📫Letter 23 — To Councillor Katie Dye (with reply)

Keeping climate accountability visible

Date: 4 November 2025
Recipient: Councillor Katie Dye, Chair of the Climate Emergency Advisory Committee — Leeds City Council

Context

As Week 4 of One Letter a Day carries on from city delivery to democratic oversight, we write to Councillor Katie Dye.

As Chair of the Climate Emergency Advisory Committee (CEAC), she occupies the accountability link between policy ambition and public trust — keeping Leeds’s climate work visible, scrutinised and on track when national debate drifts toward short-term concerns.

Letter

Dear Councillor Dye,

Thank you for chairing the Climate Emergency Advisory Committee and for the time you give to keeping Leeds’s climate commitments under democratic scrutiny. Oversight rarely attracts attention, yet it is what makes promises credible. In a city trying to lead on climate delivery, that credibility is essential.

I am writing as part of One Letter a Day: a year-long civic experiment to reopen grounded conversations about the climate emergency, starting here in Leeds. Each day I write to someone whose work influences how we think and act on this crisis. Both letters and replies are published online to encourage wider dialogue. The aim is to keep open a visible and respectful conversation between citizens and decision-makers about what progress really looks like.

Over the past two years, the national debate has changed. Urgent discussion of the climate emergency has been crowded out by short-term economic anxieties and, at times, by populist and divisive narratives that turn attention away from shared challenges. In that context, the role of local democratic forums like the CEAC feels more important than ever — not only to monitor delivery but to help protect the quality of public discourse itself.

May I ask:

What has the Committee learned in that time about the main bottlenecks that slow Leeds’s climate delivery, and how might wider civic participation help to overcome them? How can residents, universities and community organisations contribute meaningfully? And how can the Committee keep the climate conversation visible and constructive when national attention drifts toward easier or more polarising issues?

I ask because your perspective could help clarify how local democracy sustains direction in difficult political weather, and how open civic engagement can keep climate accountability alive when distraction is easier than persistence.

With appreciation,
Vivien Badaut
Founder, One Letter a Day
www.one-letter-a-day.uk
linkedin.com/vivienbadaut

📨 Reply from Councillor Katie Dye

Dear Vivien,

Thank you for your email and for creating this thoughtful project. It is a valuable way to explore our collective response to the climate crisis.

We are undoubtedly living through difficult times for climate action. Public debate has become more polarised, yet the urgency of the challenge has not changed. The climate continues to warm regardless of who is in power or dominating the headlines.

Here in Leeds, we remain committed to ambitious climate action. The Council and our partners are progressing a wide range of mitigation and adaptation projects—from district heating and the decarbonisation of council buildings to large-scale housing retrofit, flood alleviation schemes and significant work on nature recovery. These efforts matter, but they also highlight the scale and complexity of the task.

You asked about the main bottlenecks affecting delivery. The most persistent constraints are financial—particularly for large-scale retrofit and heat decarbonisation—and the limits of what can be done locally when key powers or funding sit at combined authority, county or national level. We have learned that projects can stall when national policy shifts or when investment cycles do not align with local readiness. This is one reason the committee values long-term planning and cross-institution coordination.

On civic participation: the strongest progress we see is where local partnerships and community leadership reinforce each other. Leeds has a strong ecosystem of partners. The Leeds Climate Commission is a key convener in our Leeds Ambitions work, numerous partners lead retrofit and decarbonisation projects, the universities contribute considerably both with research and their own decarbonisation work which benefits the whole city. Anchor institutions across the city are crucial too and strong and effective networks exist to coordinate climate related work and share best practice. The work of community organisations is also vital. In my own ward of Killingbeck and Seacroft we have an amazing collective of community organisations driving forward climate action in areas such as community growing, composting, tree planting and a fantastic active travel hub. I know from work with Climate Action Leeds that this is replicated across the city and collectively makes a huge difference. Many schools in Leeds are also effecting change by adapting the curriculum and by carrying out building decarbonisation and nature restoration. This work makes a practical difference as well as engaging the next generation and countering disinformation. If we are to achieve our aim of becoming the first net zero city, the work of all these partners is vital.

You ask how residents and organisations can contribute meaningfully; my answer would be to get involved. No one in our city is far from an opportunity to do so and there is a wide variety of options from contributing to city wide plans and projects to participating in practical local activities. CEAC is always keen to showcase climate action at all levels – take a look at the October meeting to see examples of people across the city making a difference.

You also asked how we can keep the conversation constructive in a polarised climate. This has been a focus of the committee this year. We are acutely aware of the importance of addressing disinformation and sharing the scientifically undisputed truth. Climate change is real and is a threat to all of us but there are solutions, and everyone from the largest organisation to the smallest child can help. CEAC holds workshops throughout the year that are open to all councillors to attend. We decided this year to solely focus on communication and engagement and are working on initiatives to counter disinformation and to improve our own messaging.

We believe this approach is essential for maintaining public trust and sustaining long-term progress.

I hope this addresses your questions. You would be very welcome to join CEAC’s Open Forum to share insights from your project. For a longer discussion, I would also be happy to connect you with the excellent community radio station in Seacroft, who I am sure would host a conversation.

Best wishes,

Katie

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Comment below or share your reflections with #OneLetterADay.

Tomorrow’s letter continues Week 4’s focus on regional coordination, turning to Professor Rosa Foster, Director of the Yorkshire & Humber Climate Commission, asking how regional collaboration can turn civic energy into measurable progress and rebuild public confidence that the transition is real and shared.