Young given voice on climate change group
New commission will scrutinise green strategies
Perth and Kinross Council has agreed to establish a Climate Change Commission.
Councillors also backed an amendment from the SNP group to ensure a quarter of members were young people.
The group will scrutinise and oversee Perth and Kinross’s Climate Change Plan.
The decision was made at a special meeting on Monday, August 30.
Perth and Kinross follows the likes of Edinburgh, Leeds, Surrey and Belfast in establishing a commission.
Elected members were told it will be a collaboration between public, private and civic sectors “to help drive, guide, support and monitor climate action”.
PKC’s strategy and policy manager Peter Marshall told councillors it was a “brave move”.
The proposal put before the committee was for 26 potential commission members chaired by an independent expert.
The report proposed the 26 members comprise of six from the private sector, six from the public sector, six from the third sector, six from targeted areas of expertise such as transport and biodiversity and two youth representatives.
SNP councillor Fiona Sarwar suggested the “two youth representatives” was vague and almost tacked on as tokenism.
Independent councillor Xander McDade said it seemed like “lip service”.
Conservative council leader Murray Lyle moved the Perth and Kinross proposal saying it gave more voice to young people than other commissions had.
He added: “Given the disproportionate impact that climate change will have on younger people, it is important that they are given a voice on the commission.
“I strongly support this proposal, we know already that young people are extremely vocal on climate change, and we need to demonstrate that we recognise their right to a voice in their future.
“Not only must we give them a voice, we must listen to them and deliver for them our small but important part in addressing this climate emergency.”
It was proposed Cllr Lyle, the new chief executive and Cllr Richard Watters (SNP) represent PKC on the commission.
Lib Dem councillor Liz Barrett was agreed as a reserve for Cllr Watters.
SNP councillor Andrew Parrott put forward an amendment calling for 25 per cent of those on the commission to be young people “given the importance
Perth and Kinross Council has confirmed the creation of the Climate Change Commission of the climate change matter for younger people in our society.” He also asked that the funding be increased from £2000 to £5000.
Lib Dem councillor Willie Wilson suggested dictating a 25 per cent youth membership was “over-prescriptive”.
Cllr Wilson said while they should be encouraging young people to take part it was going to be a “fairly intensive piece of work and young people involved with exams might not have time to participate”.
SNP councillor Grant Laing said: “I can’t believe any member would vote against having a larger number and as many young people as we can in this commission.”
Cllr Lyle attempted to defend Cllr Wilson’s comments as being “misinterpreted” and added: “I would be quite happy if the Climate Change Commission was made up of 100 per cent young people because they would be young people from across different sectors who were enthused to discuss climate change and enthused to support the council in its challenges.
He agreed to incorporate the amendment into the motion.
He said the £2000 was a nominal figure and proposed to allocate up to £10,000 to the commission depending on need.
Councillors unanimously supported the updated proposal.