Last Thursday, more than 40 local residents gathered at Huddersfield Mission on Lord Street with the common goal of expressing their concerns and views on the lack of green solutions.
The free, public event, which took place on 10 July, was organised by Assemble Huddersfield. It brought together people from all walks of life, from students to pensioners, to take real action to tackle the urgent environmental challenges facing the region and our planet and to engage in passionate debates about the crises in our natural world and their solutions. Assemble Huddersfield is an organisation working to restore democracy by empowering communities and calling for change to start at the grassroots level.
People in Huddersfield are demanding change
The event began with passionate speeches from two local members representing the environmental groups EPIKS (Environmental Projects in Kirklees) and Huddersfield Friends of the Earth, whose powerful and engaging messages sparked honest debate among attendees.
The first speaker, Chas Ball, Senior Manager of EPIKS Active Travel Projects and Secretary of Cycle Kirklees, addressed sustainable transport solutions. He was followed by Adrian Cruden from Huddersfield Friends of the Earth, who stressed the urgent need for a comprehensive climate plan and explained how the community can pressure the government to implement an effective national strategy.
After the speakers had finished, a facilitator (Sue Price) from Assemble Huddersfield asked a simple but crucial question: “What do you think are the most urgent aspects of climate collapse that need to be addressed?” She then divided the participants into five groups so that members of each group could share their ideas about the question posed, discuss priorities, and listen closely to each other.
Each group spent about 30 minutes discussing key aspects of the climate crisis. After their allotted time, representatives from each group shared their collective insights, which included issues such as political systems that ignore ecosystems, the unbridled power of fossil fuel companies, resource inequalities, and greenhouse gas emissions from transportation. One group outlined the need for “a fundamental narrative shift”. As the group’s representative put it, climate talks often ignore the voices of ordinary people.
Shaping national priorities
Following the first part of the session, Sue posed the next question: “What policies, actions, or changes should be prioritised at the national level?”
The groups were then given 35 minutes to address bold and systemic changes. Five groups came up with 15 key proposals that were shared with the entire assembly and then put to a vote.
The main priorities that emerged from the vote included: deep adaptation to future climate realities, a strengthening of communities and empowerment, revolutionary socialism as a systemic solution, legal recognition of the rights of nature, strict new corporate laws that enforce social and environmental responsibility, and environmental protection as a legal obligation.
Looking to the future: from Huddersfield to London
The impact of the gathering does not end there: the five most popular demands raised at the meeting will be presented at the three-day national event ‘House of the People’ in London later this month. In fact, the gathering is part of Assemble’s drive to create a truly participatory and democratic alternative to the House of Lords.
The goal of this grassroots movement is to give ordinary people the opportunity to shape the policies that directly affect their lives so that the general public initiates change rather than waiting for change to come from above.
What was clear to participants at the end of the meeting in Huddersfield was that the climate and nature crisis is not just a scientific issue but a social challenge and a democratic call to action, and Huddersfield has proven that it can lead the way.
