We declared a Climate Emergency in July 2019 and set a goal for the borough to be carbon neutral by 2030. The roadmap to achieve this goal is outlined in our Climate Emergency Action Plan (CEAP).
As part of the CEAP, we hosted a People’s Jury on the Climate Change Crisis.
Commissioned by us, and facilitated by Shared Future CIC, the People's Jury was selected in September 2022. It brought together 26 residents who could be seen as a mini-population of Blackburn with Darwen, mirroring local demographics in terms of age, gender, ethnicity, ward area and attitude towards climate change.
Jury members met for 30 hours between September and December of 2022, hearing from local experts, scientists and researchers, all giving them a different perspective on climate change. The ultimate aim of these sessions, was to produce a set of recommendations that would address the question:
What do we need to do in our homes, in business and our local area to help tackle the climate change crisis?
The People’s Jury deliberated this before agreeing on a set of fifteen recommendations they believe we should all be doing to help tackle the issue.
Read the People's Jury recommendations
You can also:
- watch a short video around the Jury process
- watch more videos and read about the People's Jury sessions, including the recommendations launch event at King George's Hall
- read the full People's Jury report
- read the People's Jury recommendations progress report
The People's Jury selection process
The Sortition Foundation initially sent out 6,000 letters to households inviting them to register. Only people who received a letter from us were able to register to take part. The households were randomly selected from the Royal Mail address database.
The selection process ensured there was a diverse range of people in terms of age, gender, ethnicity, disability, where people live and attitude to climate change, reflecting the local population in the borough.
An oversight panel made up of local partners was established, to make sure the process was fair and rigorous throughout. Members included:
- Martin Eden, Strategic Director Environment & Operations, BwDBC (Chair)
- Cllr Zainab Rawat, Member with responsibility for Climate Change, BwDBC
- Komali Kantamaneni, Senior Research Fellow, UCLAN
- Cllr Katrina Fielding, Deputy Member with responsibility for Climate Change, BwDBC
- Helen Eaton, Vice-Principal, Myerscough College
- Abdul Razaq, Director of Public Health, BwDBC
- Catherine Price, Manager, Blackburn BID
- Miranda Barker, OBE, Chief Executive, East Lancs Chamber of Commerce
- Lynne Goodacre, Blackburn with Darwen Food Alliance
- Garth Hodgkinson, Chief Executive, Community CVS
- Vicky Shepherd, Chief Executive, Age UK, Blackburn with Darwen
- Richard Duggan, Regional Editor, Newsquest
- Leon Crosby, Head of Operations, Youth Zone
- Jennifer Eastham, Vice Principal, Blackburn College
- Michelle Brown, Director of Finance, ELHT
- Stephen Sykes, Director of Sustainability, EL Chamber of Commerce
- Paul Turner, Commercial Director, Transdev
- Abdul Alim Kheratkar and Faz Patel, Lancashire Council of Mosques
- Jake Ainscough, Senior Research Associate, University of Lancaster
- Kazim Shah, Deputy Youth MP
- Bob Groves, Keep it Tidy Blackburn