Westminster Citizens’ Climate Assembly day three, July 15 2023

Building on the evidence and information they received from weekend one, participants formulated ideas to help inform the development of their recommendations. External experts and council officers were also available for participants to ask further questions and test their ideas.  

The focus of the assembly is to explore the important question: 

• How can we overcome the main barriers to Westminster becoming a net zero city by 2040 together and how do we ensure this is delivered in the fairest way? 

Purpose of day three

To help participants to: 

1. Develop a list of ideas based on their understanding of the barriers and opportunities for climate action, set out in weekend one.
2. Evolve a set of prototype recommendations for testing with a panel of external experts.
3. Collectively agree the set of prototype recommendations to take forward on day four.

Welcome

Cllr Matt Noble, Cabinet Member for Climate Action, Regeneration and Renters for Westminster City Council, welcomed participants back to the assembly. He highlighted how this piece of work fits into the wider decision making of the council and partnership, and mentioned what the next steps were following the assembly.  

Activities

Idea generation

Participants worked at their tables to discuss the information and review insights they received during weekend one. Using the root causes identified during day two, participants developed a longlist of ideas for answering the assembly’s question. Each table then refined their long list to 5 top ideas. 

Clustering ideas

Each table shared their top ideas with the whole group. Ideas were then clustered together based on their relevance to one another.  

Creating the idea for testing

Clustered ideas were shared on each table across the room. Table facilitators then supported participants to turn their cluster of ideas into a singlee idea that was suitable for testing.  

Vision statement and principles

Participants have been voting online for which vision of a 2040 net zero Westminster, developed during weekend one, they like the most. Volunteers came together to refine this vision, and the members’ principles. Volunteers then shared their work with the room for wider voting to agree the adoption of the assembly’s vision.  

Testing the ideas

Participants spent time turning the ideas into recommendations by doing some reality testing with external experts and council officers. Participants were able to roam around the room to test ideas at the following testing stations: 

1. Building environment, retrofit, planning and energy systems 
2. Travel and transport 
3. Waste and recycling 
4. Greening and biodiversity 
5. Adaptation and resilience 
6. Education, skills, awareness and engagement 
7. National policy and influence 
8. Businesses 

Experts and council officers were able to give participants feedback on their ideas. They spoke about their feasibility, and gave information on any trade-offs that might be needed if the idea was implemented.  

Creating prototype recommendations

Participants worked with their table facilitators to refine their ideas and create prototype recommendations. All prototype ideas were then placed around the room. 

Reviewing prototype recommendations

Individually, participants roamed around the room, reading each prototype, and voting on their level of support for each one. Participants also noted any comments on what it would take for them to increase their level of support if the initial rating was low.

Combining

Participants were asked to share their levels of support for each prototype, and to consider which ones need refinement to achieve an overall 80% level of support. Similar prototypes were combined together, and contradictions were discussed. 

Wrap up and close

Participants reflected on how much they had achieved in developing their final set of recommendations.