Kendal's Climate Change Citizens’ Jury is now in full swing following its successful recruitment drive.

The twenty strong jury has been chosen to reflect the diversity of Kendal’s population in terms of age, gender, attitudes to climate change and geography.

Cllr Eamonn Hennessy from Kendal Town Council said: “We have been astounded by the response to the recruitment drive, with registrations of interest coming from all corners of the town and from people of all ages. After so much planning and campaigning to make Kendal the first ever town to host a Citizens Jury on climate change, it feels fantastic to finally have this exciting and innovative process underway.”

Businesses, residents and visitors have been encouraged to follow the group as they debate, discuss and consider the question ‘What should Kendal do about the emergency of climate change?’

A dedicated website - www.kendalclimatejury.org/ - was launched this week to allow members of the public access to recordings of presentations made to the jury by a range of expert commentators throughout the process.

The first of nine sessions starts on July 2, when members will meet each other at an online meeting hosted by Shared Future, a not-for-profit social enterprise. The jury will get to listen to and question a range of expert commentators before creating a set of recommendations which will be presented in October to the Town Council and other key organisations.

The first three experts have been selected to set the context for the jury, but after that the group will steer the sessions and identify the topics they wish to explore in their fortnightly meetings.

Details of the jury’s developments will be shared via the website and social media as they evolve throughout the process. The website also offers information on what a Citizens’ Jury is and how the process has worked in cities around the UK.

It will be regularly updated and will record the recommendations made by the jury after they’ve been presented to Kendal Town Council and partners in October. Following the process, the website will be kept updated with the actions made based on the recommendations.