Hull students take climate action campaign to Parliament

STRONG MESSAGE: Ron Dearing UTC students with Emma Hardy MP, third right

By Simon Bristow

Young people from Hull have travelled to Parliament to demand action on climate change.

Students from Ron Dearing UTC visited Westminster along with fellow campaigners from Taunton, Skegness, and Suffolk to plead with parliamentarians and Ministers to protect their communities from “the inevitable impact of climate change”, including flooding.

The groups are supported by the #WeAreHere campaign which has been travelling around England visiting climate change-affected communities.

Constituents of several MPs, including Flooding Minister Rebecca Pow, and Hull West and Hessle MP Emma Hardy, who hosted the event, addressed a meeting asking Government to accept amendments to the Levelling Up Bill that would help them to protect their homes from flooding.

Students from Suffolk who attended the event have already had almost 50,000 signatures to their petition asking the Government to amend the Bill.

Emma Hardy said: “It's a pleasure to host this event for the students of Ron Dearing. Hull is in the firing line of climate change-affected flooding from all sides: increased rainfall, rivers and rising tides. It's vital our young people understand the challenges ahead and learn how they can better effect change through the democratic process.

“I hope their visit demystifies what goes on in Parliament and opens up new ways for them to lobby for the future they deserve and that we all need.”

The Levelling Up Bill entered committee stage in the Lords on February 20. Baroness Hayman has proposed a ‘community resilience to climate change’ amendment no. 270, responding to the needs of people and places who are facing uncertain and risky futures.

The group from Hull shared their stories about the threat posed by climate change and also displayed some of their artwork inspired by the Shorelines Hull project that has been running in the city for the last three years.

Aoife Curran-Smirk, Year 11 pupil at Ron Dearing UTC, said: “Living in Hull we already know all about the impact of climate change after the catastrophic floods of 2007. We think the Levelling Up Bill is a fantastic opportunity for the Government to show they are serious about tackling the climate crisis, and the massive impact it has on communities such as ours.”

#WeAreHere is a campaign developed by rights and climate collective Rights Community Action and creative collective Glimpse aimed at empowering local communities to speak out who are under threat from climate change.

Naomi Luhde-Thompson, director of Rights Community Action, said: “Legislation such as the Levelling Up Bill presents the opportunity to safeguard people living in climate-risk areas through requiring climate resilient development for communities. However, the bill in its current form weakens the voices of local residents and fails to create a strengthened legal requirement to address the climate crisis through planning.

“The campaign serves as a call to arms for people to encourage their MPs to push for the necessary changes to the Bill in Parliament”.