Council votes to keep climate emergency declaration

A Reform UK councillor's attempt to scrap his authority's climate emergency status has been rejected days after the debate was postponed due to the heat.

Austen Moore urged the Borough Council of King's Lynn & West Norfolk to abandon the climate emergency it declared in 2021 and replace it with a "resilience strategy" focused on flooding, drainage and protecting farmland.

The motion was due to be debated at a full meeting of the Independent Partnership-led council at King's Lynn Town Hall on 25 June, but the building was deemed unfit to host it in the heatwave.

At the rescheduled meeting on Thursday, the motion was rejected by 33 councillors at the 55-seat authority.

Many councillors pointed out the irony of the delay.

Moore argued the council's "first duty" was to spend taxpayers' money where it would deliver the "greatest benefit".

He argued that the UK accounted for less than 1% of global emissions, and the West Norfolk district accounted for "only a tiny fraction" of that.

"Even if King's Lynn was reduced to zero tomorrow, it would have no measurable impact on the global climate," he said.

Michael de Whalley, Independent Partnership councillor and cabinet member for climate change and biodiversity, said Moore's claims set a "dangerous precedent".

He claimed the climate emergency was costing each household in the district £3.38 a year, whereas Brexit was about £3,450 a year, the Local Democracy Reporting Service said.

Independent Partnership councillor Sandra Squire, cabinet member for environment, said the Earth was "not here for us to plunder and pillage as we choose for profit".

She warned motions "shouldn't be political dogma wrapped up and presented as caring for our residents".

Conservative councillor Paul Kunes said he was surprised the Reform councillor had not withdrawn the motion.

"Do we believe the thousands of climate scientists, or do we believe Donald Trump, Nigel Farage and councillor Moore?" he asked.

Since the climate emergency was declared five years ago, when the council was controlled by the Conservatives, money was set aside for decarbonisation, several council buildings were retrofitted for energy efficiency and the authority brought forward its net zero target from 2050 to 2035.

Net zero refers to the aim of balancing the amount of greenhouse gases produced by human activities and the amount we are able to remove from the atmosphere.

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