Langport Town Council: Levels Climate Forum

Langport Town Council, in partnership with neighbouring Huish Episcopi Parish Council, set up an online climate forum in the autumn of 2020 in the autumn of 2020, to engage and swap climate adaptation ideas with more than 20 other parish councils that share the fragile ecology of the Somerset Levels.


The challenge

To engage neighbouring parish councils that historically did not communicate with each other and have ideas to share. This would help us as a collective group to face the ongoing climate challenge and meet our carbon zero target of 2030.

The solution

We set up a forum via Zoom and approached 26 parish councils within a ten-mile radius of Langport and Huish Episcopi. We have held five climate forums so far and more than ten parish councils regularly attend to hear talks and give presentations. Each forum is chaired by a different parish council.

The impact

The climate forum has created a momentum among participating parish councils on the Somerset Levels. We are working on a joint project to use the online mapping website Parish Online to record the number of solar panels and ecology projects in each parish.

Lessons learned

Getting every parish council in our area to participate was a longshot but to have more than half the parishes take an interest from a standing start suggests a significant shared concern that our communities need to do more to face the climate challenge and parish councils that work together can take a lead on this.

Relevant resources

Contact

Cllr Stephen Tate - [email protected]