Hampshire’s Climate Change Commission of Inquiry
In November 2006, Hampshire County Council established a Commission of Inquiry on climate change recognising that climate change represented the single biggest threat to its vision that:
“Within a decade Hampshire will prosper
without risking our environment.”
Chaired by The Leader of Hampshire County Council, and with representatives of all three major political parties, business, academia and the media, the Commission was established to address how Hampshire can adapt to become more resilient to the social, economic and environmental impacts of climate change, through the following objectives:
• Identification of potential climate change impacts relevant to Hampshire.
• Identification of international ‘best practice’ in climate change adaptation policy/technology.
• Identification of the role of Hampshire County Council and its partners, in addressing climate change in the region.
It was to do this by considering evidence from a wide range of sources, learning from good practice around the world and focusing on what the County Council and its partners could do to address the impacts of climate change in Hampshire.
Hearings on Physical Environment, Infrastructure, Wellbeing and Society, and Economy were held and evidence from a range of organisations, including businesses, NGOs, members of the public, charities and other Hampshire local authorities were presented to the Commissioners. External experts gave presentations relevant to the hearing topics.
The Commission considered its conclusions in October 2007, and published its findings. These were considered by Hampshire County Council in November 2007, and a set of actions was agreed and adopted.
Four core areas were identified for development - knowledge gaps, partnership building, education and communication and immediate actions relevant to Hampshire County Council operations. From these, 24 key points for action emerged.
In addition, a new cross-Council policy was adopted that:
“The County Council, through its own operations and in partnership with others, will seek to ensure a resilient sustainable Hampshire by placing climate change considerations at the heart of its decision making processes, its policy development, and its operational activities.”
The agreed actions are now being delivered and the Commission has been retained to meet in the future to monitor progress and receive evidence on any new areas of interest.
Contact Email:
Organisation:
Hampshire County Council
Funding Details:
N/A
Status:
Ongoing
Website relating to case study:
http://www3.hants.gov.uk/climatechange/climate-change-commission
Organisation’s website:
Keywords relating to this case study:
Biodiversity, Business and economy, Communities, Emergency planning, Planning, Tourism, Utilities and infrastructure
South East groups case study relates to:
Planning
