Agenda item

Motion submitted by Councillor Tierney with regards to the Council’s Climate Change and Carbon Reduction Policy.

Councillor Tierney presented his motion on the Council’s Climate Change and Carbon Reduction Policy.

Members made comments as follows:

·       Councillor Booth stated that he finds the preamble text to the resolutions fairly sceptical and does not agree with the way some of it is worded as it is, in his view, a cynical way of presenting the facts, however, looking at the resolutions he has always said the Council should be pragmatic in its approach and item b does actually commit to being legally compliant, with the legal requirement being to be net zero by 2050 so he does not disagree with this but he does disagree with the way that it is been framed in the preamble. He feels that what Fenland needs to do is to push the Government to get better investment and it is a disappointment that when the Council was looking at the garden town in Wisbech that it all came to a halt due to the threat of flooding and the Government was not willing to invest in our area and there is a proposal for a tidal barrier to be installed but nothing has happened for around 3 years in relation to this and these are the type of measures that should be pushed for to protect residents as it is known that Fenland is a particularly area of concern due to sea levels. Councillor Booth agreed that the Council should be meeting its 2050 net zero target in a proactive way as Councillor Tierney has tried to outline.

·       Councillor Patrick stated that he is struggling with this motion, on a good summer’s day for example with a bit of wind this country is already self-sufficient in the electric power that it produces. He stated that he has solar panels and if the Council is going to do this he asked why cannot when people build houses the Council require developers to put solar panels on the roofs, which will contribute towards electricity and take Fenland towards net zero and he feels these are the things the Council should be looking at and not ignoring what is happening to this world with severe climate changes. Councillor Patrick made the point that this country does not have snow anymore, there is warming and sea levels are rising so action is required quickly as there will be a catastrophe and it can be undertaken at a local level by encouraging people to invest in a means of producing free energy.

·       Councillor Sutton referred to Councillor Cornwell asking at two consecutive meetings about a climate change policy and if this is it and the quality of it he feels it is very poor as it does not say anything. He questioned how the twin-hatted members of the County Council can support it when they approved a couple of years ago what was felt to be a very good climate change policy and many councils up and down the country of all political persuasions have adopted a proper policy. Councillor Sutton questioned how Whittlesey Town Council can support it when in their own Neighbourhood Plan there was a specific case around climate change and flood risk.

·       Councillor Mrs Davis stated that she supports this motion, she knows that Councillor Tierney himself would say that he is very cynical, but this time she feels he has been practical. She made the point that members all know there is a need for climate change and there is a great cost to this and in the present financial climate it will have to slow down simply because of costs and in practical terms this motion keeps the Council moving towards those levels but is careful to note that it may take longer than Government think.

·       Councillor Hoy referred to Councillor Sutton’s comments and suggestion that the County Council’s last administration policy on climate change was successful when it lost control of the Council so you could argue about how successful they were.  She said since the new alliance has taken over every single climate change decision they have made they have gone against what they have said, referring to a change of energy supplier where the greener supplier with the best carbon footprint was rejected as it was too expensive and she recognises why as she would have made the same decision, but everyone wants to virtue signal and say how green they are and how wonderful they are about reducing CO² emissions but this does have real costs and consequences, which is alright if you can afford to pay those costs and consequences but a lot of people cannot and are going to struggle. Councillor Hoy feels that when this starts to ‘bite’ in a year to two years’ time and people start to see the consequences more people will start speaking out.

·       Councillor Clark stated that he struggles to support this motion as he has seven grandchildren and he wants a greener world for him to leave them and feels that everything that can be undertaken should be continued. He recognises it comes at a price, but asked what price is put on a human being or a child’s life.

·       Councillor Boden stated that Councillor Hoy is correct that there is an awful lot of virtue signalling taking place on the subject of the environment and the value of the first 16 items under this motion are facts, which may be considered to be inconvenient truths as these are in reality the way in which the direction of travel and the speed of travel need to be taken in context of and what is clear that on a global basis the actions the Council takes will have an almost negligible impact, which is not to say there are not problems but if Fenland were to go net zero tomorrow the effects would be swallowed up by Brazil, India, Africa and especially by China in the space of a few months. He feels this needs to be recognised so that when members are talking about what the Council is going to do that members are realistic and he was happy that Councillor Booth said he was happy with the resolutions, which he thinks are correct that the Council should promote measures which alleviates the anticipated effects in Fenland of future global climate change and Councillor Clark asked what price is put on this and this motion is saying that measures should be promoted which are affordable and financially viable, he questioned what is the alternative should the Council be promoting measures which are unaffordable and financially unviable. Councillor Boden made the point that members need to be realistic and realism is beginning to strike around the world at the moment when you look at what is happening with the global energy markets and the global situation that exists referring to the position in Germany. He made the point that this agenda cannot be implemented with no price tag at all and members need to accept there are costs involved, which may be very big and the Council needs to be clear that it does not have unlimited resources and those limited resources need to be allocated in the most cost effective way, with in some cases will mean taking action to reduce carbon emissions and in other cases it will mean taking preventative measures to account for the effects that there will be in the years, decades and centuries to come of a change in climate. Councillor Boden expressed the view that the motion states very specifically that the Council will meet all of the climate change targets which exist and resolution c makes it clear that the Council will record, highlight and increase as much as it can the level of CO² emission reductions achieved through the policies being followed on a day-to-day basis, it not being undertaken just because it is a green policy but because these are green policies which are applicable and sensible for the needs of Fenland. He feels that everyone can very easily be priced off the road in Fenland, there are individuals who feel that private cars should not be permitted or that fuel prices should be higher to deter as many people as possible from using private cars, which is fine for the rich but does not do much for the majority of people who live in Fenland. He hopes that all members when they read the resolutions can support this motion.

·       Councillor Tierney in summing up thanked members for the debate, which he feels is important, and he recognises that there are things that can be agreed on such as sensible policies that save people money and also make the world cleaner and greener. He expressed the view that if solar panels do this, and he feels there are some questions about solar panels around construction costs and how much they are subsidised, but it is consistent that they might be a good viable way to produce energy and the point was made about one good Summer’s day with wind but asked what about all the Winter days when there would be blackouts and it has to be supported by endlessly running coal and gas facilities but these ideas are good. Councillor Tierney referred to Councillor Sutton’s comments and stated that the point of his motion was not to say much because what he is trying to do is push back a little as nobody is pushing back and the trillion plus pounds of costs at least this is going to levy on the world on top of all the other things, the money the country borrows, the money it prints, the cost of wars and pandemics, the consequence is going to be nothing this country has ever seen before and there are some people who as Councillor Boden said do not want people to be driving cars anymore and there are people at County Council proposing housing estates with no parking. He referred to Councillor Clark’s point about his grandchildren and stated that he hates that argument as everyone loves their children and he wants his own child and future grandchildren to have a fantastic life but made the point that they will not have a fantastic life if they are in desperate poverty, if they cannot drive, they cannot get a job and cannot afford food and he feels these are things that are going to happen soon not a maybe one degree temperature rise in 100 years and he would propose that the consequences both sides need to be considered and that our children should not be used as a moral lever in a debate. Councillor Tierney hoped that what he has done in producing this motion, which he has worded quite strongly, is that members can agree on the resolutions, which are a very gentle push back as this is going to start hurting people and they are going to say push back or we will not elect you so it is for the Government to think about the consequences of its actions.

It was requested by Councillor Hoy that a recorded vote be taken, which was supported by Councillors Benney, Boden, S Clark, Connor, Mrs Davis, Mrs French, Hay, Humphrey, Mrs Mayor, Purser, Rackley, Sutton and Wallwork.

Proposed by Councillor Tierney, seconded by Councillor Boden and AGREED to:

·       promote measures which alleviate the anticipated effects in Fenland of future global climate change that are affordable and financially viable and which are believed to have a good chance of achieving their proposed end results

·       commit to meeting all climate change targets which are legally required by the UK Government

·       measure accumulatively the CO² emission reductions achieved by the Council’s actions, both through the Council’s own activities and through the funding of schemes directed by or channelled via the Council to third parties in the District using 2018 as the base year.

In favour of the recommendations:  Councillors Benney, Boden, S Clark, Connor, Mrs Davis, Divine, Mrs French, Miss French, Mrs Hay, Hoy, Humphrey, Mrs Laws, Marks, Mrs Mayor, Meekins, Miscandlon, Mockett, Murphy, Purser, Rackley, Tanfield, Tierney, Wallwork and Wicks.

Against the recommendations:  Councillor Sutton.

Abstained:  Councillors J Clark and Patrick.

(Councillor Booth left the meeting at 5.40pm during the discussion on this item and was not present for the vote)

(Councillor Mrs Hay left the meeting at 5.56pm following this item)