More than 5000 local young people are set to gain access to new climate action projects designed to grow the skills needed to care for Morecambe Bay and secure local ‘green jobs’, thanks to £1.5 million from the National Lottery Community Fund.

Thanks to National Lottery players, Lancaster University, Lancaster and Morecambe College, the University of Cumbria and Morecambe Bay Partnership will launch the new ‘Our Bay Our Future’ (OBOF) project with funding from the Climate Action Fund, a National Lottery Community Fund funding programme that supports communities across the UK to act on climate change and involve more people in environmental action.

The project builds on the highly successful work of the Morecambe Bay Curriculum, a teacher-led approach to valuing and learning about the locality, environment and sustainability, encouraging and empowering local children and young people to become the change-makers and the innovators the planet needs.

Morecambe Bay Partnership is set to receive £ 348,000. Our Charity will lead 3 innovative projects over the next 4 years to engage over 2000 children and young people aged 3-16years with the first projects launching in Autumn 2026.

All the Our Bay Our Future programmes are geared towards developing skills, knowledge and values that spark behaviour change and climate action, essentially empowering the ‘youth voice’ and enabling young people to feel confident creating positive change.

Set against the ‘Green Energy Coast’ backdrop which will, by 2050, according to the Lancashire Skills and Employment Hub, see Lancashire and Cumbria projected to have the most ‘green jobs’ outside of London.

Stretching from Barrow to Fleetwood, the project area includes 120 square miles of coastal, rural and urban environments.

Specifically, focussing on young people, the project will:

• Mobilise action, helping care for Morecambe Bay, one of the most biodiverse places in the country, in addressing the effects of climate change
• Develop green skills, knowledge and values, ahead of significant regional green investment
• Grow a cross-bay network of Climate Action Leaders, sustaining long-term regional climate action

The innovative nine programmes, designed with community input, for toddlers to adults, will create a ‘ladder of participation’ leading from climate awareness to action and leadership.

Here are the projects we'll be delivering.

Find out find out about the other Our Bay Our Future projects for those aged 16+

This project is made possible thanks to National Lottery Players and the Climate Action Fund, a National Lottery Community Fund.