Have Your Say: Preston People's Climate Jury to Launch in New Year

Preston will launch a People's Climate Jury early in 2024 which will provide Preston residents with a chance to have their say on how we tackle climate change in our city.

The UK Shared Prosperity Fund (UKSPF) provided Preston City Council with the opportunity to commit £1.36m of funding to actions to address climate change. The funding will be invested in warmer homes, in local skills for the transition to cleaner energy, and in supporting Preston businesses to decarbonise.

Given the scale of the challenge posed by climate change, Council agreed that encouraging informed debate and supporting community involvement in decision making on climate change was also a priority and approved a share of UKSPF funding for a People's Climate Jury. This will provide an opportunity for a representative group of 30 local people to have a 'voice' by taking part in informed discussion on climate change, and making recommendations to local leaders about how the city should act in response.

Councillor Carol Henshaw, Cabinet Member for Climate Change said:

"We face some very difficult challenges over the next few years and it is of critical importance that we make the right decisions that will have the most impact on the climate, for our residents and our communities. The best way to do this is to listen directly to our people - find out what the important issues are locally, and find local, practical solutions that work for Preston.

"We declared a Climate Emergency in 2019 and Preston is committed to becoming carbon neutral by 2030 by working with our city partners, other local institutions and community groups, and to working together towards a shared common goal."

Shared Future, a not-for-profit company based in the Northwest, has been appointed to facilitate the Preston People's Climate Jury. The company is a leader in the fields of participatory budgeting and citizen juries and have partnered with many local authorities to deliver citizen assemblies and juries, including Blackburn with Darwen Council, Kendal Council and Bude Council.

£50,000 has been allocated from Preston's UKSPF programme to the project. The funding will ensure that the selection process to recruit members of the jury produces a good match with Preston's demographic profile in terms of age, gender, ethnicity, ward area and attitude towards climate change so that the jury will 'look and talk like us'.

Once selected, jury members will come together for eight sessions over a two-month period to hear from a range of commentators about climate change, discuss what they hear and agree a set of recommendations for local action in response.  Each participant will be reimbursed for their involvement and will be supported with childcare or transport needs as required.

An Advisory Group, made of representatives from the local community, business and public sectors, will agree the demographic profile used to select the jury so that it is mirrors the local population. The group will also agree the wording of the question that the jury will be asked to consider when they meet. It is anticipated that this will reflect shared values of fairness and equity, aligning with the council's strategic commitments to Community Wealth Building and 'Fairness for You'.

Information on the selection process for Preston People's Climate Jury will be released on the Preston City Council website later this year.

Further information

For more information on Shared Future see Shared Future a Community Interest Company. 

Preston City Council actively applies and prioritises the principles of Community Wealth Building wherever applicable and appropriate. Community Wealth Building is an approach which aims to ensure the economic system builds wealth and prosperity for everyone.