Council 'lacks urgency' over climate emergency
Council bosses in Walsall have been accused of “lacking ambition” after pushing back the date to address a climate emergency by 20 years.
Walsall’s Labour group served a notice of motion on the full council to declare a climate emergency and set a target of the town becoming ‘carbon neutral’ by 2030.
Despite agreeing with the motion, the ruling Conservative group successfully passed an amendment to change the target date to 2050 – which is in line with the Government.
Leader Mike Bird said he wanted to ensure there was a achievable plan in place and added that 2030 was an unrealistic target.
He added that he had ordered a report to be brought to cabinet setting out what the authority is doing and what it can do to make Walsall carbon neutral.
At the meeting, Labour councillor Richard Worrall said Wolverhampton had set a target date of 2028, while Birmingham and Solihull had set the date at 2030.
Labour group leader Aftab Nawaz said: “You don’t declare an emergency and then put it off for 30 years.
“We should have ambitions for Walsall. Other councils have set 2030 and if they can achieve it and then we can achieve it.
Councillor Lee Jeavons added: “In 2050, I’ll be 81 and it will probably be my grandchildren then who we’ve passed the baton on to. That seems a bit unfair to me.”
And fellow Labour councillor Ian Robertson said: “It does make a mockery of the urgency of there being an emergency when you change the date to 2050.”
Councillor Bird said: “I have instructed the chief executive and officers to bring a report to cabinet on how we can plan for climate change.
“Rather than us having a knee-jerk reaction it’s important that we lay down the plans that we have. If I was to say we can achieve 2030, I’d be telling lies because I don’t think we can.
“As a result, the 2050 date is a backstop. It is the long shot that we should not go past. I think we can properly achieve target neutrality less than 2050 but it’s no good having a policy put in place when you can’t achieve it for the simple reason people will just turn around and say ‘well you didn’t do that’.
“If anyone who put their name to the motion is in a position to say what we should do in that space of time, I’d be happy to listen.”
After the meeting, Councillor Nawaz said: “Pushing the date to achieve carbon neutrality back just shows a lack of insight, desire and belief that Walsall can actually achieve it.
“The administration often says it is an ambitious authority but on this occasion, they’ve refused to set an ambitious target.”
