Local authorities and councils play a vital role in ensuring the UK is prepared for the impacts of climate change at a local level. The changing climate will present different challenges to each local authority. Local authorities are free to decide how best to address these challenges and take advantage of any opportunities.

To support local government, Defra will host the first meeting of the Local Adaptation Advisory Panel (LAAP) in summer 2011. This group, which is led by local government, will directly influence the work of Defra’s Adapting to Climate Change Programme and its delivery bodies, including the development of the National Adaptation Programme. LAAP will provide an opportunity for regular, direct dialogue between local government, its partners and central government on local climate change adaptation work.

Resources

• Tools:
  • UKCIP provide advice, guidance and information on preparing for climate change to organisations
  • Local Climate Impacts Profile (LCLIP) on UKCIP’s website
• Guides:
  • Adapting to climate change; a guide for local councils (PDF 1.3 MB)
  • Ways to tackle climate change (PDF 600 KB) for use by the town and country parish sector
• Case studies on UKCIP website
• Useful links:
  • Information on flooding (Environment Agency’s flooding pages)
  • Local Government pages on Communities and Local Government (CLG) website
  • Local authority pages on UKCIP website

National Indicator 188 (NI188)

In 2008/09 and 2009/10 local authorities reported against a process-based framework to assist their preparations for a changing climate. In 2010, the Department for Communities and Local Government announced it would end central performance monitoring via Local Area Agreements and the National Indicator Set.  Following this announcement Defra wrote to Local Authority Chief Executives to set out how, to help deliver the coalition government’s vision of decentralised power and a Big Society, the Adapting to Climate Change Programme would work with local government in the future. The letter also confirmed there was no requirement on local authorities to submit Year 3 NI188 self-assessment matrices to Defra at the end of March 2011 or thereafter.

The approach taken to date under NI188, as set out in the guidance below, may still remain useful for local authorities as an adaptation framework to use on a voluntary basis. Of course, there are many different ways in which adaptation work can be taken forward.

• 2009/10 guidance of the NI 188 adaptaion framework (PDF 950 KB)

Networking

• Climate UK is the national network of climate change partnerships whose aim is to share knowledge and learning about tackling the consequences of climate change.
• Local Government Information Unit (LGiU)
• Local Government Association (LGA)
• Local Government Improvement and Development (LGID)

News

• Get regular updates on the cross-Government Adapting to Climate Change Programme’s free e-newsletter
• Sign up for UKCIP’s free monthly e-newsletter

You may also be interested in:

• Adapting to climate change
• Mitigating climate change – Defra’s role
• Climate science and research
• What is the government doing?
• A to Z of adaptation

If you can’t find the information you’re looking for, or to offer comments and suggestions, please contact us at acc.mailbox@defra.gsi.gov.uk.