Last week, having recently become part of the JUST Centre as I begin my PhD with Lancaster University, I had the opportunity to attend the Centre Launch in West Cumbria.
We met in West Cumbria to introduce the Centre to the people who can help make these goals a reality - representatives from local councils, community projects and other key groups. Essentially, the aim was to put the JUST Centre on the radar of people in West Cumbria, and equally as importantly, to listen to what they envisage the JUST Centre could do for them.
Hearing what people need, what’s already happening, and what barriers they face is a crucial step in shaping research that’s genuinely people-centred.
The session covered introductions to the Centre’s aims, feedback on current tools, and open discussions about local challenges and opportunities. Via these feedback sessions, some strong themes (unpacked below) emerged that participants felt were important, and that sit at the heart of the JUST Centre’s priorities too.
What stood out most to me was the range of perspectives in the room. People came from completely different sectors and backgrounds, but there was clear common ground: everyone wanted to see climate policy that feels realistic, fair, and takes into account the context it’s carried out in.
Listening to Communities
Starting with Helen Attewell from Futureproof Cumbria, we heard how initiatives in the area are already trying to meet people where they’re at and make climate action feel possible and realistic.
Helen highlighted that many citizens across Cumbria often don’t feel listened to or able to influence decisions about climate and energy. This was not only a key theme of the day and the JUST Centre itself, but also the reason for the creation of the Cumbria Climate Assembly, which focused on designing better ways to involve the public in shaping climate-related decisions.
She also spoke about the work of the Zero Carbon Cumbria Partnership, a county-wide collaboration bringing together local authorities, businesses, and community groups to co-create practical pathways to net zero. Alongside this, Westogether focuses specifically on West Cumbria, connecting grassroots organisations to share resources, strengthen collaboration, and making sure local voices are part of regional action.
Many participants took this part of the discussion as an opportunity to speak about what West Cumbria has going for it. From its strong sense of community and local pride, to its growing role in the clean energy landscape through offshore wind and other renewable developments, attendees were clear that the area has unique social and industrial strengths to build on when approaching this transition.
Barriers and Realities
A recurring concern that emerged, which the JUST Centre aims to combat, is a history of big promises that have never materialised, leading to disappointment and lack of action. Similarly to many areas in the North of England, West Cumbria has often been overlooked by central government. Participants spoke about how the JUST Centre could tangibly help this area rather than only carrying out further discussions.
Another key challenge is the rurality of West Cumbria. As one participant put it ‘In policy, it’s often imagined as a terrace of brick houses when that’s not the reality’. With homes off the gas grid, buildings that are much more difficult to retrofit, and communities hard to connect by public transport, West Cumbria has a unique environment which needs to be consciously taken into account when working towards a fair transition.
This challenge raised an interesting question as to the effectiveness of tools with a broad geographical scope (like the Neighbourhood Readiness tool discussed below). Attendees noted that the diversity of West Cumbria’s landscape could make it difficult for these tools to capture local realities with enough precision to reflect the area’s unique challenges.
Tools for a Just Transition
An especially engaging part of the day was the opportunity for participants to review a tool the JUST Centre has produced. The Neighbourhood Readiness tool brings together social, economic and infrastructural data to assess how prepared different areas are for the transition to net zero, including which support might be best suited.
The chance to feed back on this tool prompted a lot of thoughtful and interesting discussion. Lettie Wareing (Actions for Communities in Cumbria) suggested that it would be useful to build guidance into the tool on how users can practically go away and interact with the communities the data describes, creating a cycle of learning and improvement.
Anna Witty (Cumbria Youth Alliance) also questioned how best to sense check the results from the tool, and keep it up to date. She suggested collaborating with a network of people already on the ground in local communities (Community Interest Companies, Charitable Incorporated Organisations etc) to make sure the tool reflects people’s lived realities.
This emphasis on listening to local expertise tied neatly back to the day’s wider theme: people already making change in their communities should be at the centre of future efforts.
Hidden and Emerging Actors
Another valuable part of the day was the feedback session focused on determining local actors and initiatives in West Cumbria the JUST Centre might not know about yet. Attendees’ first-hand, place-based knowledge of who would be great to contact and work with was very helpful here.
Suggestions ranged from the British Energy Coast Business Cluster (BECBC) and Sellafield community grants, to local colleges, schools, and food pantries, each already contributing to community wellbeing and sustainability. Investigating and working with these actors will help the JUST Centre build relationships and develop and scale up projects that reflect real local strengths and needs.
For me, these themes highlighted a few key takeaways for the day. Firstly, participation and trust is crucial - engagement works best through trusted local groups, rather than top-down initiatives. Secondly, people are interested in community benefit more than individual advantages as consumers. Finally, people in West Cumbria want recognition that there are unique challenges to a rural area like this one, and have a solution that fits the context.
The event was a meaningful introduction to the JUST Centre’s goals and to the people working to shape West Cumbria’s sustainable future. It reaffirmed how much can be achieved when different voices come together, and how important it is for climate action to remain fair and rooted in communities when happening at pace.
