Parish and town councils show how small actions can drive big climate change
Our latest event, The Climate Comeback: Growing climate action locally, explored the practical actions that parish and town councils can take to tackle climate change in their communities.
Attendees heard from expert speakers, including Amy Shepherd, clerk of West Monkton Parish Council; Andrea Crump, chief operating officer at Keep Britain Tidy; and Marian Nichol, secretary of Lyng Village Hall; The event showcased real examples of parish and town councils making a difference on the ground, provided practical steps to embed climate action into council business, and left delegates with tools, ideas and inspiration to make their communities greener.
Amy Shepherd outlined West Monkton Parish Council's strategic approach to climate action through a range of interconnected projects. These include a community garden, community fridge, school uniform and book-sharing schemes, repair cafés and adding solar panels on a local primary school. She emphasised the importance of volunteers, community participation and making funding easy to access. Her overarching message was that climate action works best when it is community-led and part of everyday local life. She noted: “There's not going to be a big project that makes a massive difference, but a combination of a number [of projects] and enabling the local community to do the same helps.”
Andrea Crump focused on how parish and town councils can work with national programmes delivered by Keep Britain Tidy. She highlighted initiatives including the Green Flag Awards, climate-resilient green spaces, Eco-Schools, Count Your Carbon, Buy Nothing New Month and reuse campaigns. She stressed the importance of helping residents make sustainable choices through simple, practical actions and effective communication. Andrea also encouraged councils to look beyond their direct emissions and consider wider community behaviours, procurement, consumption and active travel. She said: “Our aim is to help people where they live and have a clean and healthy environment rich in wildlife.”
Marian Nichol explained how her small rural community transformed a village hall garden through community engagement, volunteer support and a £2,500 grant. The project created accessible paths, vegetable plots, fruit trees, composting facilities, workshops, bird boxes and insect hotels. Her key message was that small councils can achieve significant climate and community benefits through local collaboration and practical action. She said: “We consulted with our villagers by holding a couple of events … and gathered volunteers at the same time, so we made a very strong community group.”
The event concluded with a Q&A session covering communication, carbon reduction, funding and energy conservation. Speakers highlighted the importance of community engagement, the cumulative impact of small practical actions, and the need for climate action to involve the whole community rather than just the council itself. The message was clear: local collaboration and achievable projects can help parish and town councils play a meaningful role in tackling climate change.
