Collaboration & Engagement

Across its services the Council is a part of networks focused on delivering climate actions. Just a few examples of these include:

•  Countryside Climate Network : In September 2020 the council joined this network, which is part of the  uk100 organisation .
•  Lancashire Climate Action Network:  The main aim of this network is to mobilise Lancashire’s community voice and action on climate change, working collaboratively with others to advance the county’s climate agenda.
• The council also  joined Key Cities  which is a diverse, national network of 27 cities that represents urban living in the UK and has the range, expertise and agility to deliver innovative solutions for the challenges we face.

On 9 July 2024,  Cabinet (item 14)  agreed to the principles of the partnership as detailed in the Memorandum of Understanding with the  Lancaster District Strategic Partnership  (the “LDSP” or the "Partnership"). The Partnership has been established to spearhead the wider district’s collective strategic ambitions. The overarching strategic priorities for the partnership will be: 1) Sustainability and the Climate Emergency, 2) the Economy, 3) Health and Wellbeing and 4) Communities.

We are also part of the Bay Anchor Network , in partnership with other anchor organisations to identify, develop and share how they can positively contribute to the Bay area by influencing the health and wellbeing of communities and impacts on the wider social, economic, climate and environmental factors that make us healthy

In November 2021, an historic  Memorandum of Understanding  (MoU) was signed with Lancaster University to deepen relationships between ‘town and gown’ for the benefit of communities in the Lancaster district, including collaborative working on many climate change actions. More details can be found on the  Councils 'What we are doing' webpage .

The Lancaster District Community Conversations Group have representation from the local NHS, Lancaster City Council, Lancaster CVS and also the Faith Sector and we aim to support meaningful  community conversations  including tackling the climate change agenda and sharing best practice.

The Council convened a People’s Jury on climate change to involve local people in advising the council and others on how best to combat the problem.  It followed the council’s declaration of a climate change emergency in 2019 and was supported by academics and experts in the field. Letters were sent to 4,000 across the Lancaster district asking them to take part, with a final 30 chosen from all those who expressed an interest. Those chosen reflected the make-up of the district in relation to gender, age, ethnicity, disability, geography, attitude to climate change and deprivation. At the end of the process the jury developed a set of recommendations.   Those recommendations  that the council has direct responsibility are continually being progressed and those that the council doesn't have direct responsibility continually being presented to the appropriate organisation with a recommendation that they are considered.

During 2023, the Council and its partners hosted district-wide conversations on tackling and addressing the climate emergency, following a successful bid to join the UK’s Local Climate Engagement Programme (LCE). The results from these travel & climate change workshops will help make informed decisions in the future. The results can viewed view on ' Local Climate Engagement Travel & Climate Change Conversations Storyboard ' The importance of  engaging with young adults  as part of the forward planning process and how we address climate action should not be underestimated given that much of what is proposed within a Local Plan is not simply for the present, but considers the needs of people 10, 15 and 20 years into the future. This was particularly the case when planning for future growth in South Lancaster and within our  new Local Plan development  that is currently taking place. Co-creating a vision focused on young lifestyles. Research questions asked: what type of communities do we want to inhabit this area? What types of relationships do we want to build between human-communities, communities-non-humans? and with the built and the natural environment?   The results can viewed view on our ' Planning Officers Placemaking with Young Adults Storyboard '

We are committed to ensuring that community conversations, consultation and engagement lies at the heart of how the council works. We value your views on our services and future proposals to help to ensure that we provide customer focused services, offer value for money and meet the needs of people who live, work and visit the district. Find out more on the  Council Voice Your Views webpages .

The council provides a space for residents to share idea, discuss important topics and contribute to the future of your district,   on our keep connected platform  .

The Council does lobby government on climate change actions. Motions passed by the council are sent to various Ministers, for example, most recently in support of the Climate and Ecology Bill in December of 2022:    Climate and Ecology Bill December 2022 (item 102 cabinet minutes 14 December 2022). 

When Lancaster hit national barriers to delivering net zero planning policy in 2022, we designed a strategic mission for increasing Lancaster’s visibility at the national scale. We tirelessly advocate for net zero, run training sessions, and deliver dissemination events and case studies including for organisers such as Future Build, RTPI, TCPA, LGA, Westminster Insights, APSE, Festival of Place, Urban Design Learning, Friends of the Earth, Lancaster University and more. The collaboration project  Placemaking with Young Adults was featured in an RTPI documentary  with over 2.75 million impressions.

Throughout 2023, we helped bring Kevin McCloud to Lancaster for part of the  Channel 4 documentary The Great Climate Flight , (6.15 mins in and aired 22 ^nd  November 2023), to discuss the need for national change for net zero housing.

We  won the 2024 LGC Net Zero Award (12 June 2024)  for our net zero new homes policy further raising in the national profile the need for national change for new housing.

Our lobbying work was also recognised as finalist in the ' Leadership in Responding to the Climate Emergency' 2024 MJ Awards , (21 June 2024).

On the invitation of the District Council’s Network, due to being a district that has been successful in making such progress on tackling the climate emergency, Officers have lobbied government in Westminster itself at a drop in day for MP’s and Peers (24 October 2023) and we are also working with the  District Council’s Network  on their current ask to Government around net zero with a particular emphasis on the need for effective net zero planning policy and sufficient funding and resourcing for large scale net zero interventions and meaningful net zero policy.

Lord Ravensdale highlighted our policy situation in his proposed amendment to the Levelling Up and Regeneration Bill which went on to change national policy by including a climate change  amendment   when it was enacted.

The Council's Chief Executive, Mark Davies, continues to lobby for change, check out the links below:

• Mark's  article in 'Room 151, Local Government Treasure, Pensions & Strategic Finance '
• Mark also  participated in a LGC panel - LGC NET ZERO – Culture shift: embedding sustainability in our lives in 2023  
• Mark showcased 'measuring progress o climate change' at the ' APSE Performance Networks Seminar 2023: From data to service improvement' 
• Mark sits on the  Environment Sub Group of the District Council's network  in addition to being the CEX representation for the 'Environment, sustainability and net zero'
• Mark was a speaker at the ' Reflecting on ‘Adapting Together : How can we all play a part in climate action session' with Lancaster University.

The Council has provided  funding for community climate action . In January 2023 some organisations receive funding boost from  UK Shared Prosperity Fund (UKSPF) . More details can be viewed below:

1.   Eight local projects  will be the first to benefit from the Lancaster district’s share of money allocated through the UK Shared Prosperity Fund (UKSPF).
2.  Twenty two local projects  are the latest to benefit from the Lancaster district’s share of money allocated through the UK Shared Prosperity Fund (UKSPF)

The Council contributes to the Morecambe Bay Anchor Collaborative. This collaborative brings anchor institutions from around the Bay to collectively maximise our positive environmental, economic, and social impacts in the district. The Lancaster District Community Conversations Group have representation from the local NHS, Lancaster City Council, Lancaster CVS and also the Faith Sector and we aim to support meaningful community conversations and document these effectively to inform local plans. This includes ongoing conversations around: health and wellbeing, homelessness, prosperity and the environment. If you would like to join the conversation please  register here.  

The  Communities Together group  meets throughout the year and hold a ' Festival of Culture ' event each year, the last on 3 November 2024 (the 10th festival) sold out . The group provides community members and representatives of key agencies a space to come together, build relationships and share experiences and knowledge with a view to improving community cohesion. The group is made up a of representatives from minority ethnicities, faiths and cultures. Since 2022 the group continues to focus on the work of the Food Futures Network who have since offered to support communities through consultation and finance management to source local and sustainable ingredients and guide other aspects of catering (such as food waste disposal/ composting, reducing waste and offering plant-based options). The group planned a festival in March 2023. Part of the budget spent on discount codes for Stagecoach bus tickets so that festival attendees will be incentivised to use pubic transport to and from the event.

Our  Arts and Culture  has a pillar which is: 'ensuring that the creative and cultural sector strongly contributes to a sustainable development' - creativity and culture are powerful tools which can help inspire, inform and educate people, raise  awareness and promote the need to tackle climate change. By working in partnership with others, encouraging and supporting innovative approaches to  environmentally sustainable creative and cultural production, presentation and  consumption, support for the creative and cultural sectors’ activities and future  development, helps address the climate emergency and can support the path to  net carbon zero and enhanced bio-diversity.  View the 20:20 Vision A Seven Year Framework for the Arts in Lancaster District. 

The results from the  Life Survey , led by Lancaster University (ImaginationLancaster) in collaboration with Lancaster City Council and Blackburn Darwen Council and funded by the Research England reported residents in the Lancaster district are more concerned about climate change than those in Blackburn with Darwen and are, therefore, they say, more likely to always do environmentally friendly activities such as recycling, composting and not driving for short distances.

The council has supported green initiatives led by the schools with sustainability and waste reduction being the most common focus for action. The Climate Change team have run events in multiple schools across the district for primary school age children (during Spring 2023), and also with community groups such as the  Brownies and Rainbows and Beavers and Cubs (In Spring 2023  and again in  Spring 2024 ) where the focus was on making climate pledges, learning about  earth day  and climate change and events in general and the steps that young people can take in helping to address this.

The Council has also engaged with a local youth community group called Escape To Make and are running fortnightly workshops with this group to work jointly with them on the district’s Climate Action Plan (The CaNS) wherein young people are writing sections of the plan itself, ensuring that their voice is heard and the actions they want for their future are included.

The Council also work with undergraduate students, postgraduate students and PhD students of Lancaster University to develop its baseline of evidence base on both planning and climate change subjects. This occurs every year, with the project outlines being formulated in September and the work projects running until the following summer.

The Green Skills group, of which the Council is a key stakeholder also, work with Lancaster and Morecambe College and the representatives there who are involved in curriculum setting. LCC have worked in partnership with the college to utilise their equipment on a flooding project where their VR headsets were used by the council, allowing us to showcase a VR flooding video of the local area highlighting and bringing to life how this would feel.

The Council works in partnership with many business to encourage carbon decarbonisation, for example the Council attended the  Lancaster Sustainability Hub  and involved in the  Big Green week  and  Earth Day  with local business to to promote what  Lancaster City Council  is doing to address climate change, also giving away free wildflower seeds!

As mentioned above the Council works in partnership with local business, and has provided funding in support of climate action work:  find out more about the UKSPF projects! 

Earlier this year in 2024, an  independent review  of Lancaster City Council has praised the Council, saying it has a ‘let’s do it’ culture  with a clear vision for the district , stating 'the Council cross-party approach means we are well placed to continue to capitalise on opportunities, deliver increased prosperity, and achieve our aspiration of enabling a low carbon future'. The peer team will return in January 2025 to receive an update on progress.

   climate-emergency@lancaster.gov.uk