Plans by Reform UK to “rescind” the declaration of a climate emergency at one of the English county councils it now controls have been condemned by opposition parties.
Hundreds of local authorities across Britain have made the declarations, which serve as acknowledgments that they need to act on the causes and impacts of climate change and are linked to efforts to achieve net zero targets.
However, the draft of a motion that will come before Reform-controlled Kent county council on Thursday states that it will rescind the climate emergency declaration, which it said was “stifling debate”.
The motion includes plans to replace the council’s net zero 2030 target with what was described as “an energy efficiency plan focused on financial returns and investigate opportunities to create additional revenue streams”.
Kent county council, one of 10 English county councils where Reform won outright control in elections earlier this year, declared a climate emergency in 2019.
Stuart Jeffery, a Green party councillor, said: “Kent is at the forefront of climate impacts. We are severely water stressed, we will suffer most from summer heatwaves, the sea level rises will devastate communities and we will have new diseases such as dengue to contend with. This is most definitely an emergency.”
As recently as last week, he said that a Kent county council report had referred to a 6C rise in temperature and an 80cm rise in sea level for Kent.
“Yet Reform want to close their eyes to this disaster, a disaster that will kill many, many people and destroy communities,” Jeffery added.
Antony Hook, a Kent councillor and leader of the Liberal Democrat group, claimed Reform was committing an “act of political vandalism” after a record-breaking dry summer in which farmers and vulnerable members the public such as elderly people suffered.
“They call sensible, evidence-based plans ‘expensive virtue-signalling’, but the reality is they are the ones peddling a dangerous and costly fantasy. Their approach would leave our residents with higher energy bills, our communities more vulnerable to flooding, and our local economy lagging behind in the green jobs revolution.”
The same draft motion says that the council will lobby the UK government to promote Dungeness – the location for two non-operational nuclear power stations – as a site for a small nuclear reactor.
“We’ll work with water companies to clean up our seas and rivers, develop a long-term water resources plan for Kent and ensure that drainage works to prevent flooding,” it adds.
Kent county council and Reform UK have been approached for comment.
