A COUNCILLOR has warned taxpayers will left footing the bill for a “ruinous” pursuit of carbon net zero.
Cllr Thomas Marshall, Conservative representative for Armitage with Handsacre, made his comments at a recent meeting of Lichfield District Council.
Despite admitting he was likely in a minority, the concerns he had around efforts to address climate change needed to be highlighted.
He told councillors:
“While I know that there’s about 40 of us in this room and 39 of whom probably subscribe to the net zero climate emergency situation, I wish it to be put on record that I don’t.
“I really think this country has to take stock of this situation – the costs of net zero as it stands at the moment, particularly under Labour government proposals, will be quite ruinous.
“Also, the net zero plans for Staffordshire will be if not ruinous then extremely expensive.
“I really think we need to relook at this because I do feel as though there is a degree of zealotry which underpins climate zero – and the costs are going to be completely unaffordable to taxpayers of this district and the county who will have to pick up the bill for that.”
It isn’t the first time Cllr Marshall has raised his opposition to climate change efforts, having previously warned about the potential costs of council initiatives and said he was “not entirely convinced” by electric vehicles.
But Cllr Paul Taylor, Labour representative for Boney Hay and Central, said the Conservative member’s position was not one shared by others in the chamber.
“Cllr Marshall’s views are already on record numerous times, I wish to put on record that the majority view is the exact opposite – as evidenced by the head in hands reactions from some of his closest colleagues when he stood up to speak .”
In other news, Cllr Marshall thinks the world is flat, 5G activates the Covid jab and the moon landings never happened…
Of course achieving net zero will be costly but technology is improving all the time because of the incentive of world governments committing to protecting our planet. The alternative? Vast swathes of people will die and huge areas of the globe will be uninhabitable.
But I guess Cllr Marshall may get to keep his job at the oil company he works for if we all become signed up members of the stupid club and ignore climate change.
The failure of previous governments to address environmental issues has had a ruinous cost for the people of this country.
Substandard construction has led to poorly insulated, mouldy homes that occupants can ill afford to heat. Pollution has impacted people’s health and life expectancy, causing respiratory problems, heart attacks and strokes. To quote http://www.gov.uk: “Particulate matter and NO2 alone have been estimated to have health costs of around £22.6 billion every year”. British waters have been subjected to illegal sewage spills and radioactive waste, and our countryside has suffered an alarming decline in wildlife and insects, including vital pollinators. The cost of flooding alone is crippling.
Of course, Cllr Marshall’s vested interest in the oil industry conveniently blinds him to the facts, but the rest of us live in the real world and can no longer afford to subsidise his delusions. Taxpayers have been footing the bill for climate change denial for far too long.
Highest temperatures ever recorded for sea temperature in the Gulf of Mexico causing huge hurricanes. Wettest September in parts of the UK. More heat = more wind and warmer air carries more water that falls on land. Why is this so had to understand? Then again Mr Marshall sells fossil fuel for a living. Won’t do him much good when the land is to wet to farm.
It wouldn’t be entirely unreasonable to ask what exactly those head in hand representatives are doing to address the difficult to deny climate issues….
We really have to look at this from two prospectives. Firstly, fossil fuels in Britain are a declining commodity. Gas in particular has has a fifty year run and now has to be imported. Coal is too dirty.
Oil too is largely imported and, while much cleaner since better exhaust systems, still presents many health environmental problems.
Renewables are all about electricity generation. Useful but unlikely to meet countrywide demand. Nuclear..a short term answer to an all time problem. Heat pump systems (are any being fitted to Lichfields present housing developments?) requires super insulated buildings to be efficient.
That’s the economic picture. On the world environmental basis, our total pollution output is less than 2%. Unless the other countries comply with agreed protocols nothing we do will make any difference at all. Some might argue that anything is better than nothing but our fate really lies in the hands of other countries.