Council leader scraps 'stupid' net zero policies

The new leader of Essex County Council slammed "net stupid zero" policies, as his Reform UK group announced any such strategies would be scrapped.

Peter Harris said thinking the local authority could help to stop climate change was "nuts", adding: "It's been happening for millions of years."

Reform ended the Conservatives' 25-year reign at County Hall in May's local elections and have 53 seats.

Speaking after the council's first full meeting in Chelmsford, opposition Tory councillor Lee Scott urged his rivals to be "open-minded" about climate change.

Net zero refers to a state in which the greenhouse gases going into the atmosphere are balanced out by those also removed.

Policies used to achieve net zero include the use of electric vehicles and building homes with a smaller carbon footprint, and the council previously had a czar and commission dedicated to climate change.

It became one of the key talking points at the first meeting of full council on Thursday.

Harris told the chamber: "It's nuts, the whole net zero thing is net stupid zero and I just don't agree with it."

He made the remark after describing seeing "miles and miles and miles" of trucks loaded with coal in South Africa.

Speaking to the BBC during a meeting break, Harris added: "What we're not going to do is go on this crusade, this net zero religion that it's become.

"Climate change happens, it's been happening for millions of years. Is it man-made? Is it just a routine of the world? A natural event? I'm not a scientist, I don't know that.

"But what I do know is I represent 1.6 million people. I have duties to them, and I'm not going to put policies into place that will make them poorer."

He had been backed up in the chamber by deputy leader Russell Quirk, who said: "The quest for net zero is fatally expensive and ironically unsustainable."

He said striving to become net zero was a "ridiculous endeavour" that was "as pointless as it is foolish".

Quirk said any efforts on the council's part were "akin to a literal drop in the proverbial ocean", while other countries increased their industrial activities.

The state of Essex's roads was also a major feature of the meeting, where Harris declared a "pothole emergency".

Library reservation charges, introduced by the Conservative administration in April, were also scrapped.

Responding to Reform's criticism of net zero, Scott said: "Yes, there needs to be modifications to net zero and what we do and what we don't do.

"It has to be viable, but we also have to recognise that certain things will save our residents money."

Reaching net zero CO2 emissions is essential to limit global warming, according to the UN's climate body, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC).

The world is warming because of humanity's greenhouse gas emissions, which increase global temperatures by trapping extra energy in the atmosphere near the Earth's surface.

This is bringing more frequent and intense heatwaves, rapidly rising sea levels and widespread harm to nature.

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