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24
Jul 2022
Councillors delay North Yorkshire climate change proposals
North Yorkshire councillors have postponed moves aiming to ensure robust and immediate actions are taken to tackle the climate change and biodiversity crises for about four months.
A meeting of North Yorkshire County Council saw a majority of elected members agree motions for further environmental measures should be referred to the council’s executive and constitutional working group for consideration.
Liberal Democrat, Independent, Green and Liberal councillors had proposed the authority establish a dedicated scrutiny committee, an executive member to oversee climate change and the development of a biodiversity action plan.
The calls came just days after the council’s executive declared a climate emergency, several years after numerous neighbouring councils, following mounting pressure from councillors.
Coordinator of the council’s Green Party group, Cllr Andy Brown, said while the executive’s recent decision to declare a climate emergency was welcome, “we all know good intent needs a clear, costed, timed action plan” to be approved by the same councillors.
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He added a scrutiny committee was needed as it was the role of councillors to examine plans to tackle climate change and that residents suffering record high temperatures would struggle to understand why the authority was not taking more immediate action.
Cllr Brown said:
The authority’s chairman, Cllr Margaret Atkinson, who is tasked with controlling debates at full meetings of the authority, told the chamber the temperatures of the past few days had underlined the need to tackle climate change.
However, she said it was important the authority gave the motions “appropriate consideration”.
She added the council’s staff were already under a lot of pressure due to local government reorganisation.
The council’s deputy leader, Cllr Gareth Dadd, said the proposals had implications, such as financial ones, that needed to be fully understood, with a report by officers, before the motions could be properly considered.
He said it was possible creating an extra scrutiny committee could dilute the efforts of the authority’s existing scrutiny committees for matters ranging from health to transport.
Cllr Dadd said:
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