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Climate Emergency motion moved by Councillor A. R. Greaves Lib Dem) and seconded by Councillor Z. Ali (Labour)
Pendle Borough Council recognises that the world is in the midst of a climate and environmental emergency and that action is required at all levels of Government – local, national and international – in order to protect our planet for future generations of life in all its forms and for human society as we know it.
This Council notes – (1) on 8th October, 2018, the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) published a report on the impacts of global warming of 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels and related global greenhouse gas emissions; (2) the report warned that the risk of catastrophic climate change including extreme heat, drought, flooding and climate-related poverty would significantly increase unless global warming could be kept to a maximum of 1.5°C. Council (11.07.2019) 9 (3) the report authors found that global warming was likely to reach 1.5°C between 2030 and 2052 if it continues to increase at the current rate and say that urgent and unprecedented action was required to meet the target.
Council further notes that many Councils throughout the United Kingdom were declaring a climate emergency and resolving to take action to help to tackle this existential crisis. It therefore resolves:
(1) To declare a climate emergency in the Borough of Pendle.
(2) To set up an all-party member and officer working group to research what actions other Councils were taking; to take evidence from local and wider sources on what action it could usefully take and what actions could be promoted in other ways in Pendle; to seek to work with other Lancashire Councils including Town and Parish Councils in Pendle and Lancashire County Council; to make recommendations to the Policy and Resources Committee on what short-term action could be taken; and to present an Action Plan to the Council within six months with the aim of taking the lead and making Pendle Council and its arms-length bodies carbon-neutral by 2030 and for working for Pendle as a whole to be carbon neutral by 2030 or as soon as possible thereafter.
(3) To audit and review the local development plan as part of this process and to include a climate emergency audit and statement as part of all significant new Council policies and plans.
(4) To seek to work with local schools, Nelson and Colne College and other education bodies, together with community groups of all kinds and local media to increase understanding of the climate emergency and to develop ways of tackling it in ways which promote freedom, fairness and equality and community strengths.
(5) To promote such short-term action as may be possible during the course of the current Council year.
(6) To present a full report and action plan to the Policy and Resources Committee and thereby to the Council meeting in March 2020.
Upon being put to the vote the MOTION was CARRIED
