The seaside town of Whitehaven, in the north-west of England, found itself at the centre of a political storm in May, when the levelling up, housing and communities secretary, Michael Gove, gave his approval for the UK’s first new deep coalmine in more than 40 years just outside the town.
But Whitehaven may soon be known for more than climate-wrecking coal. That is the ambition of Project Collette, a £3bn proposal for a windfarm off the Cumbrian coast to be part-owned by the local community – instigated by the Green Finance Community Hub in collaboration with the engineering firm Arup and community energy specialists Energy4All – and with the potential to power nearby industry. If Cumbrians could stand on the sandstone cliffs and look out at wind turbines they owned, and that had provided jobs for local people, that might just build the political support and engagement that is so vital to reaching our climate targets?
People worry about the climate crisis. It regularly features in opinion polls covering respondents’ top concerns. But in more in-depth discussions with people, my research team at Lancaster University have discovered a vicious circle at play. The more people learn about the scale and urgency of the climate crisis, the more they look to the government for leadership. Yet they tell us they don’t have confidence that the government will provide that leadership. There is a danger that people fall into a fatalism trap: it’s too big for me alone, they say, and yet I don’t believe politicians will step up.
There is a route out of this trap. Politicians need to put forward bold policies for the climate that link to people’s aspirations and provide tangible benefits, such as local jobs. If they did that, our research suggests that people would both reward them and step up to the mark themselves to work toward local solutions.
That’s where ventures such as Project Collette come in. Imagine increasing the supply of zero-carbon electricity through solar farms and wind turbines that are part-owned by local people or local councils. Green jobs would no longer be something dreamed up by Westminster thinktanks, but tangible, visible schemes employing you or your neighbour. The locally owned profits could be invested in local priorities, like insulation schemes for all homes and improved green spaces.
Locally controlled renewables would also help ease people’s concerns about nearby developments. A strong majority of the population supports wind power and other renewables. But research indicates that people’s support does not only depend on whether they like the look of the technology, but on whether they have a say in planning local schemes, and who they think is benefiting from the project.
This vision is a stark contrast to how the energy sector is run at the moment, dominated as it is by commercial energy companies with distant headquarters. Under our hyper-liberalised market, community involvement is just about possible – if you are very determined. The UK’s first community-owned windfarm, Baywind, was built more than 25 years ago in 1997, just down the coast from Whitehaven. More recently, Bristol city council backed a successful proposal to build another community-led wind project in deprived Lawrence Weston.
But it’s unbelievably difficult for non-profits to navigate the treacherous route through the planning system, financing and complex regulatory requirements. As a result, examples such as the above are the exception, not the rule. They make up a tiny fraction of total output. Under the current system, Project Collette may never be more than a pipe dream.
It’s hardly surprising, then, that the Labour party has seized on the need for reform. When Keir Starmer launched his climate plans in June, buried beneath the headline policies was an intriguing “local power plan” that would make initiatives like Project Collette mainstream. Under its proposals, the publicly owned GB Energy would partner with communities and private developers to finance local energy projects, with communities owning a share and the profits ploughed back.
This should have broad cross-party support. Back in 2014, at the request of Ed Davey, then a minister in the coalition government, I co-chaired a taskforce looking into how the government could encourage, or require, commercial companies to offer a share in ownership to local people. We developed a good plan that the government accepted as part of a wider package of support for community energy. But events, not least the 2015 election, the backbench Conservative rebellion against windfarms and then the Brexit wranglings, overtook us, and the opportunity was lost. Since then, such community projects have stalled.
What better way for any government to demonstrate that it is putting its trust in people than giving them a direct say in decision-making? In 2020, the UK parliament’s own climate assembly proved the value of involving citizens in developing plans for net zero. Brussels and Milan now have their own permanent citizens’ assemblies to help take decisions on climate. The UK could be the first country to create a permanent assembly to advise on net zero, as part of wider plans for constitutional reform.
To the people of Whitehaven, net zero, not to mention green jobs, seem like distant, abstract concepts, compared with the very tangible, if controversial, offer of jobs in coal mining. If we are to maintain and build political and public support for climate action, we need to focus on interventions that benefit people and place. I look forward to standing on those Cumbrian cliffs and seeing the turbines of Project Collette turning in the steady sea breeze.
Rebecca Willis is professor of energy and climate governance at Lancaster University, and leads the climate citizens research group.
