A CLIMATE emergency declaration made by Staffordshire County Council six years ago has been overturned by Reform UK.
The authority initially took the step under a Conservative administration in 2019.
Since then work to tackle climate change has seen the county council cut its carbon emissions by more than half as part of an attempt to reach net zero.
But following Reform UK taking power at the elections in May, Cllr Andrew Mynors put forward a motion to rescind the declaration.
The cabinet member for connectivity, said:
“Rather than chasing long-term targets we will focus on protecting and enhancing our environment and the impacts we can have now, particularly if they can deliver value for money for our communities, businesses and the county council.
“Cabinet will produce a new Environmental Strategy and supporting action plan for Staffordshire.
“The rhetoric around decarbonisation of the public estate and the pursuit of net zero has acted as a distraction of county council activities and taken focus away from core priorities around the economy, education, supporting our vulnerable citizens and achieving value for money across all our activities.
“The county council does not need a climate emergency and long-term net zero targets to fulfil our environmental responsibilities and reduce our own impact on the environment.
“We acknowledge that the county is experiencing extremes in weather conditions and that this change impacts both the services that we deliver and the communities that we serve.
“As custodians of large parts of the natural and the built environment we will work in partnership with others throughout the county to ensure that we consider these impacts and drive meaningful change.”
But Cllr Jack Rose, the authority’s first and only Green Party member, referred the motion to the council’s monitoring officer, highlighting Councillor Mynors’ employment at BDM Geolog UK Ltd, which “specialises in oil, gas and geothermal operations”.
He added:
“He is also on the committee of London Petrophysics Society, which advertise that BP is their gold sponsor.
“Working for a company that perpetuates climate destruction while simultaneously proposing a motion to retract the climate emergency shows a clear corporate preference and conflict of interest. I would ask that this motion is removed from the floor.”
Council officers considered the matter and concluded that Cllr Mynors had properly declared his employment and interest in other registerable interests, however.
Cllr Simon Tagg, the county council’s former cabinet member for environment, infrastructure and climate change under the previous Conservative administration, proposed an amendment to the motion, but this failed to gain enough support to be carried.
He said:
“I believe we must proceed with care and clarity. Simply rescinding the climate change emergency declaration sends the wrong signal, not just to our residents, but to our partners and businesses – and also to the officers of the council.”
There always seems simple actions which could be done without too much effort, why not make it a legal requirement for every new build property to have solar panels? We have them and to date we have exported back to the grid exactly the same amount as we have used; in other words it’s cost us nothing for electric in 10 months.
Reckless and stupid behaviour from Reform, but hardly surprising given that 92% of their donations since 2019 have come from figures and groups linked to the fossil fuel industry (source – https://www.desmog.com/2024/06/04/nigel-farage-reform-uk-party-2-3-million-fossil-fuel-interests-climate-deniers-polluters-since-2019-election/).
Thank you to Cllr Jack Rose for standing up for the interests of the British people rather than pandering to the greed of the fossil fuel polluters being represented by Reform. Our response to environmental issues such as climate change needs to be based on objective scientific evidence not on far right ideology and political funding by self-serving billionaires. Ordinary people will pay the price for Reform’s failure to act on the biggest challenge facing the planet.
Finally, a bit of common sense. Opposing “net zero” doesn’t mean encouraging pollution of our environment, it just means accepting that “the green agenda” is absolutely mental and is making all of us poorer.
What does one expect from Reform Ltd
This decision is bad for our environment and bad for our children. Our children will suffer from climate change, we need to be reducing our impact and creating green jobs.
I have said it before and won’t stop repeating it, this whole declaration of climate emergency has been meaningless. If (local) government thinks a relevant contribution to reducing greenhouse gasses is buying a few electric cars and turning the heating down in their offices rather than using their powers and their resources to promote and facilitate low carbon lifestyles for the whole population there is clearly very little hope anything is ever going to be changed. Personally I think the world is sc***** and whilst we in the richer ‘west’ will be ok for a while, poorer people elsewhere now, and our children later, will suffer. Sadly….
Yes climate change is important and we need to do our bit ,But if we were as a country and went net zero it would not alter things that much .One of the biggest problems is China and we are helping them buy buying our solar panels from them. Also as stated every new house as much as possible should come with solar panels and batteries
Says it all. Head in the sand. We must protect our environment and you can’t rely on Reform UK at all to do this
I am confused. Reform seems to say that ‘value for money ‘ is not delivered by actions reducing carbon
But Reform MP Richard Tice’s
company has fitted solar panels and electric car charging stations at commercial properties it owns in England.
“These initiatives will save hundreds of tonnes of CO2 every year and help our occupiers with lower electricity bills than they might otherwise have to pay, as well as provide an attractive return for shareholders,” Tice wrote in the 2022 annual report
for Quidnet REIT, a real estate firm in which he is the largest shareholder.
Which is it Mr Tice?
https://theferret.scot/reform-deputy-accused-of-hypocrisy-over-renewables/
Absolutely ridiculous! Another bat crazy idea by Reform. There is a climate emergency, and transitioning to renewables (it’s in its name) is the right path. Net zero will be good for economy and our lungs and health.
Reform have no polices, no clue. Let’s mark there homework…