Henley-in-Arden parish council declares a climate emergency
A PARISH council has joined the push to a greener world by declaring a climate emergency.
Beaudesert and Henley Parish Council, with support from a working party, will now formulate an action plan, creating within six months ambitious targets for carbon reduction.
Cllr Bryn Turner put forward the motion, which was passed by councillors at a meeting on Monday, as well as suggesting Warwickshire County Council’s own green targets need further scrutiny. Cllr Turner will chair the working group and wants to work with residents, businesses and climate groups over the coming months. He is appealing for people to get in touch, via the parish clerk, with their ideas. He hopes to hold the first meeting before the end of the year.
“I am thrilled this motion has passed,” he said. “Thirty per cent of reducing our emissions can be influenced at local government and now Henley will play its part. We will be operating as a community working group to look at what actions we can take to reduce our climate impact. We will also work with the county council to push for more action.”
He also wants to use the group as a means of putting pressure on the county council to adhere to its net zero pledge by 2050 or sooner.
“We will also be looking at the county council to set up a scrutiny panel on climate change,” he said.
“There is a scrutiny panel on policing, on adult social care, so why not climate change? This summer the government’s own net zero strategy was ruled by the High Court to be ‘unlawful’ because it has failed to say how it is going to limit carbon emissions. We must make sure the ambitious targets that Warwickshire County Council is putting forward stack up against scrutiny. For us, declaring a climate emergency is just a symbolic step, however, it’s the actions and the work over the coming months that will matter.”
A spokesperson for the county council said: “Since we made our own declaration in 2019, it has allowed us to greatly focus our activity around climate change mitigation and adaptation. Taking action now, so that Warwickshire is a county with a sustainable future, is one of our key strategic priorities, and we have already started work towards our goals of reducing carbon emissions to net zero across the council by 2030 and to support Warwickshire as a county to do the same by 2050 or earlier.”
The council said it has delivered £1m through a Green Shoots Community Climate Change fund, supporting climate change mitigation and adaptation projects from a number of community and voluntary organisations, while its Sustainable Futures Strategy, which has priorities to reduce carbon emissions, support biodiversity and promote economic growth, launches next week. A consultation will last until mid-January.
The spokesperson added the council does not have an overview and scrutiny committee for climate change as climate and sustainability underpin “all of our decision-making, and so are already fully embedded within our existing overview and scrutiny committees”. Anyone wanting to help the climate working group can email clerk@henley-in-arden-pc.gov.uk.
