Sparks Project: Linking ‘left behind’ communities to the net zero project and creating Blyth’s net zero policy story

This blog is written by Professor Anthony Zito of Newcastle University.

The need to bridge the gap

A fundamental challenge for policymakers and planners who are trying to deliver a net zero carbon future is how to bridge the gap between technical policymaking and the public, particularly in ‘left behind’ places. The public is essential in the global effort to reduce carbon emissions, but public trust in policymakers and experts has decreased in the industrialised countries that must lead the net zero effort. Our multi-disciplinary project, Sparks, offers one path towards building understanding and trust between the left behind communities, policymakers, and planners.

Introducing Blyth

The town of Blyth, Northumberland in north-east England encapsulates this challenging reality. Blyth, since the 1990s, helped pioneer renewable energy efforts in the United Kingdom, but recently has seen increasing support for the Reform Party which criticises the contribution and value of renewable energy. Blyth had a proud tradition of mining and shipbuilding that ended in the 1980s, with long term damage to the Blyth people and environment. The renewable energy innovation that has followed has not had the same integration with the Blyth residents, who feel excluded from the transformation and often live in fuel poverty.

Our Newcastle University project team, working in economic and cultural geography (Brett Cherry, Clifton Evers), chemical engineering (Greg Mutch), geoscience (Mark Ireland), planning (Ruth Machen, William Otchere-Darko) and policy studies (Anthony Zito) combined arts-based methods with an understanding of net zero policy-making  to foster genuine public participation and mutual understanding between the Blyth and net zero decision-making communities. Partnering with the Blyth charity, Headway Arts, we held arts-based community workshops with the communities of two Blyth neighbourhoods, Cowpen and Isabella. These workshops and the resulting art informed our arts-led experimental policy document. The project workshops helped residents share their experiences, worries, hopes and visions in their own ways and on their own terms. The team simultaneously engaged with net zero policymakers and planners in their own professional setting to understand their strategic vision.

The findings of our accessible arts-led policy document include the following:

• Community engagement between planners/ developers/experts and the communities needs to be happening before the project starts

The imperatives of proposing, assessing and then implementing projects make it difficult for community feedback to shape the project later. Public consultation comes too late in the process and is not fit for purpose in conversations on net zero with local communities.

• Communities tend to be more open to ideas when they feel listened to

The gap between net zero policymakers and communities widens when community engagement is delegated to specialists rather than integrated into project officers' core responsibilities, with adequate time allocated.

• The Blyth community have a multi-generational, multi-layered connection to their place and to nature, but the Port of Blyth activities, including net zero operations, have expanded operations in a way that cuts access to the Blyth River – an important community resource (‘Blue Space’) - and disrupts habitats that occur in the ‘Green Spaces’

The residents of Isabella and Cowpen feel that the net zero transition policymakers do not recognise their place attachment, local knowledge and cultural networks. This lack of recognition both alienates the community and overlooks their strengths and potential to contribute. These communities need to become respected partners in the ongoing net zero transition.

The bigger picture

The project’s key policy recommendations are for planners and policymakers to consider:

1. Adopting co-production, arts-led approaches during net zero planning processes to access emotional and local knowledge and expertise for policy development.
2. Implementing a "Politics of Listening": moving beyond token consultation toward listening in creative ways to bring together and communicate community hopes and concerns before introducing technical and planning solutions.
3. Building trust in the early design for net zero projects: rather than waiting to engage the communities when decisions are being taken or have been finalised.
4. More training opportunities for planners and net zero scientists to engage with communities in co-productive ways.
5. Ensuring equitable investment: distributing net zero benefits to residents, particularly addressing energy poverty in areas where renewable energy is produced.
6. Protecting community assets: recognise and strengthen existing community-led actions and networks rather than building around them or replacing them.
7. Reinstating access and support for blue and green spaces for the benefit for human and wildlife wellbeing.
8. Building dialogue between the pipeline of talent required for the clean energy sector and Blyth communities, consequently widening participation.

For further queries email: Anthony.zito@Newcastle.ac.uk