Call for citizens’ assembly on climate change

TWO COUNCILLORS have clashed over Harrogate Borough Council’s commitments to tackling climate change.

Lib Dem leader Coun Pat Marsh singled out Conservative cabinet member for sustainable transport, Coun Phil Ireland, when she launched scathing criticism at the Tory-dominated council’s “unwillingness to work collaboratively and transparently”.

She said the council’s crossparty climate change coalition – set up last year – should be scrapped and replaced with a citizens’ assembly, as she also renewed her calls for the district to declare a climate emergency.

Coun Marsh said she had written to Coun Ireland about the plans and did not receive a response.

Coun Ireland has now responded in a statement. He said: “I was very disappointed to read Coun Marsh’s comments about our work on climate change.

“We have set up the Harrogate District Climate Change Coalition (HDCCC) with representatives from environmental groups, businesses, public sector organisations and voluntary groups

“Coun Marsh supported us on setting up this group, now she wants to do away with it and set up a new group.”

Last year more than half of all UK councils across declared climate emergencies. Harrogate Borough Council, however, did not.

Instead, councillors agreed to match the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’s (IPCC) target of a 45 per cent reduction in emissions by 2030.

It is also the council’s aim to have a net zero-carbon economy by 2038.

Coun Marsh said “fresh ideas and bold action” will be needed to hit those targets.