Credit: CC3.0 Laurie Noble
Reform UK-controlled councils are pushing back on efforts to tackle climate change after the party’s breakthrough success in May’s local elections.
Kent County Council has voted to rescind its climate emergency declaration, which was passed in 2019 and set out the authority’s ambition to reduce greenhouse gas emissions to net zero by 2050.
The motion to rescind, passed by an overwhelming majority, said the declaration is based on the ‘unproven’ claim that climate change is caused by human activity. This flies in the face of the scientific consensus on global warming.
North Northamptonshire Council, meanwhile, has unanimously voted to delay its net zero emissions target from 2030 to 2050, while Durham County Council is reportedly considering scrapping plans to install rooftop solar panels on its buildings.
In his speech at the party’s annual conference in Birmingham this month, Reform UK’s deputy leader Richard Tice said it has ‘serious questions’ about battery-storage projects.
