you’re working in policy or
Even if you’re just watching it on the Telly just this sense that um a lack of shity um where policies that we you know had thought um were um you know we’re pretty steadfast and nailed on suddenly no longer feel so steadfast and nailed on and I think that feeling um has been
Coming kind of thick and fast over over the last couple of months really um and and from all political parties um across the board so I think there is a real sense at the moment um that it is time to call again for bold leadership on um
On climate change and um the talking point points that we’ve um that that we’ve developed I think a really great start to that there are a few points that I wanted to raise before we start getting into the um the detail of each of those talking points but that that um
I guess touches on on each of them in a in a in a way um is um a a few themes that I think cross cut across all of these um the first is that we need the right leadership at the right levels and I think probably it’s
Safe to say that up until now particularly on um a lot of the work that I do is on energy policy a lot of the focus really has been on on National policy and I think that’s true across a number of the policy areas that we’re that we’re talking about but I think
Increasingly there’s a recognition that if we want a just transition we really need to be making these sorts of policy choices um at a at a local level um and at a local level where we’re really able to engage the communities that those policy changes are going to affect where
They get to influence how those policy changes play out um within their within their lives and I think that’s the really key important point for me around um around our talking point one about that ability of places to use local targets and go further and faster um if
They want to um and I think I think that’s really key is that actually at that at that local place base level that’s where we have the potential to really understand what the local ambition is and make sure that we are moving at a rate that doesn’t leave people people
Behind the second point that I’d make as well as making policy at the right Geographic level is is making policy at the right time um you might be um aware or you might not but there was quite a lot of controversy in and um Germany over the last year and it all started
Because um the the the German government announced a policy that from the next year so from this year that we’re in now um you wouldn’t be able to um replace your gas boiler you you would need something else and this caused an awful lot of um concern and and and worry in
Germany and I’m I’m sure there were lots of um reasons for that but but the biggest reason that people stated was simply that they just didn’t feel that they’d had enough time um and I think it’s really important for for government and policy makers at all levels to make
Sure that they’re flagging um to communities at the earliest possible uh time what will be expected and what is required as as part of that transition and again the only way that you can do that is to have very sort of clear and credible plans about what policy leevers
You’re going to use and also how are you going to support the most vulnerable in society to be able to make that trans transition as they policy leaders start start to come in and I think that crosses over um a number of those talking points um being able to set
Local targets but also increasingly being able to have the funding pots that are there that you can direct into the communities that really need them to be able to to to make that transition and then finally um and I guess I’ve touched on this a few times
Already I probably bang on about it a lot I guess it’s my job to bang on about it a lot is the need to engage um communities in every aspect um of of policy Development Across each of those talking points whether it’s reducing emissions developing local targets how
We use local funding pots how we um uh get the right set of skills and make sure that people are supported to have the right skills to get into the right jobs so that we can have the economic growth that we want um how our cities
Need to look and feel all of that needs to be done in um a collaborative and really openhearted way to be able to bring the widest set of views in and that’s not always views that agree sometimes you know it is um finding ways
To to sit down and be able to hear and take on board a whole variety of of views and opinions as we as we start to develop the cities and the towns and the and the communities that we that we need to have in
Future so I feel like I’m am I am I getting towards my minut I can carry on Richard um Mel love it but no um thank you very much Mel obviously you come back in the the question answers and continue um you know your line of reasoning that’s great thank you
Very much for being so clear and to the point I’m going to turn now to uh Rachel Rachel um if Rachel can come through I’m here yes thank you very much Richard um I’m gonna let Rachel let me just introduce you so people know who you are uh Rachel is a chartered planner
Who has worked in local government planning in Yorkshire for over 20 years in both development management and planning policy and she’s currently one of the planning policy managers at North yorshire Council and leading on how our new local plan is going to respond to climate change Rachel over to you thank
You very much Richard good evening everybody um uh thank you very much for inviting me along to to this event so that I can sort of get involved in the in the engagement on on what is a you know really important issue uh for for
All all um parts of the country not just North North Yorkshire um I’m I’m primarily coming from a local government perspective because that’s where I’m sort of one of the sort of key actors in in this in this uh sort of play around how we how we respond to reducing our
Carbon emissions and and specifically as well my background is in planning so it’s very much from the perspective of the local planning Authority and the sort of four policy aims I think that that they are really really important that we we take them forward um I would say that they’re very
Useful uh as as approaches to consider and they’re they’re they’re necessary to take forward the first one when it talks about empowering local communities to set their their own targets I think from uh from the planning systems perspective we’re very frustrated at the moment um there was a recent uh written
Ministerial statement uh produced by the government which um whilst we understand we need to ensure that when we create different uh targets for carbon emission uh standards in in in buildings in terms of their energy use and things that there have to be a a a you know a
Standardized process but the government has placed further restrictions on us in how we do that and the Town and Country Planning Association and uh a range of bodies have have written to the government to ask them to to reconsider this process so I’m hoping that that
That does um go forward into the future and we we we can set more flexible standards around how we look at uh reducing carbon emissions in in in specifically in relation to buildings um we’re at a very early stage in the preparation of our local plan um which
Is a very sort of prescribed process but we do want to have um engagement going forward and events like this will be an opportunity for us to hear how our communities are feeling about what is such a a pressing issue in relation to um coordinating funding streams obviously now York and North Yorkshire
They’re a combined Authority there is devolution is that centralized funding pot and I’m hoping that that in itself will start to help a better sort of collaboration and coordination of funding that’s available to allow us to create some really quite strategic and Innovative uh um infrastructure that can
Help then support our journey to to to Net Zero and Beyond um in relation to the having joined up strategies that look to uh support uh to reduce um poverty uh improve nature resilience respond to uh the sort of zero emission agenda um that’s something that the
Local plan will have to do um because a local plan you have to read as a whole and it covers a whole range of of issues around where we locate new development uh how do we protect important Landscapes uh in in our in our plan area
And we have have a time frame to create that local plan now of of just four years and that that plan will be in place it have a a timeline of effectively 15 years so we need to really um get a grip on how we’re going to address and respond to climate change
Throughout our local plan and and allow that to take forward because if we if we miss the opportunity that we have now um you know it’s it’s it’s really quite U you know a significant serious thing for us to for us to do then in relation to considering things around a nature of
First approach as well um there are various strategies that are emerging uh they have U well it’s a local nature cover Network strategy um there is a project around looking at private investment in um looking at nature resilience and different infrastructure projects that can be taken forward to um
Improve um the environment around flood risk uh and and using sort of nature to both build resilience and uh help to uh reduce climate emissions we also have um what’s com in recently it’s coming in part but it’ll be coming in March in full which is mandatory requirements to
Have on on planning proposals uh what’s termed biodiversity net gain and that’s a sort of measured Quantum of uh biodiversity contribution that you’re making on a specific site and that’s come through from the environment act and that’s something that planning applications have to consider now basically and and will’ll have to do so
Going forward so there is hope there there is there is a number of key positive things happening but it’s events like this that are setting out a key strategy that we can take to to um central government is is uh and and and other sort of political Arenas is is
Really important so thank you very much thank you very much richel bang on time thank you thank you indeed and you’ll come back obviously in the Q&A um uh following up so can I turn now to uh amog nendra uh amog please come forward uh on the
Screen hi thank you uh an very very good to see you I’m just going to introduce you uh amog is representing the ryca which is the regional youth climate assem ryca provides a Collective Youth voice for young people within the climate discussion at the regional level uh it
Encourages young people living in the yoren H region to represent uh their local Authority and to join the pool of discussion when it comes to Young people’s futures uh I think whilst the first two uh panelists have focused on uh policy changes one two and four Rachel ending with four on biodiversity
And nature first I think I’m I’m if I’m right you’re going to sort of talk more comprehensively of all four or react to all four in general anyway amog over to you I can I just start by saying thank you I think it’s a great opportunity and
I think um it’s great that you’re getting young people’s views as well because obviously climate change um is problem that affects everyone it’s not just a certain group of people it’s not just policy makers who get affected it’s every single person in the world and um I think climate the climate
Talking points they’re all amazing I think they were all needed sort of to lead policy makers on the right path if you like um but I’d like to start with the first one um the empowering places and local uh councils and local authorities talking point I think we need to empower local peoples
Because you know it’s it’s their planet and they should do something as well I think to do that education is key um along with sort of advertisement about green jobs skills all these terms that we hear all the time but not necessarily know what they mean I don’t think a lot
Of people actually understand what climate change is going to affect uh how climate change is going to affect them personally I think the education is definitely severely lacking in schools from a young person’s point of view but I think it’s also severely lacking in general um I mean going back to schools
It’s only taught in geography or science but that’s only been brought in sort of very recently so I mean I doubt your average uh 30 Old 4-year-old if you ask them what can you do to save the environment how how you know how will you help uh solve climate change or what
Actually is climate change I think they’ll have I think they’ll understand oh climate change yeah they make some links in the head seen something on the news you know a polar bear um falling into the sea ice caps melting they see all of this but I don’t think they really understand the
Severity of the issue and I think that needs to be solved because really if you’re Tau that polar bear polar bear are dying um the sad truth is you know people are going to say oh no I’m really sorry they maybe sympathize empathize with it for you know a couple of
Minutes but they won’t really care then I know it’s sad and a bit horrible to say but it’s it’s the truth and I think the problem is that people don’t know how it’s going to affect them individually and so they think oh climate change is just an issue that’s
Going to be you know it’s there but it’s not not actually affecting me so why should I help why should I do anything obviously it’s and you know they think global warming willum it’s on a global scale how how can something that I do possibly you know um come to anything
That’s actually going to have any impact and I think so education is definitely a massive massive point that I think needs to be put on there I think it’s um missed out a bit it’s um from my uh from Young Person’s point of view especially when you talk about
Empowering people you know put them on a clear path I think even in Council so I mean uh I know that Ram Council I’m from RAM and RAM Council uh we’re on an ongoing bid to get everyone in the council carbon literacy certified and the well the basically the
Uh young people in ROM we have a a ROM youth cabinet which is a of a group of 11 to 18 year olds who are quite passionate about change in R room and we act um you know we represent the views of R room people on a sort of more local
Regional scale and even we uh have we are actually carbony certified now all of our members and we’re currently working on E package to send out to schools and for coun local council members it’s not going to be carbon literacy certified because it’s um it’s a copyright it’s going to be our own
Accessible version for that anyone can access um You’ be you know an 11y old or an 8-y old and you know they can go on there they can learn about climate change see what they can actually do and you know hopefully that makes people the solution instead of the problem and I
Think that’s something that we really need to work on as as a as a region and um I’d like to go on to the second uh climate point the I’m talking point now as well actually where it talks about um funding pots create locally managed funding pots I think it’s great
I think it’s you know it’s obviously needed um money is um scarce at the moment but I think we also need to understand that we can’t just spend to sort tick a tick Bots if you like to just say oh look we’ve done this look at you know
All these things that we’ve done vote for me it’s not that that’s not what we’re trying to get here we’re trying to actually make some change TR can get something out of the spending so it needs to be it needs to be meaningful spending there needs to be how can the
Problem actually be solved with us spending this money and you know just an example of this is in London I’m sure you all know they spent million pounds on cycle super highways which is basically just some blue paint on the road and it you know if you ask any
Cyclist uh I because I cycle myself I you know I cycle everywhere I go um if you ask any cyclist they’re not going to it’s not it’s not it’s just not safe um you know you’re going going on a and you’ll carage way cars are going 40 mil
Per hour 50 miles per hour and you’re cycling on on the side of the road you’ve got lores trucks buses going past you it’s not practical um and five people tragically died within just nine days of it opening you know it’s just an example of where they’ve spent the money
They I mean they’ve just spent 50 million pounds to set for active transport which is obviously it’s a good thing on paper but in Practical reality can the really important remarks you’re making um can I sorry I think I went over a bit there so we can keep the time you’ve got one
Minute left okay okay okay I’ll just quickly wrap up yeah I think meaningful spending education I think is key it’s a holistic sort of Young Person’s view point um but yes thank you I’ll pass on I think I’ve gone a bit over over there am I’m sorry to stopped you in
Your tracks um but you can come back in the question and answer and and take up other comments you wanted to make um thank you very much for what you said can I turn now to uh Nikki Nikki roach uh Nikki is convinced Nikki please come
Forward so you’re on the screen Nicki is convinced that by connecting the right people and thinking at a systems level anything is possible in her roles as past president of Chartered institution of water and Environmental Management the present director of blue and green Consulting and host of the podcast
Planet possible she spends her time looking for opportunities to connect people to solve some of our biggest challenges Nikki over to you thank you so much Richard and thank you for the invitation to join you this evening um um gosh I’m already really inspired I’m
There’s so many things I want to talk to you about afterwards so it was it was lovely to hear um all of my fellow panelists um I was asked just to talk a little bit and reflect on the nature first um talking point and so I’m going
To do that maybe a little differently to what we’ve heard already I’m going to going to D Dive Right into sort of the detail of a specific topic just to give you a bit of a feel for that so as Richard said is in in his introduction I
Have spent my um career working in it around the water sector and at the moment I’m doing some work with the water company not in Yorkshire hen to ad though um connected to York’s work um thinking about how we can transition towards using more nature-based solutions I thought it might be
Interesting just to give you a bit of a a flavor for what that looks and feels like what’s happening already and where some of the challenges are really so um you you may have seen uh in the news that there’s quite a lot of interest in storm overflows and Spills from from
Combined sewer overflows nationally um it’s something that the sector are grappling with and in the last couple of days and if you haven’t seen and you’re interested it’s worth having look water UK have just published their National Storm overflow reduction plan um and I’m going to look down at my notes so I
Don’t get the numbers wrong but um the plan is setting out a target of achieving less than 10 spills across the board for every overflowing in England and Wales by 2050 96 billion pounds wor of investment which is ginormous over 9,000 overflows and in the next five years approximately regulator still to
Make some decisions around 10 billion pounds with of investment so without going into lots of detail traditionally storm overflows are um things that are quite a kind of gray engineered solution really and the way that we manage flows in our network is through hard engineering typically things like
Concrete tanks that hold water back in the system or making sewers bigger for example um there is a growing um drive across the sector and it’s it’s the work that I’m doing to think about how we put nature first in fact York water have got an initiative called nature first and
The water company that I’m working with have got one called Green first um and the whole point about that is to say how do we work with nature rather than immediately leaping towards a kind of gray solution so in Practical terms what that means is things like well optimizing what we’ve got because
Obviously the best thing that we can do is is build nothing new in some respects if we can optimize the system um but then is thinking about things like slowing the flow down so the real issue with the way networks perform is that we um we get a peak flow and that’s what
The the network struggle to cope with so actually how do we hold the water back naturally so that might be things like sailes sustainable Urban drainage working with colleagues like Rachel in planning and highways authorities and and thinking in systems really because the the the water sector are only part
Of the water cycle um and part of the landscape really so how do we slow the flow down how do we separate surface water out so um so I’ve got rain water harvesting at my house that is not an easy thing to do if anyone wants to talk
About that drop me a message afterwards but how do we get those kind of ideas how do we take surface water rain water that doesn’t need to go into the sewage system out and we can do that at you know large scale we can do that at
Community scale we can do that at individual scale so there are individual actions we can all take if we want to like things like water buts for example that’s a really quick and easy way to do a nature first type solution really and it has a really big impact if we start
To act at scale but then at the other end of the scale there are things that the water companies are already doing um and it’s it goes that saying that um there are multiple benefits from these kind of approaches so there’s the obvious one which is we reduce the
Amount of spills that go into water courses and that’s full stop a good thing to do but then also when you put nature-based Solutions in things that work with nature rather than hard engineering obviously you’re not pouring as much concrete which reduces the carbon footprint of those Solutions but also you’re typically creating
Environments that are much more pleasant to be around so there’s a kind of imunity benefit there’s typically a biodiversity benefit because you’re you’re putting planting in into spaces that didn’t have planting before it’s giving access sometimes on a small scale sometimes on a large scale to to Green
Spaces that people might not have previously used there’s a kind of an onward sort of health benefit we’ve seen through green and blue social prescribing that actually there real benefits to people just being in and around nature but there are challenges so um the plan that water UK put in said
25% of those solutions that I talked about should be delivered through nature-based Roots the two water companies I I’m familiar with are trying to look at everything through a nature first lens a green first lens acknowledging not everything can be delivered through that route but to give
You a feel for some of those challenges skills so amog talked about green jobs well actually the kind of things that we’ll need people to do in order to deliver an hbas Solutions we’ve never done on this scale before so we don’t have both the skills and the capacity in
The supply chain to do some of these things so there’s a real urgency around if we want to transition to this where are those people coming from and how do we train them in order to be competent um sometimes these things take longer to deliver that in itself is a challenge
Because I think there’s a weight of expectation sometimes so you want to put nature first nature is a lot slower sometimes to do stuff than a concrete tank so how do we how do we get that balance right um how do we work with the likes of Highways the likes of planning
To make sure that for example when a new development goes in that we think about where that water’s going to go for example or how do we manage Highway drainage we just did a podcast episode on the challenges and you might have seen it in the recently around Highway
Drainage and and where that goes and what’s in it actually when you think about Road runoff and where we want to put that as well so the water sector is absolutely part of this interconnected system and we have to work outside of our own Silo in order to try and solve
Some of these challenges so it’s definitely not easy it keeps me awake at night sometimes uh thinking about how we do it but um I guess I wanted to just provide a bit of an example to say that kind of nature first thinking is definitely finding its way right into
The heart of possibly the biggest piece of infrastructure spending on the books that we’ve seen certainly in England Wales for a for a good amount of time and um so there is a direction of travel that’s positive but there’s a huge amount of work to do and I think it’s
The sort of thing that the sector absolutely can’t do by itself Richard I hope I’m all right for time I forgot to St my timer sorry that was perfect thank you very much Nikki lots of things in what we’re saying thank you you’re welcome we’ll see you again soon um Paul
Um can you put your camera on uh Paul please camera is on isn’t it oh it is it is come forward I’m sorry um let me just introduce you um Paul Paul Hayes is uh a senior policy fellow at Leeds University Business School uh prior to taking his
This role uh he was policy manager at Wakefield council with over 20 years experience of local government and issues across the Yorkshire and Humber region Paul over to you thank you Richard I I’ve been asked tonight to talk about joining up strategies in terms of the talking points uh in
Particular around climate skills and economic strategies and how they can actually embed climate one of the things I actually got to think about was and it was a job I had back in the day in terms of was actually identifying how many strategies Wakefield produced as a local
Authority because nobody knew uh and I’ve dug out the the paperwork that I actually took with me and it was around about 52 so that would be large scale strategy plans like the local plan that Rachel’s doing for North Yorkshire a lot of stuff that they have to do
Statutorily so a local Authority has a duty to produce a food safety plan which most people don’t know about you know there’s stuff around highways and this is also just an individual District rather than plans and strategies produced at subregional level at Regional level produced by Partners like
The NHS there are an awful lot of plans and strategies out out there the vast majority which I think still at the moment will not engage with the climate agenda there is something here about how do you do that and how do you make them
All engage and how do you make them all align Mel made some very good points around leadership and the opportunities for that I think a bigger opportunity in some ways is culture and how you change your culture and how you develop and mainstream awareness of climate issues across organizations across
Partnerships and thinking about this there’s probably two ways to do this uh one is around lateral thinking and selling the opportunities to people I know people earlier have talked about the economic opportunities for the green economy if I’m in terms of I’m if I’m in Beijing economics or I’m an economic development
Person what I’m interested primarily is is around how I can sustain and and sustain how I can create jobs how I can support businesses again there’s a lot of opportunities in the net zero there’s a lot of opportunities there also in terms of the risks around economic transition that’s not usually in
Someone’s skill set around looking at the green agenda there’s a lot of colleagues now that are starting to emerge in local authorities and in Combined authorities and nationally who’s providing this information and there’s something about a brokerage that things like the commission can do can build that cultural awareness and get it
To snow even into strategies you wouldn’t actually think older people yeah if you’re runting an older people strategy and you need to be aware of the issues around heat that could impact on older people down the line it starts to think that climate awareness is built into strategy you wouldn’t actually think of
Historically would have any links to The Climate agenda I think the other one and this may be useful for people in the audience in terms of if they want to engage and they want to shape and they want to influence is around pretty much all strategies now go out to some form of
Consultation uh some form of public engagement and if you can actually say where is the climate uh area of that and how can we engage with that and here’s some suggestions uh a lot of the time you’ll be kicking at an Open Door people will
Want to that oh yes we can add that in we can build that one in the engagement cycle and being proactive and engaging with organizations to when they publish strategies and when those strategies are LED up the other one also is about sharing metrics again the cliche what gets measured gets
Managed so there it’s something about what are the metrics how do we side this again it’s linked to Nikki’s systems approach that people are working towards the same objective and recognize they contribute to the same objective and that I think there are your three points of entry in terms of joining these
Strategies up it’s starting to come and I think we’ll reach a tip point where it snowballs and a good example is how Public Health have operated over the last decade that pretty much Public Health now is mainstreamed into a lot of people’s work and I think you’ll see the
Same with climate but it still needs those ongoing pushes and that culture and that awareness again EDI is another example about how that agenda is been mainstreamed into plans and strategies you wouldn’t that the people were writing them a decade ago or even five years ago didn’t think that the be any
Need that so or any need to embed that in and things are now becoming embedded so my message to people is keep pushing keep engaging keep saying where’s the climate in in that plan and strategy or where’s the climate in your agenda thank you thank you Paul very very clear on
Those entry points for strategizing climate um we’ve now got I’m a little over time with regard to the agenda but I wanted to allow the speakers to speak as fully as they can I’m sorry again for for interrupting you amok but I hope you come back in the Q&A we have 35 minutes
Of Q&A I have uh just to go back to the opening remarks either please put up your your digital hand uh I think I can cover everybody here or please put your uh questions in the Q&A and uh can I ask Charlie or Kate if something Co goes into the chat can it
Be uh can it be retrieved and put in the Q&A or if you have yourselves those of you in the audience put a question in the chat can you put it back into the Q&A so I’m able to see as much as possible I’m going to basically now uh
Turn to the questions and then turn back to uh our five panelists and ask you know uh people um who particularly would like to respond I’m going to start with one that is immediately directed to Rachel from Mike Potter um to give time for people the panelists to look at the
Other questions which I’ll then pick up uh after this I’ll probably go to Nick’s question above Mike so um Mike is asking uh Rachel uh with regard to relative planning uh planning policies at uh Regional level in relation to National policy uh what are what is the prioritization will for example the new
New North Yorkshire local plan be capable of taking precedence over government planning policy or lack thereof uh or will our hands your hands uh be tied Rachel if you could come back on that question I’d be grateful yes happy happy to do that yes so um local planning policy always has to have
Regard to National planning policy there’s there’s effectively what is called a a chain of chain of Conformity so um when a plan a local plan is examined an examiner looks at it to assess whether or not the policies it has in it are they still have to be locally
Distinctive so that means that you can you can set standards you can apply um policies uh in a in a very locally specific way but they have to be in that sort of General alignment and general Conformity with national policy and one of the key sort of is of of and I would
Say it is there is that sort of tension currently INF frustration is around the extent to which a local plan can set uh targets around building sustainability and design uh which go above and beyond what building regulations requires um and that’s going to be an area I think
That this local plan will and other local plans that are currently in production some of them are going through examination um it it is going to be a a a testing ground I think um in terms of how we can effectively create a plan that’s right for North Yorkshire
That that looks at the the the different standards that we could create um that looks at the different opportunities we may have for uh significant renewable energy energy generation across the author The Authority area it’s there’s going to need to be a a very sort of well look at the Strategic issues around
And and grasp those difficult issues around well where do we look at Large Scale renewable energy generation versus what that might mean for those uh communities in that local area and politically that could be that could be quite challenging um but essentially a local plan is able to set um policies
That um you know reflect the social economic and environmental conditions of a local area of its Planet area it has to be in conform with national policy but it doesn’t have to mirit it it it can have its own particular Dimension I hope that’s um answers that question Rachel thank you very much
Before I go on to another question it’s obviously it’s it’s a very important Point um and Rachel you’ve been very clear in your response any other member of the panel like to come back to this question uh on this point before I move on okay I’ll now turn to Nick’s question uh
I’ve got David also got his hand up I think um or it’s clapping um I’m not sure whether that’s a raised hand or not anyway let me go to um Nick H sorry okay yeah yeah um and then come back to you David um for those of you who haven’t got the
Q&A uh in front of you let me just go through it very quickly at a national policy level the UK climate change committee has repeatedly recommended that there should be no expansion of UK airport capacity unless an aviation emissions mitigation strategy is in place and proven to be working on the
Scale at the pace required for the aviation industry to become Net Zero by 2050 will the yorin Humber climate commission support this call on on the next government or with regard to the next government um for Nick this really matters for local plans and specific Decisions by the auction humble local Authority
Planners would anyone particular like to come back to that or I’m going to turn to any of you Rachel I’m goingon to come back immediately to you and I’m also going to go go to Paul um as people involved in local government could you could you uh
Paul if you’d like to start and then Rachel if you could come in and any anybody else pick up that question uh it’s obviously a very important question which we’ve heard uh quite a period of time but which is not going to go away very clearly yeah I’m happy to come in
Here Rich again what you’ve got then is a set of tensions between P again you have the planners you’ll have the environmental people in terms of engaging about if we use airport growth as an area but then you’ll have the economic development people who say look at the economic benefits of airports you
Need to look at this stuff in round there around transition and how again I’m back on the concept of culture change and making the argument and having that debate there’s still a need in some cases to shift some economic thinking from the uh growth at any cost there’ll be a technical solution to
Climate issues it will sort itself in the long run there is still that view and that belief among some people and culture change point I think needs to be made in terms of something there’s still a view that the climate agenda the green agenda is anti-growth it’s anti-economic
Prosperity which it isn’t it’s a transitional agenda and I think that is still something that the climate commission and other people involved in this will probably need again to look at those arguments and continue to make those arguments Rachel do you want to follow up well I’ll just Echo really what Paul
Said there there is there is um you know competing effectively tensions around this and the extent to which a local plan would would be uh considering that is really whether there’s any drivers for change within the area of the local plan in terms of whether we have any uh
Proposals being submitted uh to consider you know expansion of of airports because I think that would be a strategic sort of consideration that really should be explored through through a through a local plan examination process um that’s yet to be that’s yet to be tested but of course
You can still have um uh you know an an Aerodrome and and you know the usage from that could increase and that’s still that’s increasing CO2 emissions but if there’s no development on the ground that’s not something that the the you know from a planning point of view
From a development point of view we would we would be able to um you know get in get in involved in but it’s something that still does need to be discussed I think just more collectively in relation to this issue around uh helping to realize that Economic Development does not necessarily um have
To be um bad for the environment and what we should be looking to do is is promote through the local plan through a whole range of whole plethora of strategies that that exist you know to to to promote uh technologies that that you know have a have either you know our
Net Zero or or are um you know even carbon negative in in their in their operations so um yeah I you know that’s already I can say at this stage on that thank you thank you Rachel thank you Paul clearly that question is not going
To go away but I want to move on I’d like to go to David who had his hand up earlier um from the North Yorkshire Climate Coalition David do you want to come in uh yeah Richard if this is okay uh this question but tell me if it’s not
And I’m very happy to leave it for another time so it was to pick up on Mike Potter’s question about the ambition level of North yorkshire’s emerging local plan uh Visa National regulations um specific question Rachel if I may is um okay North Yorkshire you’re optimistically we’re looking at
2027 possibly even a little bit further out before that local plan is in place and current we were still relying on the existing District level local plant which are some of which are actually reasonably ambitious some less so so this is the question uh has um North Yorkshire
Considered um as as a a quicker mechanism for achieving the the kind of ambition level that we want on um house building for example considered supplementary planning documents as as a as an interim path uh so that we’re not for the next four years building new houses that will then potentially need
Retrofitting so yeah supplementary planning document with more stringent ambition levels we haven’t explicitly considered a supplementary planning document in relation to Sustainable Building standards uh that we they have been mentioned in in various meetings for for other sort of aligned issues around for example water quality and and and water
Consumption um the issue with SPD is the fact that they are not actually part of the formal development plan they are a a document that you prepare to amplify and support the implementation of the existing policy you have in your local plan so if your policy in your local
Plan is a bit long in the tooth and doesn’t really move things along your supplementary planning document isn’t really going to be able to to change that the other thing as well is that in preparing our new local plan for for North yoria which is the largest
Authority in in the country now and the third largest in in population uh and has been created through the the effectively the merging of seven local authorities in the county Authority um we don’t have the resources and the capacity to prepare effectively seven new spds on what is what is quite
Technical issue to to support local plans that are already in place but in many respects wouldn’t have the the necessary policy standards to you know that which we can’t then put into uh nspd um because when you prepare a local plan everything has to be triangulated any policy choices you make any any
Standards you set say for around affordable housing contributions you’re factoring in biodiversity net gain you’re factoring in the the costs of building stands and and setting uh development proposal to a certain level of standard whether it’s to have uh PV or whether it’s to have ground Source
Heat pumps or or air source heat pumps or the like or some other form of decentralized energy there’s we have to understand how that could affect the viability of those proposals because obviously when we’re when we’re creating local plans we are allocating sites for development that could be housing sites
It could be it could be other forms of land use we have to be confident and the inspector has to be confident that when those sites will actually come forward because if they don’t what will happen is that there there are various sort of national policy mechanisms which kick in
And they can start to undermine the policies that you have in your local plant particularly around where development is located um and the uh the and and effectively allow windfall applications to come forward um so that is not something that a local planning Authority wants to have because it means
That their existing local plan is is is is undermined but the key thing is that it’s it’s it’s not a it’s I can see why people want to move faster they want to see change they want to make things happen and one thing is for certain the
Preparation of a local plan is no fast uh process it it isn’t um but trying to create spds off of Old local plans won’t actually achieve what you want because the the policy basis on which those local plans was made they don’t have the the the ability to take forward you know
New challenging standards so it’s it’s not it’s it’s not advocated um uh to to create spds that go above and beyond what you’ve already got on your local plan um because they they would be challenged by the you know the development industry um so so it’s it’s
It’s not something that we you know feel is is a is a prudent use of of the resources that we have we feel we need to focus on our new local plan we’ve had to park some of our existing local plans that we were looking to review in order
To make sure we focus on the new plan for North Yorkshire and trying to create spds of old local plans would whilst I can understand for some people they would want to do that it would essentially be a distraction from what we really need to do which is which is
Get our local plan in place thank you Rachel um David do you want any to make a comment back I’m not going to ask Rachel to respond to any comment but do you want to say anything in response to what Rachel has said um I
Okay I’ll make a very big point but I’m not I’m not expecting a response because it’s it’s a long complicated subject but Rachel a thought that that we have had is that you create a single template plan that would then require minimal um um tweaking across the seven uh former
District authorities so um whether that’s viable or not I don’t know perhaps we can discuss that separately and I’ll send you an email about that one thanks for the opportunity for the to ask a question great Kate do you want to come in you’ve got your hand up and then I’ll turn to
Muro yes thanks Richard there was a qu well a comment in the chat from um Jinder and uh he says we should be inspiring the younger population but we give them despair to lack of progress but the Young The Young population always inspire me great to hear from am
Thank you and um I just wondered whether since we had to cut amog off earlier whether he’d be able to come back in on a couple of the other points that I know wanted to make I I’m I’m I I will do that with within the time I’ve got I
Think it’s possible absolutely really important comment then thank you from the audience um can I uh just go to to Amo can you can you be ready to come in but can I just go to a question that is for Mel um you made a very important
Point Mel about the right this is from Muriel the right policy levers or interventions at the right time in your experience how do you identify these policy levers and when it uh when it is it the right time for them if there is a best practice in other words or what
Would you need to try and identify these a bit more proactively uh if you could come in mael and then I will turn back to amog it’s a great question I I Pro I think probably the answer is that there’s um there’s no there’s no one
Right answer but I think the um really the earliest that you can flag there’s probably a couple of stages in that process I guess um first of all flagging to Citizens or customers at the um at the earliest opportunity that you can that there is a change on its way um so
You might not be able to flag exactly what that policy looks like in detail yet but you can at least get people warmed up to the fact that there is going to need to be some kind of change um so a lot of the work that I that that
I do is um is in energy so that’s why my examples keep coming from there but I was talking about the German example with um uh with gas boers earlier the people have now started to grow in Awareness about the fact that they’re not always going to be able to have a
Gas boiler um but arguably um people AR still not quite as aware of that as they as they could be so so stage one I think and that’s the stage that you know can and should be happening now um and it’s a big part of community engagement is
Just starting to flag with people these these are the things that will need need to change even if you can’t say exactly yet this is what it you know this is what it will look like and this is how that change will look and feel but then really I think at at the
Earliest available um time is is start is start to is start to flag um what those what those dates look like and a really you know great and successful example of this actually was um uh was the work that the government did to set um to set a target for the
Um uh uh for no longer using diesel cars that’s you know that’s another great example where it gives people a long enough time period to be able to get themselves into a financial um situation where they can deal with that change when it comes along and it doesn’t leave them in a vulnerable
Situation and I guess it’s taken me a while to come to this answer but perhaps that’s The Sweet Spot perhaps that’s the answer to your question Neel is the right amount of time is the time that a allows you to make that policy change in
The time that you need to to meet your carbon budget but B also gives people the amount of time that they need to be able to financially prepare or whatever other kinds of preparations they need to be able to make to get there um so it’s
Probably a bit of an art rather than a science Mel thank you um I mean it’s it’s really important that point isn’t it around ownership and is related to any any notion of just transition um thank you and it was it’s a great question as well I’m gonna I’m gonna
Pick up J uh jinder’s comment so about education still being needed uh amog made the point very clearly that there was still a lack of knowledge of how climate was affecting people and education was uh very important amog would you like to uh come back on that
And uh further any points you wanted to make earlier or respond to anything that has come up in the discussion so far yes definitely thank you um I think yeah education is needed a lot um I think a lot of people still hear a lot of terms
And think and don’t really know what they mean especially green jobs upskilling I think uh is quite you the terms that they hear a lot but um they think they don’t you know especially young people who are going out of Education going into jobs um in maybe
Two three four years time who still don’t know what path they can take they don’t know the options available to them and even uh people who are already in the um different sectors how they I don’t think they also understand how they could probably upscale um get
Into a of a grp green a job a green profession um I think advertisement showing how what what green jobs actually are explaining them to people in a way that they can understand in way it’s accessible um uh why we need them where can they find more information where can actually
Find green jobs when um are they you know s of going to uh be available when are they going to come out when is everything going to happen I think it’s very very important that we address these issues along with obviously you know uh sort of national and uh Regional scale infrastructure
Developments and I think that’s come up a lot uh I think the sort of just going down into a more local level I think is quite important as well just you know touching um sort of going back to square one understanding the problems of Consulting with people how is climate change
Affecting you uh you know we had the floods in shaffield and P Cliffe um and rotheram uh last year and um we had a quite bad flooding I think it was in 2019 2011 as well I think um and I think it’s just going back to these communities that actually been affected
By climate change Gathering their information their how they’ve been affected personally and then s of collating this into a more accessible into a way that anyone can understand and you know trying to empower people to actually make change instead of just um you know it’s it’s great talking about
Climate change these uh forums I think they’re amazing but the real the real deal is acting and you know talking is the first step educating I think is the second step and obviously but if we don’t act upon anything that we say or we we pledge that we’re going to do then
You know none if it’s useful there’s no point in doing anything if uh nothing’s going to come no you know well thank you and please do come back uh we still have some time I’d like to go to Andrew and then I’d like to
Bring in Mel uh to respond to Vicki I am aware that Ian uh set up a question right at the beginning which we haven’t come to which is around food security and nature recovery uh Nikki I know you’re in water not in Agri food um but I’m wondering whether the the principle
Of the question you could possibly uh not respond to but articulate a kind of response in principle um I know that Rosa the director of the commission uh was going to come in earlier or wanted to come in earlier I’m sorry I didn’t I didn’t pick up your chat Rosa if you
Would like to come in at any point please um please just put up your hand and I will I will note Rosa uh and make sure that you can come in so firstly Andrew then Mel back to Vicki and then um Nikki uh back to Ian in terms of the
Q&A and Rosa if you want to come in please stick up your hand Andrew thank you um it it’s it’s um a continuation of the points about um skills and uh um education so um am um in in his opening um U talk said um that he thought maybe education was missing
From this from this conversation and I just wondered whether um uh from from hearing what other speakers have said about about skills skills gaps and so forth we have referred to skills in the talking points just in terms of joining up strategies but I wondered whether any
Of the other panelists had kind of any any Reflections on um whether there is something you know something else that we need to be that we need to be saying about skills that that isn’t that isn’t articulated um in the talking points thank you great well that’s a very direct
Question to the panelists um does anyone want to come back to Andrew immediately um Paul do you have anything to say yeah thank you Richard I think Andrew is right about where skills can be approached because again skills need to be linked to economic transition and also to the economic
Impact of the transition on certain areas for example I’m thinking about places in the region that have for example large and existing steel works or chemical or old Smoke Stack Industries so there is something about linking that skills agenda to that transition agenda and being far more
Proactive than we are at the moment at the moment SK if you look at skills it’s seen as about basic skills around getting higher level skills but it’s not about link to Industry transition if we’re not careful we’ll have the same issue that happened when the mining industry died that that
Transition was not taken account of and it took 20 years and even then you could argue in some communities you know 30 40 years later that Legacy and that scarring Still Remains so there is something about being quite proactive about which communities and which groups
Are going to be affected and then do we Target and focus skills investment and skills programs around those communities thank you y oh sorry it’s Nikki could I just add one thing would you mind yes Nikki come in um thanks Paul that was really really made me
Think the only thing I guess I um was reflect on giving that these are climate talking points is around the need for a degree of certainty around some of those things so it’s it’s I agree with what I’ve heard Paul say and I guess I would
Just add you know um right at the beginning we heard Mel talk about um the certainty that we got from phasing out um well you know for diesel cars for example and actually what we need is that that long-term thinking from elected officials so that that then gives industry certainty so that then
All the skills and that we need can follow on from that so I suppose that’s for me just important to when we think about those talking points to to push for that need for a clear direction of travel really almost regardless of who’s in charge you know that this is where
We’re going and we’ll stick to it so that we can then start to respond business will respond really quickly but things like skills take time to bed in and um if you want to get to that really quite granular local here’s the kind of thing we could put in this region
Because we’ve got this infrastructure whatever that might look like actually that will all take time too so for me there’s something about just yeah AIT a bit more certainty really and and and and substance so that industry can then start to make commitments and Investments on top of it that’s all
Thanks great thanks Nikki Sor can I just add on to that um uh I just want to add on to uh what Nikki just said I think government should definitely sof um I think it’s definitely worth government and local you know authorities local councils uh doing whatever they can s
Um make sort of combined effort with businesses to uh you know create maybe training packages um apprenticeships um you know the opportunity tocale into a green job I think needs to be definitely addressed and looked up and I think um sort of starting those conversations with those
Business with those um leaders in those sectors I think would be very very useful as well thank you um so there’s Vicki’s question uh Mel could you come in on um some barriers exist great capacity EG preventing large scale solar panels as well as infrastructure facilate District
Heating systems for example how do we overcome issues such as these Mel like to come in yeah and um thanks for bringing it up Vicki because it because actually that underpinning infrastructure is um uh it it’s it’s something that people don’t think about a lot um they just think
About the the kind of demand measures or the or the generation measures whatever it is kind of at the end of those pipes and wires but you’re absolutely right um quite a lot of investment needs to happen to that underpinning infrastructure to to make any of this stuff happen
And there have I think it’s been quite you know quite public um there are real um issues in terms of the length of time it takes to connect um new renewable generation to the um electricity grid I think um because of the kind of mounting mounting pressure on that there is now
Quite a lot of work um ongoing and some of it’s investment in assets and some of it is just making the process a bit better so for example people who you’ve been on the list to connect um for you know for years and then haven’t done it
Just been taken off so that somebody else can be so so things like that um but the reason I was particularly excited by your question was it gave me a really good excuse to talk about a couple of things that have happened recently that really link into that
First talking point um about um using local targets and empowering um empowering places to get on with things um and I think there have been a couple of really positive movements on that in the energy space in the last year that happened in um a new piece of
Legislation called the energy act um and people aren’t really aware of it at the moment but it but I think it it it does give places quite a lot of interesting Powers the first one was that places well local government in particular were empowered to designate places as um
District heating zones and it means that they got a new power that um if they designate these District heating zones they can compel large energy users to um to to connect to them um so that’s a really exciting change I think um and and very empowering for local government
In terms of making the sorts of infrastructure that you’re talking about Vicki commerci commercially viable in a way that they couldn’t before um and the second um big thing that that nobody’s noticed yet that came out of um the energy Act was something called Regional energy strategic
Plans which sound a bit boring and that’s fair enough but up up until now all energy policy has just been done on a national level and there’s kind of been the assumption that just everywhere will look the same at the end of this transition but I think there’s always
Been this acknowledgement that actually different places might want different solutions different mixes of solutions and up until now the regulator off gem hasn’t really known what to do with that it’s that’s a bit complicated isn’t it it’s much easier just to have one very simple National Energy System
And you can just get on with it these Regional Energy Systems plans will basically be local areas local places coming together at a regional level to say this is what the Energy System needs to look like in our area and that will give an opportunity to not have a single
One siiz fits all approach to what we want energy to look like within um within our within our local areas so there’s some really interesting things happening and on the horizon that will really address the need for investment in that infrastructure but we’ll do it in a way
That is is really genuinely rooted in local places and that’s really New thank you Mel and thanks Vicki for the question um I i’ I’ve lost the question on on uh on food and nature um Richard if you look in the answered section it’s because someone had typed an answer to it okay fine is there I haven’t I haven’t I’ve got it that’s
Fine Nikki do do you want I mean on the question of nature first you’re obviously working on water but would you want to say anything finally before I sort of close the discussion uh in relation to these kinds of the correlation between nature first and any form of
Agre food production yeah I’ll be really brief thanks thanks Ian for the question and yeah definitely not an area that I am um that I’m a practitioner in but have an awareness of and also one of our climate Commissioners works for Natural England so I frantically messaged him as
Well whilst your question came in and said what do you think so um between us I think the the best response we can give is um around Elms which you might be familiar with in already but the environmental Land Management scheme so um there are three different types of
Elms the sustainable farming incentive the countryside stewardship and Landscape scale recover recover Y and Elms in general um is there to try and promote environmentally sustainable and and and climate goods and services really so um there is a mechanism um certainly with my CM haton we’ve just published a report called a freshwater
Future and one of the things that we’re calling for is a water standard within Elms in the future so that actually rather than water being embedded into some of those targets it’s pulled out at at Top Line level um and the other thing I would say is that I’m aware that defra
Are are updating the Landes framework at some point in 2024 as well and one of the things that um that certainly with my planet possible hat on we’re talking about doing an episode on is around land’s Frameworks and what good looks like really because there’s there’s probably I don’t want to sound too
Controversial but there’s probably a bit of a gap in terms of what we want our land to do across across you know England and Wales and um and you know and devolved administrations more generally what do we want our land to do how do we want to best use it how do we
Get that balance between food security and environmental goods and services and all the other things that are going on housing and so on right so um I don’t know if that’s helpful in or not may not have added any value to what you already knew but um things to check out Elms
Certainly freshw Futures worth a look and um and and keep an eye out on defra producing hopefully a new langes framework later on this year as well thanks Richard thanks for questioning um is there anybody from the panel um who would like to make a final comment before I wrap up the discussion
And just make a few final comments before ending the event as a whole would anyone like to make a final comment okay anyone from the audience would like to come in at this final Point Neil you have your hand raised Neil it’s just it’s just a real Quicky I
Just want to thank Paul for his comment on transition and recognizing that transition that g I’m my family my father my uncles’s grandfather extended family were coal miners I’m from shybrook in uh darbishire they all mined in that darish and nottingam C field those communities haven’t recovered all
They absolutely have been guttered they have been kick to Pieces those Minds had to close no dispute on that but the transition but but they were closed savagely and they were closed instantly and there was no underpinning transition or consideration given to those communities in terms of upskilling them
For an alternative and as a consequence of that when I go back home to shyro that is a town of 13 and a half thousand people when I was growing up it’s it’s down to about 9,000 people now most of the shops are closed um it’s it’s not
The place I was growing up in so I just want to say thank you Paul because I think it’s so important that we recognize the investment that we need to make in as we do this transition in upskilling people for those that may be left behind in this so that that was
Just my point Richard thank you for allowing me to do that no brilliant um and that works back with what amog was saying about upskilling into green jobs the vital importance of that and uh the investment required I think there’s been an awful lot here I’m not going to try
And summarize and I don’t have the time uh to do it U but it seems to be very clear that um what everyone’s very concerned about is both the planning process about how one can accelerate it but at the same time remain faithful to what is required in a planning process
At a local level the relationship between that and the national level which will clearly change uh uh in in the coming well uh by next year um and at the same time the the empowerment of communities uh with regard to local targets the ownership required there and that this is underpinned which is
Something that the commission really foregrounds this is underpinned by just transition the absolute importance of dealing with this overall transition to a low carbon economy uh and all that works with that um in terms of co- benefits that it is underpinned by a sense of fairness and Equity um clearly
Um when when the mining communities were closed down in the 1980s that it wasn’t under a uh climate uh prerogative uh we all know that very different reasons but at the same time Yorkshire is precisely the place that has leared the most about that Legacy and can therefore actually
Move with confidence uh and with historical Legacy into what is required now um I really thank everybody on the panel for their contributions um I’d like to thank the organizers uh uh behind the Secretariat of the commission as a whole for making this possible and to all the audience
That that has stayed there are quite a lot of you that have stayed uh it’s quite late in the day especially if if we have uh Child Care obligations uh thank you very much indeed I’d like to make a couple of comments and there will
Be a couple of slides that will come up um to to make sure that people can engage more with the commission um the climate talking points are about us engaging in climate action and particularly in a year uh of Elections both local uh and National so that we
Can uh as uh I think Kate’s put it we can sort of or Andrew’s put it we can cut through the noise and make very clear points about climate and that goes back to Paul’s uh points about getting climate right there within a process so that climate engagement is clear um we
Do want people also to get involved with the climate commission’s work uh we have active public conversations see the QR code which is now on the screen and Link in the chat to go to our link tree uh this will give you links to our ongoing surveys and you can also read the
Climate talking points on our climate action plan it’s a very detailed climate action plan uh which reverberates with quite a lot of what has been said tonight under the climate talking points um uh for the Yorkshire and Humber region the commission’s next public event will be in June and we’ll focus on
An important new piece of work called AR carbon story this is new insight into the Region’s carbon emissions going back to the historical Legacy that this region is embedded in and crucially which actions should be prioritized now to make the biggest difference to cutting carbon while BR real benefits to the
Region um yes let me hold it there make sure you’ve signed up to our mailing list to receive information about this and other events uh fill out the keep in touch form on our website so uh we very much want you to get involved particularly this year when a lot of
Political decisions or political choices will be made uh by US citizens and that we’re able to foreground climate within any planning process to go back to what a lot of people were saying earlier that is it it’s time uh I think we’d all love this to go on um it’s not possible will
Please join us again in June in the next public event and do um go uh do uh take up the QR code on the screen thank you very much indeed to everybody and and have a very good evening goodbye