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# Lichfield councillor says cost of pursuing carbon net zero will be “exorbitant and unaffordable”
- URL: https://lichfieldlive.co.uk/lichfield-councillor-says-cost-of-pursuing-carbon-net-zero-will-be-exorbitant-and-unaffordable/
- Published: 2024-03-02T08:09:00.000Z
- Updated: 2024-03-02T12:20:57.000Z
- Description: A councillor has warned colleagues that pursuing carbon net zero will be “exorbitant and unaffordable”.
- Author: Lichfield Live
- Tags: Armitage, Environment, Handsacre, Politics, #wp, #wp-post, #Import 2026-07-22 18:58, News

A councillor has warned colleagues that pursuing carbon net zero will be “exorbitant and unaffordable”.

Cllr Thomas Marshall, Conservative representative for Armitage with Handsacre, told a meeting of Lichfield District Council that he had reservations over efforts to address climate change.

It is not the first time he has spoken out on the issue, having [previously drawn criticism](https://lichfieldlive.co.uk/criticism-of-lichfield-councillor-who-questioned-efforts-to-tackle-climate-change/) after suggesting people were “being led up the garden path” when it came to carbon net zero.

He reiterated his views during a debate on the scale of the local authority’s budget that should put towards addressing climate change.

Cllr Marshall said:

> “If you understand the principles of a standard deviation curve, then you will know that there will always be outliers at the extreme – I am an outlier when it comes to climate change.  
>  
> “I will echo the words of someone last week, not a heretic but the boss of the international business INEOS. Jim Ratcliffe said this country was unaware of the likely cost of implementing carbon net zero and that as a country we have underestimated it.  
>  
> “It’s a concern of mine that the council will also underestimate the enormous cost of implementing it.  
>  
> “We do need to look at the likely cost as I think it is going to be exorbitant and unaffordable.”  
>  
> Cllr Thomas Marshall

Cllr Marshall’s comments followed concerns raised by Cllr Miles Trent over the apparent disappearance of a budget for climate change in the medium term financial strategy at the council.

But Cllr Rob Strachan, cabinet member for finance, said that the council would use the £50,000 remaining of a £100,000 investment made four years ago into the exploration of local initiatives to tackle climate change before deciding on where best to direct funding in future.

> “Through a combination of the pandemic and perhaps not benchmarking as well as we should have done, we’ve only spent £50,000 so far.  
>  
> “It is inevitable that this will require more. Cllr Marshall – in one of the few elements I agree with him on – made reference to climate change being immensely expensive to address.  
>  
> “A piece of work is being carried out that is going to bring forward proposals that will develop their own budget, but at the moment we don’t know what that is.  
>  
> “We recognise that climate change is an issue and we will address this.”  
>  
> Cllr Rob Strachan