Lordswood residents are being invited to come together in October to watch a national film about the risks facing the UK from climate change and damage to nature – and, just as importantly, to talk about what it might mean for their own community.
Local community group Living Lordswood is hosting two free screenings of The People’s Emergency Briefing at Lordswood Community Centre on Saturday, 10 October, at 4pm and 7pm.
The 50-minute film grew out of the National Emergency Briefing held at Westminster Central Hall last November, when more than 1,200 MPs, peers and figures from business, culture, faith, sport and the media were invited to hear evidence from leading UK experts.
Introduced by wildlife broadcaster Chris Packham CBE, the briefing looked beyond climate change simply as an environmental issue, exploring possible implications for food security, health, the economy, infrastructure and national security.
The national event has since been turned into a film for community screenings around the country.
Chris Packham said: “I’d encourage people everywhere to attend a screening of The People’s Emergency Briefing. It creates exactly the kind of honest local conversation we now urgently need, both about what these changes mean where we live, and about what we can do together to address them.”
For the Lordswood organisers, however, showing the film is only half the event.
Each screening will be followed by a 45-minute facilitated conversation in which people can respond to what they have seen, raise questions and consider what the issues might mean for Southampton and for their own neighbourhoods.
Local organiser Peter Short said: “We really don’t want this to be a meeting just for people who already agree with one another. We want neighbours with different views – including people who are doubtful or simply curious – to hear the evidence and talk about it together.
“No one will have ‘the platform’. Councillors, community leaders, sceptics, supporters and interested neighbours will all simply be participants in the same conversation. We hope there will be questions and disagreement as well as agreement – but also courtesy, generosity and perhaps even a little good humour.”
The discussion comes after a summer in which Southampton, along with the rest of southern England, has experienced periods of unusually high temperatures and dry conditions.
Local MPs, councillors and community leaders are also being invited – not to make speeches, the organisers emphasise, but to take part in the conversation alongside residents.
The event is free and open to everyone, although advance booking is encouraged.
People’s Emergency Briefing – Southampton
Saturday 10 October 2026
4pm and 7pm
Lordswood Community Centre, SO16 8FD
Film: approximately 50 minutes, followed by a 45-minute community discussion.
Tickets: livinglordswood.org.uk/peb/
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