The North of England was the cradle of the Industrial Revolution of the nineteenth century, and the heart of British industry in the twentieth. Today, we want the northern economy to play a leading role in the biggest transformation of the world’s infrastructure since the switch from wood to coal power.
The world is rising to the challenge of climate change, which means using new ways to meet our travel, energy, and communication needs. Now, after a winter of floods, we know this change can’t be delayed, and that new infrastructure has to be futureproof. Representing diverse organisations from across the north, we want clean energy to power our future.
The North is already designing, building and exporting the new low carbon products and services that the whole world wants and has committed to buy, from wind turbines to electric vehicles. Renewable energy, efficient homes and workplaces, and smart technologies will all support local jobs and businesses. And they enable communities to shape their own energy futures, as towns and villages across the North have done since Baywind in Cumbria, which was the UK’s first ever renewable energy co-operative.
The future we want is one with clean air, healthy people and resilient communities. We want to protect our astonishing landscapes, like Lindisfarne in the east and the Ainsdale Dunes in the west, from the devastating impacts of climate change.
To make this vision real, the 2016 Budget must enable us to develop and grow renewables for our region into the 2020s. The UK government should be celebrating clean energy as core to its economic plan. To cherish what we love about our region and reassert our place in the forefront of the world’s economy, we ask the Chancellor to back clean energy for the North.
Signed,
| Lymm Community Energy Ltd, Cheshire | Brampton and Beyond Energy Ltd, Cumbria |
| Transition Wilmslow, Cheshire | Community Energy Cumbria, Cumbria |
| Cumbria Action for Sustainability, Cumbria | |
| Durham Greenpeace, Durham | Energy4All, Cumbria |
| Sustainable Energy Eden Ltd, Cumbria | |
| East Yorkshire Greenpeace, East Yorkshire | Sustainable Keswick, Cumbria |
| Brunswick Parish Church, Greater Manchester Brunswick Parish Church, Greater Manchester Bury Community Hydro, Greater Manchester Carbon Co-op, Greater Manchester Cooler Projects CIC, Greater Manchester Deeplish Community Centre, Greater Manchester Fossil Free Greater Manchester, Greater Manchester Frack Free Greater Manchester, Greater Manchester Greater Manchester Combined Authority, Greater Manchester Greater Manchester Community Renewables Ltd., Greater Manchester Manchester City Council, Greater Manchester Manchester Climate Change Agency, Greater Manchester Manchester Environmental Education Network, Greater Manchester Manchester Friends of the Earth, Greater Manchester Manchester Greenpeace, Greater Manchester Manchester: A Certain Future, Greater Manchester MERCi, Greater Manchester My Green Investment CIC, Greater Manchester Oldham Community Power, Greater Manchester Openspace Co-operative, Greater Manchester Salford City Council, Greater Manchester St John's Sunshine, Greater Manchester Standish Voice, Greater Manchester Steady State Manchester, Greater Manchester The Carbon Literacy Trust, Greater Manchester Whitemoss Youth Club, Greater Manchester |
Frack Free Glossop, High Peak The Environmental Quality Mark CIC, High Peak Business Hive Club, Humberside Grimsby Renewables Partnership, Humberside Hull Friends of the Earth, Humberside Blackpool Greenpeace, Lancashire Frack Free Lancashire, Lancashire Morecambe Bay Community Renewables, Lancashire N.E. Lanc Trades Union Council, Lancashire Ormskirk and District Friends of the Earth, Lancashire Preston Greenpeace, Lancashire Renewable Energy Alliance Lancashire, Lancashire Residents Action of Fylde Fracking, Lancashire Ribble Estuary Against Fracking, Lancashire Roseacre Awareness Group, Lancashire The Nanas, Lancashire The Wildlife Trust for Lancashire, Manchester & North Merseyside, Lancashire Liverpool Community Renewables, Merseyside Liverpool Friends of the Earth, Merseyside Merseyside Environmental Trust, Merseyside Merseyside Greenpeace, Merseyside CLASP Network, Merseyside Tees Valley Wildlife Trust, Tees Valley Newcastle Greenpeace, Tyne and Wear North Tyneside Friends of the Earth, Tyne and Wear Tynedale Greenpeace, Tyne and Wear |
| Harrogate District Friends of the Earth, North Yorkshire Harrogate Greenpeace, North Yorkshire Middlesbrough Environment City, North Yorkshire York Greenpeace, North Yorkshire York, North Yorkshire & East Riding Enterprise Partnership, North Yorkshire Yorkshire Coast Greenpeace, North Yorkshire Carbon Neutral University Network, Sheffield University, South Yorkshire People and Planet Sheffield, South Yorkshire Sheffield Climate Alliance, South Yorkshire Energise Barnsley, South Yorkshire Renewable Upper Don Energy, South Yorkshire South Yorkshire Greenpeace, South Yorkshire South Yorkshire Housing Association, South Yorkshire |
Diocese of Leeds Justice and Peace Commission, West Yorkshire Global Justice Bradford, West Yorkshire Huddersfield Friends of the Earth, West Yorkshire Huddersfield Greenpeace, West Yorkshire Kirklees Campaign Against Climate Change, West Yorkshire Leeds Community Energy, West Yorkshire Leeds Greenpeace, West Yorkshire Leeds Permaculture Network, West Yorkshire Leeds Tidal, West Yorkshire Baildon Friends of the Earth, West Yorkshire Middleton Primary School, West Yorkshire Pennine Community Power, West Yorkshire St Helen's Sandal, West Yorkshire St Paul's Walton, West Yorkshire |