NEWS  ⁄  CLIMATE & ENVIRONMENT

Climate Action Hub opens in Exeter city centre

A dedicated climate crisis information and resource centre is opening on 25 November in an empty Princesshay retail unit to provide events, meeting space, film screenings and drop-in advice and support.

Climate crisis  Princesshay  Exeter city centre  Maketank 

Exeter Climate Action Hub is opening on Friday 25 November in an empty Princesshay shopping centre retail unit as part of a network of climate emergency centres across the UK.

The hub will open from 10am to 4pm daily at 40 Bedford Street, where it will offer information and resources about the climate crisis and provide a physical meeting space for local environmental and social justice groups.

The hub is equipped with computers, printers, a projector and screen and arranged with seating and sofas to provide space for events, meetings, film screenings and more.

There are also displays and notice boards showcasing local environmental initiatives.

Members of the public are free to drop in to find out more about local action to address the climate crisis.

Exeter Climate Action Hub Exeter Climate Action Hub in Bedford Street

The Exeter Climate Action Hub is part of a UK-wide network of climate emergency centres which supports the creation of community spaces in unused buildings.

The network provides practical legal and financial advice as well as opportunities to connect with and learn from other hubs.

The Princesshay hub has been created by Exeter Community Alliance, a collective of 30 local organisations which are focussed on a range of issues including climate change, biodiversity and social justice.

Events including a University of Exeter Green Futures Network collaboration with Exeter Living Lab exploring positive tipping points for the city have already been held at the hub.

Its official opening will take place at 2pm on Friday 25 November, when Exeter-based paralympian and climate activist James Brown will mark the moment with a ribbon-cutting ceremony.

Attendees are invited to bring their own beverage: cake will be provided.

Green Futures Network and Exeter Living Lab positive tipping points event at Exeter Climate Action Hub Green Futures Network and Exeter Living Lab positive tipping points event at Exeter Climate Action Hub

The hub’s opening coincides with Black Friday, an extended period during which retailers offer large discounts on consumer goods.

Black Friday originated in the US but in 2017 overtook Boxing Day as the busiest shopping day in the UK.

Consumer spending over last year’s Black Friday was expected to reach £9.2 billion in the UK alone.

Exeter Climate Action Hub is instead promoting Green Friday, an alternative that aims to encourage more sustainable consumer habits.

On the same day nearby artist’s collective Maketank is also offering a Black Friday alternative in the form of a Make Your Own Gift Festival.

Independent local artist and craft makers will run low-cost workshops enabling participants to make their own seasonal gifts.

 is membership co-ordinator and community & culture editor of Exeter Observer and a director of its publisher Exeter Observer Limited.

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Exeter in brief
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SOUTH WEST WATER owner Pennon Group has increased its shareholder dividend by nearly 11% to £112 million despite making a pre-tax loss of £8.5 million and being fined £2.15 million after pleading guilty to thirteen environmental offences committed across Devon and Cornwall. CEO Susan Davy said the company, which also owns Bristol Water, had “delivered improvements in environmental performance”

EXETER CITY COUNCIL member’s allowances and expenses came to a total of £409,000 in the year to March 2023, with council leader Phil Bialyk claiming £28,400 and receiving gifts and hospitality at Sandy Park stadium.

The city council has agreed to allow four music concerts at SANDY PARK STADIUM in June with up to 15,000 people in attendance, tickets for which have already been on sale for two months. Its planning committee heard accounts of extreme anti-social behaviour by visitors attending events at the venue as well as other adverse impacts on local residents and imposed traffic and parking, noise, litter and opening and closing time restrictions on the concerts.

An Ofsted monitoring report on DEVON COUNTY COUNCIL CHILDREN’S SERVICES, the fifth since the local authority was judged inadequate in January 2020, has found that the “quality of social work practice across Devon remains inconsistent”. Inspectors found “pockets of better practice” and “some positive changes” but said that weak management oversight, insufficient challenge and poor care planning all continue to cause problems. It also said a high turnover rate in agency social work staff, who make up more than 40% of the workforce, is having an adverse impact.

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