> ## Content Index
> Fetch the complete content index at: https://lichfieldlive.co.uk/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover other available public pages before exploring further.

# Labour group leader says party will not ignore climate change emergency if it wins control of Lichfield District Council
- URL: https://lichfieldlive.co.uk/labour-group-leader-says-party-will-not-ignore-climate-change-emergency-if-it-wins-control-of-lichfield-district-council/
- Published: 2023-04-03T06:04:00.000Z
- Updated: 2023-04-14T18:08:47.000Z
- Description: A councillor says Labour will not ignore the climate change emergency if they win control of Lichfield District Council in May.
- Author: Lichfield Live
- Tags: Environment, Politics, #wp, #wp-post, #Import 2026-07-22 19:01, News

A councillor says Labour will not ignore the climate change emergency if they win control of Lichfield District Council in May.

Cllr Steve Norman said a report from the internal auditor had shown the current Conservative administration had not done enough to deal with the issue.

The report revealed that two of the three officers who had actions on a climate change action plan assigned to them had left the council.

The internal auditor added that “significant weakness in the design and application of controls mean that no assurance can be given that the organisation will meet its objectives in this area”.

The report added:

> “There is a climate change member task group which reports into the overview and scrutiny committee, but this is a member group and therefore is not involved in operational decisions.  
>  
> “Additionally, it has only met twice since March 2022.”  
>  
> Internal auditor’s report

Labour opposition group leader, Cllr Steve Norman, said that the Conservatives had been too sluggish on the issue – and he also raised concerns that the report had revealed that despite a one-off budget of £100,000 for climate change projects being created in February 2020, just £39,900 has been spent so far.

> “I knew that the cabinet member responsible for climate change – and recycling – was not going to be in post very long after the blue bag fiasco and I wanted to be fair to the new cabinet member responsible, Cllr Angela Lax, before asking her to attend the task group.  
>  
> “In fact, this was delayed twice by clashes of other events, despite offering a range of possible dates.  
>  
> “I was asked to delay the meeting we did have on the 1st of February a third time because the key officer was ill but I said no because it was the politician my members needed to question over the apparent lack of progress. This has now been confirmed by the official audit.  
>  
> ”If there is a change of control of Lichfield District in May I will ensure that the word ‘emergency’ is not ignored in future.”  
>  
> Cllr Steve Norman, Lichfield District Council