What We Do

The North of Tyne Citizens’ Assembly on Climate Change saw fifty citizens in the region come together to discuss how the region can combat climate change. The Assembly, facilitated by non-profit Shared Future CIC, started on 24 February and ended on 24 March 2021.  It ran for a total of thirty hours over eight sessions, at which the Assembly members shared ideas, deliberated on the issues, and then came up with a set of thirty recommendations.

On July 27 2021 Mayor Jamie Driscoll presented the Citizens’ Assembly’s report and a report (written in collaboration with colleagues from Newcastle, North Tyneside, and Northumberland councils) that included initial proposals for NTCA to develop climate emergency projects aligned to the Assembly recommendations to Cabinet.

Olivia Grant, chair of the Citizens’ Assembly Oversight Panel, speaks about the Assembly at the Green Economy Summit June 23

Responding to Citizens’ Assembly’s recommendations

Most of the recommendations related to the themes of housing, transport and energy; however, the Assembly also made wider recommendations, including supporting awareness raising and novel forms of finance for carbon reductions.

The recommendations fall into three broad categories

• Recommendations that NTCA can implement.
• Recommendations that require collaboration: NTCA will work closely with the Local Authorities, public sector organisations, local businesses, the voluntary sector, and citizens.
• Recommendations that involve influencing government: with the authority of the voice of the people NTCA will work to shape the national debate.

On September 22 2021 Cabinet received a report outling how NTCA would respond to the Assembly focussing on work around:

• Raising awareness of low carbon opportunities and supporting low-carbon decision making – including a young persons’ climate change pilot and sponsoring ‘Bring it on’, a school competition with a Net Zero North East theme.
• Community energy schemes – where a recent report proposed milestones and actions necessary to bring schemes forward in the next few years.
• Green New Deal Fund – NTCA’s £18m flagship programme which launched on November 30  to help finance carbon reduction projects and create good green jobs.
• Housing retrofit – where recent work highlighted the scale of the challenge, with up to 140,000 homes needing investment

On January 25 2022 a report outlining NTCA’s response to Citizens’ Assembly’s recommendations on energy, skills and housing was presented to Cabinet.  Cabinet noted reports contents and agreed the approach being taken to respond the Assembly’s recommendations around energy, housing and skills, and to receive future Cabinet reports, proposing how the Combined Authority should respond to other recommendations from the Assembly.

Cabinet approved an allocation of up to £1million to support the initiatives described in the paper, indicatively comprising £0.8m for a programme of advice and support for businesses to help them reduce their carbon emissions and £0.2m for the development of a business case for a major housing retrofit programme.

More details about what we are doing to tackle the climate emergency are in Zero carbon, Zero poverty: Our 5-point plan.

Northumbria Univeristy have been undertaking an evaluation of the Assembly.  Their fieldwork has ended and the evaluation report published in late autumn 2022.

The Citizens’ Assembly process

In May 2019 upon his election as the North of Tyne Mayor, Mayor Jamie Driscoll declared a climate emergency. The Citizens’ Assembly on Climate Change forms part of the Combined Authority’s response.  Funding for the Assembly was agreed by Cabinet in February 2020 when they approved plans for a citizens’ assembly on climate change, to enable the people who live in North of Tyne to shape what what happens in region to tackle climate change.

An Oversight Panel was set up to ensure the process is unbiased and fair.  It included representatives from Extinction Rebellion, National Education Union, Newcastle City Council, Newcastle University’s Centre for Energy and Department of Politics, North East Chamber of Commerce, North of Tyne Combined Authority, North Tyneside Borough Council, Northumberland County Council, and Tyne and Wear Citizens.

The Oversight Panel made decisions about the recruitment process and the Assembly’s profile; it also selected expert commentators who gave presentations to the Assembly and answered questions from them.  They also chose the question for the Assembly to answer: “What should we do in the region to address climate change and its causes fairly, effectively and quickly?”

Oversight Panel member Dr Meryl Batchelder talks about her role 

The Citizens’ Assembly was delivered by Shared Future CIC following a tender exericise.  Shared Future have run citizens’ assemblies and juries across the country. The Assembly was tasked with examining the region’s response to the emergency of climate change and with producing recommendations that would be presented to Cabinet.

Assembly members were recruited by the Sortition Foundation. NTCA sent out 10,000 letters in December 2020, inviting randomly selected residents of Newcastle, North Tyneside, and Northumberland to take part in a citizens’ assembly.  Of the 300 people who responded,  the fifty people selected for the Assembly, were chosen to reflect the diversity of the population in the region, (in terms of age, gender, ethnicity, disability, geography, and importantly attitude to climate change).  IT equipment and training was provided where it was needed to enable digitally excluded people to participate.

The initial Assembly sessions focussed on the wider topic of climate change, the Assembly members were was asked to identify three topics to focus on.  They chose to explore housing, transport and energy in more depth.  Members of the Oversight Panel, local councillors, NTCA officers and other stakeholders were able to observe the open sessions of the Assembly.  All the presentations by the commentators were videoed and up loaded to the internet to allow Assembly members to watch them again if they wished, to help with their deliberations.

The Assembly process is explained in detail in the Citizens’ Assembly report.  The report contains the conclusions of the Assembly, in their own words, in the form of a collective statement and a set of thirty prioritised recommendations in answer to the question: “What should we do in the region to address climate change and its causes fairly, effectively and quickly?”

Assembly members share about their reasons for taking part

The collective statement of the Assembly  

“We now see that climate change is a credible, urgent and real threat. It threatens all we value: our families, our communities and our planet. Individuals, communities, businesses and government must all be involved in tackling the climate emergency, putting Climate Change at the forefront and heart of every single decision. 

“The Assembly urges the North of Tyne Combined Authority and the three local authorities of North of Tyne to direct all their departments and committees to consider the effects on Climate Change in every decision they make, whenever possible choosing the low carbon solution. This work must be a major priority for our Mayor who must lead the way and lead by example. 

“In deciding our action we must place fairness at the centre ensuring that those of us who are vulnerable and marginalised are not further disadvantaged. We must empower and support communities to take urgent, methodical and united action to get to net zero and create an environment in which all life can thrive. 

“We have a responsibility to act urgently and leave a fair legacy to conserve what we have and value now. If we don’t act it will be too late. It is imperative that we speak on behalf of future generations as they have no voice. “Our region is one of outstanding beauty, character and a rich history. It is through our community spirit and resilience we will tackle this crisis together.”

 

Videos from Assembly sessions

The Assembly held eight sessions, two of which were closed.   The presentations from expert commentators given at the six open sessions are available to watch below:

Session 1  Wednesday February 24 

Introduction to the North of Tyne Citizens’ Assembly on Climate Change  

In this video Mayor Jamie Driscoll welcomes the Assembly members and talks about why what they think is important for the region

Critical Thinking and Bias

Dr Stephen Elstub, Reader in British Politics, Newcastle University explains critical thinking and bias, includes video on Critical Thinking newDemocracy Foundation.  Stephen was a member of the Oversight Panel.

Session 2  Sunday February 28 

An Introduction to Climate Change

Sir Brian Hoskins, Chair of the Grantham Institute for Climate Change and the Environment, and Dr Elizabeth Lewis, Lecturer in Computational Hydrology, Newcastle University explain what climate change is and talk about its impact now and in the future.

North of Tyne Emissions Now and in The Future  

Dr Tracy Crosbie, Reader in Sustainability in the Built Environment, Teesside University talks about where the emissions come from.

How Change Happens 

Lucy Stone, Fellow at Royal Society of Arts and Centre for the Understanding of Sustainable Prosperity explains how to effect change and make it happen.

Session 3  Wednesday March 3 

What the North of Tyne Combined Authority is doing to tackle climate change

Dr Leanne Wilson, Policy and Economy Advisor for Climate Change, NTCA talks about what the Combined Authority are doing on climate change.  Leanne was a member of the Oversight Panel.

What is Fairness?  Four presentations about fairness and climate change

Carole Botten, Chief Executive Officer of VONNE – Voluntary Organisations Network North East,

Beth Farhat, Regional Secretary (Northern), Trades Union Congress,

Sir Geoff Palmer, Emeritus Professor in the School of Life Sciences at Heriot-Watt University in Edinburgh, and

Roman Krznaric, author of the book ‘The Good Ancestor: How to Think Long-Term in a Short-Term World’ give their views on the fairness and unfairness in relation to climate change.

Session 4  Wednesday March 10 

Housing and Climate Change

How do we make our existing housing better (retrofitting) and make sure new housing is efficient, generates energy and that planning regulations support this?

Callum Smith, Policy and Economy Advisor – Housing and Land Maters, NTCA,

Professor Simin Davoudi, Professor of Environment and Planning, and Director of Global Urban Research Unit, Newcastle University,

Matthew Copeland, Policy Manager, National Energy Action, and

Professor Helen Jarvis, Professor of Social Geography Engagement, Newcastle University.

Session 5 Saturday March 13 

Transport and Climate Change

What needs to happen to reduce the impact of transport on climate change. How do we pay for any changes and ensure that we get better joined up transport systems?

Prof Phil Blythe, Professor of Intelligent Transport Systems, Newcastle University and Chief Scientific Adviser, Department for Transport,

Martijn Gilbert, Managing Director, Go North East (buses), and

Jonah Morris, Partnerships Manager North East & Cumbria, Sustrans.

Session 6 Wednesday March 17,  was a closed session. 

Session 7 Sunday March 21   

Renewables

Josh Sawyer, Rural Energy Officer, North East Local Enterprise Partnership,

Tony Quinn, Catapult, Offshore Renewable Energy Forum,

Jim Cardwell, Head of Policy Development, Northern Powergrid, and

Gareth Davies, Aquatera and Chair of Orkney Renewable Energy Forum speak about renewable energy generation.

Session 8 Wednesday March 24,  was a closed session.