Understanding what industrial decarbonisation means to local people

You may have heard of one or more industrial decarbonisation projects planned across the North West, such as HyNet or the Connah’s Quay Low Carbon Power project.

Enterprise Cheshire and Warrington, the organisation charged with responsibility to grow the economy in the region, is working with public, private and voluntary organisations on a project to better understand the views of residents and businesses on these projects. The first step of this project is to run a series of focus groups to gauge understanding and sentiment about ideas like industrial decarbonisation and net zero.

We’d like to understand what local people think about this and other associated words, including ‘the low carbon economy’, ‘green jobs’, ‘net zero’ or ‘climate emergency’.

As a first step to understanding what people currently think about these concepts and the projects planned, a series of focus groups will be held for local people.

These focus groups will capture people’s thoughts, views and perceptions and use this information to make sure that future communications about the projects are based on what people living in the community think and understand about them.

The focus groups will not be designed to provide a platform to express concerns about the projects closest to you, as that happens separately through the planning process and public consultations. However, they will be used to give insight into what people think more broadly about the plans to decarbonise industry in the North West.

How will the sessions run?

There will be four focus groups in total:

• Two community
• Business
• Young people

All sessions will be held online to enable a broad range of people to get involved. Each session will run for 90 minutes and will be structured as follows:

• Introductions
• Information share to include:
  • What's happening across the North West?
  • What's happening in your area?
• Buzzwords - what do the following phrases mean to you?
  • Climate emergency
  • Net zero
  • Low carbon economy
  • Green jobs
  • Industrial decarbonisation
• What benefits can you see from the projects proposed across the region?
• What are your key concerns about the things happening in your community?
• What could be done to alleviate those concerns?
• What concrete actions could be taken from here?

How to get involved

To find out more and to take part please email: NWdecarb@social.co.uk by 4 October.

Following the closing date, attendees will be selected from those who have expressed an interest. ensuring that each group has a mix of representation from across the community.

Those selected to attend will receive invites by email with the joining details. People who have not been selected to take part , will have an opportunity to complete an online questionnaire to share your views.