ORGANISATIONS from the region representing environmental, business and faith causes are calling on the Government to ensure the Northern Powerhouse runs on renewable energy.

More than 80 organisation from across the North have signed a declaration sent to Chancellor George Osborne ahead of the budget, urging him to back renewable energy.

The declaration also reflects concerns over the extreme wet weather which badly affected parts of the region this winter, including York, which underlining the need to shift to renewable energy.

Among the signatories calling for the North of England to be at the forefront of a new, global clean energy transformation are Middlesbrough Environment City, the York, North Yorkshire and East Riding Enterprise Partnership, Tees Valley Wildlife Trust, the Diocese of Leeds Justice and Peace Commission. Greenpeace groups in Durham, Harrogate, York, Newcastle, Tynedale and the Yorkshire Coast have also signed, along with Friends of the Earth groups in North Yorkshire and the North-East.

The declaration sent to the Chancellor, George Osborne, says: “The future we want is one with clean air, healthy people and resilient communities…To make this vision real, the 2016 budget must enable us to develop and grow renewables for our region into the 2020s. The UK government should be celebrating clean energy as core to its economic plan.

“To cherish what we love about our region and reassert our place in the forefront of the world’s economy, we ask the Chancellor to back clean energy for the North.”

The group claims negotiations about the Northern Powerhouse have so far ignored the need for new energy infrastructure and want to see clean, renewable energy combined with the benefits of smart energy technologies.