In recognition of Earth Day on 22nd April, we speak to two of the people behind Leeds’ community-led climate movement.
In 2019, Leeds City Council declared a climate emergency, setting out the intention to take active steps towards a net-zero carbon roadmap. The following year, Climate Action Leeds – a partnership of organisations including Voluntary Action Leeds – launched a five-year, city-wide programme with the aim of helping Leeds become zero carbon, nature-friendly, and socially just by the 2030s. Much of that effort took the form of hyperlocal initiatives – eight community hubs spread across the city set on identifying what climate action could look like in their own neighbourhoods.
“The hubs were chosen to give a demographic, socioeconomic, and geographic spread across the city,” explains Martin Flynn of Voluntary Action Leeds, who has worked on the project for the past two years. “The idea was for people to be galvanisers and collaborators in their area – working with volunteers, using project funding, and doing climate-related activity that fit the context of where they were.”
The five-year programme ended last autumn, but many of the hubs have continued. Several have since set up independently – as charities or community interest companies – and are still going strong: “Thanks to the effort of the staff and the people in those neighbourhoods they’ve established themselves and kept going. Getting out and seeing what your neighbours are doing is genuinely inspiring, and a lot of the best things for the climate come as a byproduct of things that are good for you and your community anyway.”
One of those independent hubs is Alwoodley 2030, now its own charity with National Lottery Community Fund backing, and the range of projects the group now runs is staggering: Low Carbon Homes Club, a monthly repair café at Allerton C of E Primary School, nature corridors connecting green spaces along residential streets, guided cycle rides, bike maintenance training, and an Incredible Edible veg-growing project on King Lane.
Each year the group runs a ward-wide Walk to School Week involving all seven state primaries in Alwoodley – a response to the school-run traffic that clogs local roads. This year’s theme is Walking with Wildlife and children are creating posters that will become QR-code wildlife trail content along school routes: “It integrates our nature and active travel themes nicely,” says Coordinator Jennifer Roberts. There’s also an annual Open Nature-Friendly Gardens Day: “It’s about what anyone can do to benefit nature on their own property. People don’t tend to think of Alwoodley as a place with lots of climate and nature activity, but there’s loads happening. If anyone gets in touch, we can signpost them to a project – or if they have an idea, we can often help them get it off the ground.”
Jennifer is tremendously proud of what the projects have created around them: “Before Alwoodley 2030, people told us they didn’t know there were others who cared about this in their area. Now they have made real friendships and found others who want to live more lightly on the planet. We’ve created a community and for people who were already deeply worried about climate, it’s been great for mental health and wellbeing.”
Alwoodley may have a reputation as a well-to-do area, but the ward actually spans both the highest and lowest income brackets in the city. The group has been deliberate about choosing projects that cross those lines. The nature corridors, for instance, run from leafy suburban streets into areas of social housing: “According to nature, this is all one corridor. Whether someone has a private garden or a balcony, everybody belongs.”
Martin emphasises the ease with which people can get involved: “It’s not about overhauling your entire lifestyle overnight. It might be as simple as taking a reusable cup on your daily coffee run or walking to the shops instead of driving when you have a bit of extra time. Once you make a few of those small changes, most people feel good about it – that basic sense of doing your bit, rather than the issue feeling remote and abstract.”
Climateactionleeds.org.uk
Alwoodley2030.org.uk
Get involved – Upcoming Alwoodley 2030 events
- Guided cycle ride around Eccup Reservoir – 4th May (Bank Holiday Monday)
- The Open Nature-Friendly Gardens Day – 17th May
- Walk to School Week – 18th to 22nd May
