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Adaptation Post NI 188

On the 11th November 2010 Robin Mortimer, a Director of DEFRA, wrote to all local authority Chief Executives to stress that local authorities have an essential role to play in planning ahead and taking adaptation action. He suggests that

more immediate and thorough action is needed across the public sector - including by local authorities, as well as businesses and individuals, to ensure that the UK is preparing adequately for a changing climate. All organisations need to move up an "adaptation ladder" of key activities

Click here to view the full letter

CLASP Supporting Adaptation

Adapting Key Services to Climate Change

In December 2010 CLASP held the final workshop of our support project for adaptation risk assessments.

The 5 authorities who have led this project shared their experiences with everybody who attended. Their presentations (plus the risk assessment spreadsheet and scoring guidance used) are all now online if you would like to make use of them.

You can find them here on the CLASP website.

Lead Authorities:

Pendle Borough Council - Business Continuity

LiverpoolCity Council - Emergency Services

Rossendale Borough Council - Planning and Development

CheshireWest & Chester Council - Highways and Transport

WiganM.B.C. - Capital Assets

A full resource pack containing the all the materials and knowledge developed during this project in the form of a "How To" guide will be distributed to all CLASP members early in 2011 and will be posted onto this site.

Events and Workshops

CLASP has hosted a number of adaptation support events for local authorities and their partners, both during and after the requirement to report progress on NI 188. Click here to view materials from these events.

Funding for Regional Tool Development

CLASP Funding was granted in 2010 for the creation of a standardised toolkit for recording information and progress relevant to Adaptation in Lancashire. The toolkit has been developed by Lancashire County Council and then trialed with selected internal services and selected Local Authority partners. Once the toolkit is finalised it will be further refined to make it available to other relevant bodies across the region.
The toolkit has now been completed and information will be available via this website shortly.

Local Improvement Advisors

CLASP has assisted Sefton and Salford LSPs with gaining Local Improvement Advisor support to further develop their LSPs' work on adaptation - to run Adaptation Risk Assessment Workshops - for Level 2 - following on from their CLASP LSP Support Session.

Supporting Officer Meetings

Officers of Local Authorities with a NI 188 target within their LAA priority set were supported with quarterly meetings to exchange progress, led by GONW.

LSP Support

In 2009 & 2010 CLASP delivered 18 half-day sessions to the North West LSPs that were leading on Local Area Agreements. Sessions were tailored to the indicators and interests of each LSP and a number chose to focus on adaptation. To view a full report of the workshops, or for further information and a copy of materials please contact Ailsa Gibson.

Other Resources

Tackling Climate Change Through Risk Management - a casestudy from Hertfordshire

Hertfordshire Council are sharing their learning on the LGID site from three years embedding climate change risk into everyday service delivery.

Key messages:

· Avoid saying climate 'adaptation': 'climate risk' or 'business continuity' have far greater resonance to those outside the climate change agenda

· Use meaningful language: responding to the impacts of climate change is a challenge for everyone, not just the 'eco-warriors' down the corridor.

· Make friends with your risk management team: your risk management team may get you further in six months than you've managed in the past year on your own.

· Tap into existing ways of working: use efficient, clever and innovative use of existing mechanisms rather than creating new processes and procedures that will only create work.

· Tailor your information to the people your audience: for example, adult care services will be more interested in future heatwaves and summer temperatures than increased rainfall.

· Always remember the costs of doing nothing far outweigh the costs of acting now: stress, however, that responding to climate risk now does not immediately involve capital investment.

South West Resources

The South West Climate Change Impacts Partnership & the Environment Agency have issued a useful document of resources and links to NI 188 support. Whilst the document is SW orientated many of the links and references will be of use to NW authorities. You can download the document here.

Local Climate Impacts Profile (LCLIP) - new guidance online now

New guidance (including example presentations, spreadsheets and reports) is now available on producing Local Climate Impact Profiles (LCLIP) - the tool to help local authorities and other organisations start work on adaptation. An LCLIP examines recent weather events as a means of reviewing current vulnerabilities and as an aid to assessing how prepared organisations are to cope with current severe weather. It's considered an effective way of opening dialogue about adaptation both within organisations and amongst partners and helps councils to achieve Level 1 of NI188.

Eco Cities Climate Impacts Profile

Eco Cities is a joint initiative between the University of Manchester and Bruntwood, drawing on the expertise of the Manchester Architecture Research Centre, Centre for Urban Regional Ecology and Brooks World Poverty Institute. The project will focus on the response of urban areas to the impacts of climate change, looking particularly at how we can adapt our cities to the challenges and opportunities that a changing climate presents.

Eco Cities seeks to provide Manchester, by the end of 2010, with its first blueprint for an integrated climate change adaptation strategy. This will be based on leading scientific research, extensive stakeholder engagement, and best practice examples of new programmes successfully piloted during a three-year period.

For further information visit: www.ecocitiesproject.org.uk

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