Whose role is it to act on climate resilience?: Implementing Yorkshire's Climate Action Plan with Leeds City Council

Discussions of climate change still mostly tend to focus on the question of how to reduce or mitigate carbon dioxide emissions. Yet just as crucially, the UK must adapt to changes in the climate that are already inevitable, thanks to historical and current global emissions. Collective resilience to these impacts needs to be built up, but action in this area has to date been slow. One reason for this delay is that there remains a lack of clarity about whose role it is to take a lead. In the case of Leeds City Council, for example, no department currently has designated responsibility for climate resilience. Flood Risk Management appears to be the closest fit, but the remit of that office has never been framed in these terms. So what would it mean for them to take on a role as resilience champions for Leeds? In addressing that question, the proposed research seeks to extrapolate wider lessons from this specific case study.

The researcher would be embedded within Leeds' Flood Risk Management office for a year from November 2021. The placement would begin shortly after publication of the Climate Action Plan prepared by the new Yorkshire and Humber Climate Commission (the UK's first, region-wide climate commission, which has the support of all 22 local authorities in Yorkshire). The Action Plan will contain ambitious proposals for developing climate resilience in the region. Using these as a catalyst for discussion, the researcher will engage the Flood Risk team in a series of participatory research conversations. What would need to change in order for this team to address climate resilience more directly? How might this challenge affect their existing responsibilities and professional networks? What new public engagement strategies might become necessary, and to what extent do staff feel prepared for such changes? Through the research process, the applicant will establish a nuanced understanding of the day-to-day working, drivers, and decision-making contexts in which the Flood Risk team currently operate, and thus of the issues and obstacles involved in adapting to the resilience agenda.

The applicant's suitability for this research role has been established through his previous engagements with flood risk professionals in West Yorkshire. His background as a researcher in drama and theatre gives him relevant skills and experience in facilitating improvisatory group work, in which the perspectives and experience of all participants are heard and responded to. He can thus support participants in identifying shared concerns, potential conflicts, and creative solutions. It is anticipated that the collaborative process may lead to the development of role-playing workshops in which staff can rehearse the more active public engagement roles that an emphasis on climate resilience is likely to entail. Pilot engagement initiatives on resilience will be pursued with selected community groups, to develop possible models for future collaborative working.

Findings and recommendations from this case-study process will be disseminated to other partners within the Y&H Climate Commission. The research will thus have the potential to inform future decision-making processes at a regional level-and perhaps beyond that, nationally. Finally, the "story" of the research process will provide the basis for a tourable stage performance, written and presented by the researcher. This public output will use personal narratives as an accessible and entertaining means to raise awareness of, and to engage audiences in dialogue about, the challenges of climate resilience.