The University of Bath and Bath & North East Somerset Council are collaborating on a new initiative, “Our Shared Future”.

Launched on Monday 13th January, the initiative will bring together skills, knowledge and expertise from across the city in order to explore possibilities and address some of the challenges faced in Bath and the region.

The launch began with a series of workshops, attended by academics from a range of disciplines along with colleagues from B&NES and local organisations, exploring the themes of cohesion and inclusivity, infrastructure and climate change in Bath.

To enable a wider range of voices to be heard, initial findings from the workshops were shared at an evening reception where discussions were chaired by local journalist Richard Wyatt.

The chairs of the respective working groups described the progress their initial discussions had made, and plans for next steps, including the desire to create a decarbonisation task force, explore new ways to utilise the 8,000 vaults under the city, and how to establish partnerships between “anchor” institutions in the city including the universities, NHS, voluntary sector and council.

The University also announced its plan to develop a Civic University Agreement. In signing up to such agreements, universities commit to prioritising the economy and quality of life in their home towns or cities, working alongside partners including schools, colleges, local authorities, charities, the NHS, civil society and businesses.