28 November 2020
This is meant to be the strategy arising from the motion declaring a Climate Emergency which was passed last year and follows the consultation exercise earlier this year.
There are a few positives – perhaps the most important is that there is to be a full-time permanent post to take the issue forward – this was to have been an 18 month contract originally. One of the reasons the report is so poor is that there is no one in post who has expertise in this area.
This issue of climate change is now included as one of four objectives in the Corporate Business Plan. Its omission previously is one of the reasons so little progress has been made in recent years.
There is to be a ‘Climate Change and Green Recovery Group’. It would seem that this is planned to be all officers and not include elected members or councillors but it does state that there will be quarterly reports to scrutiny committee.
There is to be a carbon audit of the Council’s activities to create a baseline from which to work.
Having said this, the report is deeply disappointing. It lacks detail, it lacks targets and has no timescale within which measures are meant to be achieved. Most disappointing – and indeed disingenuous – is the statement that ‘the consultation results indicated that the strategy was headed in the right direction…’
Thus the contributions of the many people and organisations which made submissions are dismissed. In fact, the responses were overwhelmingly critical of the timid draft ‘strategy’ published at the time of the consultation and almost all called for the Council to be moving faster and further with calls for a target date of 2030, rather than 2040 and for a Citizens Assembly, which was specifically rejected by the Conservative group at the original Council meeting.
As a consequence we linked up with other ‘green groups’ in the Borough and agreed to both ask questions at the full Council meeting and to write letters to our councillors. Draft questions were circulated along with a draft letter.
A number of questions were submitted in the public question time. The answers given were carefully worded to gloss over the issues and avoid making any commitments but it was good that the Cabinet member and the officer concerned were put under some pressure and an indication was given that perhaps there would be a further attempt to involve individuals and groups concerned about the environment.
After the public question time, I proposed a motion which was seconded by a member of the Labour Group. It congratulated the Council for the way in which an outbreak of Covid had been dealt with locally and called on the Council to support the campaign by the Local Government Association to give the money and funding to local councils to organise the track and trace process rather than continuing with the national scheme which has been an abject failure and cost an absolute fortune.
It was defeated by the Conservative group.
More details on why we beleive loacalised track and trace should be pput on place can be found at
https://www.carolinelucas.com/latest/whats-wrong-with-nhs-test-trace
There was some debate about the introduction of charging for brown bins. I pointed out the adverse effect of burning more waste when this will increase the carbon emissions. Cllr Price seemed to think that these emissions were removed by the incinerator plant.
When it came to the debate on the Climate strategy, I was the only one that offered any criticism and did not vote for it.
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