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In our latest climate change blog, Louise Marix Evans, Director of Quantum Strategy & Technology Ltd, talks about the recent Blueprint Coalition webinar.  

The Blueprint Coalition - an influential group of local government organisations, environmental groups and research institutions – recently hosted a webinar, which explored how to ensure that the new government’s devolution plans are aligned with environmental outcomes. 

I was delighted to be asked to chair the event, which brought together an impressive panel of local government leaders and environmental experts to discuss how devolved powers can be leveraged to address climate change and promote sustainable development. 

We heard from five speakers: Peter Moore, co-chair of the Blueprint Coalition, Cllr Tom Ross the Green City Lead for Greater Manchester Combined Authority, Cllr Marisa Heath, Cabinet Member for Environment at Surrey County Council, Christopher Hammond, Chief Executive of UK100 and Victoria Marsom, Head of the England Team at Friends of the Earth. 

Blueprint Coalition: setting the stage

Peter Moore, representing the Blueprint Coalition, opened the session by outlining the coalition's five immediate priorities for supporting local authorities in climate action. Central to their vision is a place based approach that emphasises adequate and stable long term funding. 

He also welcomed the government's commitment to a place based approach and the move away from competitive funding for climate and nature initiatives. However, he stressed the need to ensure that the ‘dash for growth’ is sustainable and that climate action remains a priority, despite economic constraints.

Crucially, he argued that action on climate and nature should be hardwired into the devolution process, with benefits and support universally available to all local authorities. Peter stressed that empowering local authorities is not optional, but essential for effective climate action, calling for support to implement existing local plans to address the climate and ecological crises.

Greater Manchester: a trailblazer in devolution

Councillor Tom Ross outlined the progress of Greater Manchester's trailblazer devolution deal, which started in Spring 2023. He highlighted the success of the Bee Network, a public transport initiative aimed at offering cheaper, low emission buses under local control to increase usage. The new bus franchising scheme is a cornerstone of Greater Manchester's transport strategy, bringing buses back under local control to ensure routes serve community needs, rather than focusing solely on profitable routes, and ensuring active travel is more accessible and efficient across the region.

He also highlighted Greater Manchester's focus on green jobs, citing the Green Skills Academy and pilot projects on net zero spending, including on building retrofit and exploring renewable energy sources. He explained how the trailblazer deal has enabled Greater Manchester to build upon their existing Local Area Energy Plans as well as implement an integrated water management approach, bringing partners together more effectively. Throughout, Tom emphasised that while each devolution deal should be tailored to local needs, Greater Manchester's successes could serve as a model for other regions. He encouraged the government to learn from Greater Manchester and underlined the importance of flexibility, local trust and consistent policies in future devolution deals.

Surrey County Council: addressing fragmentation

Councillor Marisa Heath presented Surrey County Council's vision for a Local Environmental Improvement Plan, outlining the challenges of working in a fragmented policy environment, particularly in two-tier county systems. She summarised Surrey’s proposals for a framework to enable evidence based prioritisation of environmental initiatives, integrating these with Local Plans, economic development and public health strategies. 

Marisa emphasised that the lack of a joined up approach is the core problem - Surrey County Council aims to address this through devolution, calling for a cohesive vision and clear leadership in environmental action. Building on this, Marisa discussed the county's ongoing struggle with managing multiple, often disconnected strategies and securing consistent buy-in from partners. The current system demands significant resources to maintain, often resulting in fragmented efforts with limited scalability. 

To resolve this, Surrey is advocating for a long term, locally focused framework, the Local Environmental Improvement Plan. This plan would centralise efforts across various environmental issues under one strategic umbrella, helping to reduce costs, expedite planning and foster collaboration with partners. This model would also integrate land management and nature recovery strategies, ensuring a more sustainable and cohesive approach to tackling Surrey’s environmental challenges.

UK 100: The galvanising role of nature in community action

Christopher Hammond ofUK100, began his talk by describing nature as a ‘galvanising force’ explaining that nature mobilises communities, particularly around issues like stopping sewage polluting our rivers, protecting trees and tackling air pollution. People want to see action and while the new government has shown positive signs, there are concerns about its emphasis on frugality. 

Christopher explained that the government is focused on economic growth and reducing capital investment and expenditure, meaning public bodies will need to do more, with less. This creates difficult trade-offs, especially when considering the need to build 1.5 million new homes, which must be built to net zero standards to avoid future costly retrofits.

Energy decarbonisation is another complex challenge, with the government setting ambitious targets. However, engaging the public in these large scale projects is crucial. The system is already strained, and achieving nature recovery and addressing climate change would be difficult even in well funded circumstances. With bureaucratic hurdles and past ineffective interventions, the task seems even more daunting. Local authorities will play a central role in overcoming these challenges. Christopher stressed that local government must lead efforts for nature recovery through robust planning, but with the devolution of powers and adequate funding.

Friends of the Earth: local authorities need genuine devolution to lead on climate action

Victoria Marsom from Friends of the Earth gave the final talk of the webinar, explaining that local authorities play a crucial role in tackling climate change, but without real devolution, progress will remain slow. 

Victoria said that devolution deals across England offer varying levels of power and even in well established city regions, we're not on track to meet climate targets. All too often, climate action is sidelined, and important powers, like bus franchising, are underused. Metro mayors, despite their influence, can feel distant from their communities and this disconnect means that local people often lack a direct voice in the decisions that affect them.

She highlighted the importance of channelling national funding into local, place based solutions for climate challenges. While local authorities and mayors are crucial, they can't act at the necessary scale and pace without significant changes to national policy and funding. Alignment with Surrey County Council’s 2030 climate target, comprehensive planning reforms, and energy efficient homes are essential to avoid further costs to people and the planet. Community scrutiny, not central government interference, is key.

Friends of the Earth continues to push for genuine devolution, where local authorities can lead on climate action with the necessary resources. Mayors must step up, and we must all work together to meet the climate and nature challenges ahead.

Questions and answers

Questions and answers from the session highlighted the need to redefine local growth plans as local sustainable growth plans. Others raised concerns about how sustainable growth is defined, with varying interpretations, including the idea of doughnut economics. The discussion addressed the challenges authorities face in delivering Local Nature Recovery Strategies due to limited funding and remit.

There was also discussion on how we ensure increased devolution is effective on the delivery of net zero, to avoid it becoming just another layer of bureaucracy, a question on the role local authorities can play in getting electricity grid upgrades and a discussion on what should be in the new National Planning Policy Framework.

Looking ahead

The devolution webinar was a lively and engaging discussion, with insightful ideas and constructive dialogue on sustainable growth, nature recovery strategies and effective devolution, showcasing a strong commitment to environmental leadership and collaboration among local authorities. You can watch the webinar here.

You can also read the Blueprint Coalition's updated summary here. 

Further information 

• Blueprint Coalition
• Blueprint Coalition: summary update September 2024
• ADEPT's Climate Change hub 
• ADEPT Climate Change Board 

Author 

• Louise Marix Evans, Director of Quantum Strategy & Technology Ltd.