LICHFIELD District Council remains fully committed to achieving net zero carbon emissions, a cabinet member has said.
The local authority has previously declared a climate emergency in a bid to focus attention on the issue.
But Cllr Rosie Harvey-Coggins, Labour representative for the St John’s ward, has questioned whether recent cabinet changes will keep the environment high on the council’s agenda.
In a written question, she said:
“Can I ask for assurances for the residents of Lichfield District that this council’s commitment to the climate change emergency and its work toward achieving net zero carbon emissions remains a priority – and that the Climate Summit, planned for later this year in the cathedral, is delivered with measurable outcomes and commitment to this important issue.”
Cllr Rosie Harvey-Coggins
Cllr Janice Silvester-Hall, who has taken on the visitor economy, ecology and climate change portfolio, said:
“The council remains fully committed to the climate change emergency and achieving net zero carbon emissions.
“Becoming the greenest district in the country is one of the four key priorities in our Lichfield District 2050 Strategy. It includes a series of key climate milestones and actions, including, restoring and increasing the district’s biodiversity, increasing the scope and capacity of our recycling services and improving our green infrastructure.
“Key to our commitment is our revised organisational Carbon Reduction Plan that I am taking the opportunity to review. This will be launched in the next month along with the new public version of our carbon dashboard, which we have developed to enable us to understand our baseline position from 2021 so that we can continue to make improvements and effectively monitor our progress.”
Cllr Janice Silvester Hall
Cllr Silvester-Hall said that the proposed cathedral event would go ahead but that the timescale had now moved.
“The climate summit is still scheduled to take place and aims to engage both residents and businesses significantly.
“However, we are now recommending that we reschedule the summit to late spring/summer 2025. This decision follows research into a number of similar events and campaigns which highlighted that attendees often consisted of existing climate change advocates.
“To inspire a wider audience, including children and families who can drive behavioural changes at home, we are planning to have a series of engagements including work in schools and smaller events across the district throughout autumn, winter and spring.
“The summit we then hold will be the culmination of months of engagement, ideas and collaboration, providing the event with substantial content to further build on.”
Cllr Janice Silvester-Hall
In plain English, what are you going to be doing? The devil is in the detail. So what are the details?
Its good to hear the new Cabinet member for Climate and Ecology reinforcing the commitment to becoming the greenest district in the County. That is a very big ambition and it would be good to have more detail on what that actually means and how it is going to be achieved. We are a long way from there right now and an ambitious plan is needed – and soon.
We will be asking for evidence and confirmation of this at Tuesday night’s Overview and Scrutiny meeting following my request for Councillor Janice Silvester-Hall to attend. My concern, expressed at the Council meeting, was that the Council had declared a Climate Emergency in December 2019 and this is the 4th Cabinet Member with responsibility for this. In addition, there has been a number of different officers that have come and gone so we need to see dates when we at last get the published Action Plan and “dashboard” that shows what progress is at last being made.
I thught it was useful to include Rosie’s timeley question, and the respons she received, in the report to our meeting and look forward to further answers to further questions that will be asked.
net carbon zero…… aka another way to levy taxes on the middle earners. Yes the climate crisis is real but so is stagnant wages in a cost of living crisis. Taxing us more will have zero benefit on the planet. Not until China, Brazil, USA etc etc are told to stop using the planet like their own personal waste contract.
The council are fully committed to achieving net zero.
How does destroying trees, hedgerows and building houses on every single bit of green space, fit in with this plan?
I suspect it’s a bit of con and that aiming for net zero only refers to organisational emissions, and not to the emissions of the district’s population, which ofcourse is much more meaningful. So, lets buy some electric cars, turn down the heating and install some cycle-racks at the council offices but not more substantial interventions like ensuring net zero new housing (isolation standards, solar panels, heatpumps for heating) or ensuring a comprehensive network of cycling lanes connecting new build areas with the towncentre.
Ofcourse, meaningful action can be politically difficult to sell and without political guts or conviction I fear nothing will change: the future looks bleak… (and hot)