An Overwhelming Turnout
Our Empowering Community Energy event in Parliament’s Attlee Suite last night was a resounding success.
One reason was the fantastic turnout. The Attlee Suite, one of the largest rooms in Parliament, was completely full – all 150 seats taken. Meanwhile, outside at Portcullis House entrance on Victoria Embankment, even more than that number were turned away by security – more on that below.
The MPs who came and spoke: Selaine Saxby (Conservative), Dr Alan Whitehead (Labour) and Wera Hobhouse (Liberal Democrat), were resounding in their support for enabling community energy, especially by establishing a right to local supply, as laid out in last year’s Local Electricity Bill. All were made aware that the current blockage to this is that the public consultation into barriers preventing local supply, promised by the Government nearly half a year ago, still has no launch date.
Dr Afsheen Rashid MBE, Chief Executive of Repowering, told of the many inspiring and diverse projects already happening across Greater London, giving an exciting hint of the kinds of benefits that so many more communities could have if the right enablement policy is introduced for community energy.
The Energy Minister, Lord Callanan, gave apologies at the last minute and so a statement from his department was read out. This was the most fractious aspect of the evening, as the paltry commitment on when the aforementioned and much needed consultation will launch was ‘soon’. Much frustration and disapproval was subsequently expressed by the audience. More details and next steps are further below.
A huge thank you if you came. Whether you did or did not get in, your effort and presence was helpful and valuable. If you were one of those who did not manage to enter, then I wish to apologise and to explain what happened.
As you saw, a remarkable number of people turned up, some even from Wales and Scotland. I have organised many public Westminster events but have never seen such a huge queue outside Portcullis House. Parliamentary security informed us only a few hours before the event started that they were not going to let anyone in once the 150 seats in the room were filled.
This was different from previous events we have organised in Parliament, at which many were allowed in even when all seats were taken. Previously we have used smaller rooms for events (e.g. the Jubilee Room in Westminster Hall), so this time we booked the largest events room Parliament has – the Attlee Suite.
If you did not get in, we are very sorry. Please contact us through the form at the bottom of this page if you would like your travel costs to be reimbursed. We should have been clearer about what might have happened, especially regarding the possible need to queue for longer than 30 minutes, as advised on the formal invite.
Please consider too that your effort of turning up was valuable in itself, because many MPs came to the event and they were impressed by the exceptional turnout, including the news of the great many outside who were unable to get in. I know that the news has also got back to Ministers and we will ensure that all MPs hear of how remarkably popular the event was.
The reality we will always face is that, with a free open public event there is no way of knowing how many people will actually come. It is vital to ensure a strong turnout, otherwise it risks MPs and Ministers regarding the public support and civic interest on this issue as poor, which is the opposite of the truth. The alternative would be to charge ticketed entry and we are not going to do that.
The night showed once again that there is strong and mounting support for Government action to enabling community energy growth. So we plan to hold more large public events, this time ensuring anyone who turns up can get in. We will fully take account of the hindsight from Tuesday night.
If you are not already signed up for updates and calls to action, please do so here.
Together we can change things.