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Blackpool Eco-Schools and Youth

Eco-Schools

At Blackpool Council we are supporting the Keep Britain Tiday, Eco-schools programme; which provides a simple seven step framework for schools, colleges and nurseries to work through. 

The eco-schools framework aims to empower young people and passionate staff to deliver hands-on environmental projects in their school and local community whilst learning about issues like; climate change, plastic pollution and biodiversity loss. 

By partaking in the eco-schools programme you can earn a Green Flag award for your school, college or nursery, by working through a choice of ten topics. 

Find out more about how the Eco-schools programme.

Eco-Schools Logo

Support offer 

Topic workshops

A mix of live sessions and webinars which run at various times throughout the year to make them accessable. There will be one workshop a month as well which is centered around one of the seven topics in the Eco-schools programme. 

How 'to' workshops

A mix of live sessions and webinars which run at various times throughout the year to make them accessable. These workshops will include the following content; 

  • An introduction to Eco-schools
  • How to carry out an environmental review
  • How to create your action plan and choose from the ten topic options

Mentoring 

A variety of other support options through mentorship are available for practioners nominated to lead on delivering the Eco-schools programme at their establishment. 

  • Lead teachers can sign up for free mentoring sessions with the climate youth engagement team
  • 1:1 support is available for all Eco-schools lead staff at all stages of the Eco-schools process 
  • Youth engagement newsletter 
  • Sessions available which cover navigating the Eco-schools process and how to obtain Green Flag status

If you are a member of staff for an educational centre of youth group and are interested in learning more about the Eco-schools programme and support available, or are already registered as an Eco-school we would like to hear from you. 

Please email our Youth Engagement Climate Worker at gemma.cassidy@blackpool.gov.uk 

Blackpool youth and climate 

Young people's voices are crucial in Blackpool's action on climate change.

Which is why in 2019 we held a youth climate assembly as well as a citizens assembly, to feed into the development of the climate action plan. These actions can be found in the table below. 

Youth assembly timeline 

  • June 2019 - Blackpool Council declared a climate emergency
  • September 2019 - Blackpool Youth Council highlighted climate change as a top concern for young people as part of the UK Youth Parliament's 'Make Your Mark'
  • November 2019 - Blackpool Youth Summit was held where thoughts on climate change were explored via a question and answer session
  • March 2020 - Blackpool Council, URPotential and Resilience Revolution met to discuss climate activities in Blackpool and discussed joining up for a climate assembly
  • September 2020 - Headstart, Junior Park Rangers and Blackpool Youth Council combined to co-produce the youth climate assembly
  • January 2021 - Blackpool youth climate assembly was held, followed by a debfrief session

Youth assembly

The youth climate group held an assembly of young people in January 2021. This was Blackpool's first ever youth climate assembly.

Session 1

Session 1 of the Blackpool Youth Climate Assembly brought a group of young people, volunteers, councillors and practitioners together to explore and learn about climate change and the environment with a view to learning about issues and then going on to come up with solutions.

Session One was about setting the scene and finding out what young people thought about climate change and the environment before inviting a range of guest speakers to help build the knowledge of the young people who were part of the climate assembly.

There were speakers from Blackpool Council who introduced their vision for a green Blackpool.

Viktoria from the University of Brighton set the scene and explored with the group some words they might come across or be unsure about.

The group then heard from Guy from Generation Climate Europe/Transition Network about food and agroecology, they heard from Sam from Groundworks and Emily from LoveMYBeach who introduced them to green and blue spaces. Blackpool Youth Council then raised awareness about Fuel Poverty and finally, Leah from Active Blackpool talked about cycling and sustainable transport solutions.

Session 2

Session 2 of the Blackpool Youth Climate Assembly brought the group from session one back together ready for the final 2 hours. This session was all about giving young people the opportunity to split into smaller groups and talk about their views and opinions on one of the topics from session one.

Emma, a member of Bury Youth Council came to talk about her experience getting involved in climate change and what events she has been involved in. She spoke about things young people could do to help combat climate change and answered questions from the group.

After the break, the groups came back together from their discussions and gave feedback on what they spoke about and each group gave a possible action around their topic to be pursued following the climate assembly.

Evaluation forms were filled out at the end of the session and the young people were made aware that they would carry on as Blackpool’s climate group and if that was something they wanted to be a part of then they could come to an open session on the 2 February 2021.

Findings and actions 

Blackpool's youth climate assembly findings and proposed actions focussed around the 7 key topics below.

Findings and actions from the youth climate assembly
 Topic Finding Proposed actions 
 Food Buying food locally reduces food miles and this helps Blackpool work towards its goals of becoming carbon net zero. Educate communities on eating seasonally as well as locally. This allows Blackpool to take advantage of allotments and community gardens. This could be developed into commuity shops that are zero waste.
 Town Normalise the idea of a cleaner and greener town, with individuals taking pride in their twon for being litter free and sustainable. Education around recycling and sustainability, with access to recycling bins on local parks and beaches, as well as incentives such as the recycling reverse vending machine.
Blue spaces Reducing litter on Blackpool's beaches could be through harsher fines, promoting beach cleans, encouraging recycling or other positive reinforcement. Create an event such as Blackpool's Biggest Beach Clean.
Green spaces Green spaces should be seen as a carbon offset solution, so need to become greener with trees, flowers and meadows.  Tree planting across Blackpool's green spaces, utilising existing services to encourage communities to get involved in making green spaces greener.
Education Residents in Blackpool should have a better understanding of climate change and environmental issues. Compulsory education on climate change and environmental issues starting at a young age and contiuing throughout primary/secondary school. This should cover social issues of climate change as well as scientific elements.
Transport It is important to break down barriers surrounding active travel, making Blackpool it safer for young people to choose to ride a bike, scooter, skate or run instead of using public transport. A swap shop where a young person grows out of their bike and can swap for the next size up.
Renewable energy  It is important for people living in Blackpool to have the option of renewable energy. Create a fund allowing people to access money to make their houses more energy efficient. New buildings should be built with the installation of solar panels.