West Sussex County Council votes to do more on climate – but Gatwick airport intends to instead vastly increase its CO2 emissions
Date added: 11 April, 2019
West Sussex County Council has agreed unanimously to back an amended motion pledging action on climate change. South East Climate Alliance (SECA) campaigners hailed this as a potential ‘tipping point’ for the area. Two of the commitments made were to try to make the C County Council itself carbon neutral, and encourage residents and businesses to do more to help tackle climate change. Council members were invited to make personal pledges on things like saving water and energy, and making low carbon journeys (air travel not mentioned specifically). Louise Goldsmith, Council Leader, said: ” … we really do need everyone young, old and not so old and all businesses to come together and do their bit to become more sustainable…” CAGNE attended the meeting, and Sally Pavey commented that aviation issues were included in the debate – Gatwick airport is in West Sussex, and is probably the largest carbon emitter in the area (about 4.5 million tonnes of CO2 per year). Cllr Liz Kitchen and Cllr Bill Acraman, raised the issue of Gatwick expansion, which would hugely increase the airport’s carbon, undoing any good done by local carbon cuts by individuals, businesses or the council. . Tweet
West Sussex County Council commits to do more to tackle climate change
A pledge to work towards making West Sussex County Council carbon neutral and the prioritisation of a campaign to encourage residents and businesses to do more to help tackle climate change were just two of the environmental commitments made at a meeting in Chichester today (Friday 5 April).During a debate at Full Council, West Sussex County Council members heard about the progress already being made in the county to adapt to our changing climate as well as updates on a range of initiatives for the future.A ‘notice of motion’ was agreed which said that it was imperative that all countries reduce their carbon emissions as soon as possible and that it is important that the West Sussex County Council commits to carbon neutrality as quickly as possible.
Deborah Urquhart, Cabinet Member for Environment, said: “The County Council has already committed to halve its carbon footprint by 2022 compared to a decade earlier. Last year we achieved a 17 per cent reduction in our carbon emissions – a 45 per cent reduction in carbon emissions from the original baseline set in 2011/12.
“To achieve this saving we have improved our building management systems, improved insulation and upgraded lighting in our buildings and in street lights across the county. We have invested in renewable energy and now have solar installations on a high number of our buildings and schools.”
Members heard that counties like West Sussex have high potential to be leaders in the field of reducing carbon emissions. As well as reducing its reliance on energy generally, opportunities include the generation of clean, green energy locally and the promotion of the benefits to local organisations and residents.
Deborah continued: “I am really proud that we are leading by example in this area, by improving the efficiency of our buildings and investing in energy projects. Now we want to do as much as we can to highlight the ways in which residents, businesses, staff and members can contribute towards combating climate change. If everyone works together it can really make a big difference.”
Members were invited to make personal pledges to:
• Save water and energy • Make low carbon journeys • Shop local • Fight against food waste • Pass on plastic
A campaign aimed at residents and businesses will be planned for later this year.
Louise Goldsmith, Leader of West Sussex County Council, said: “Over the last 15 years West Sussex County Council has been reducing its carbon footprint, demonstrating a positive commitment to responding to the global climate change challenge. We have done this in many ways and some of our aspirations have been incorporated in our West Sussex Plan. It is universally acknowledged that we must reduce our reliance on fossil fuels and the County Council is playing an important part with a planned £46.2m investment in low carbon energy projects over the next four years.”
“As a Council we are fully committed to ensuring that we continue to play a role in dealing with climate change, but we really do need everyone young, old and not so old and all businesses to come together and do their bit to become more sustainable and make a real difference for everyone’s future.”
CLIMATE MOTION PASSED UNANIMOUSLY BY WEST SUSSEX COUNTY COUNCIL
Apr 5, 2019 (South East Climate Alliance website)
Congratulations and thanks to everyone who came along to Chichester today, and who lobbied their County Council members to back the climate emergency motion. It worked! Though many of us were disappointed that the original motion was amended, and the climate emergency was ‘noted’ rather than ‘declared’, the Council took a big step today. It looks like WSCC is serious about getting its act together on climate change. After the meeting SECA was invited to take part in a new working group being set up to take this agenda forward. So the omens are looking good that today could be a turning point.
Here’s the text of our press release:
PRESS RELEASE: Climate action motion passed unanimously by County Council
Campaigners hailed today as a potential ‘tipping point’ in West Sussex, as the County Council agreed unanimously to back an amended motion pledging action on climate change.
In a rare display of cross-party consensus, councillors from across the political spectrum took turns to underline the risks posed by climate change and need for decisive leadership by the County Council. Speaking in front of a packed public gallery, councillors called for action on cycle paths, electric charging points, food waste collection, public transport, air quality, and a range of other priorities.
The six point action plan set out in the motion includes a pledge for the Council to go carbon neutral by 2030, well ahead of UK-wide climate targets. It also sets out ambitions to ‘investigate ways of taking climate change impacts into account in all the Council’s policies and operations’.
The debate was preceded by a lively but good-natured march by over 140 climate campaigners and concerned citizens of all ages, from toddlers to grandparents. The march ended on the steps of County Hall, giving protesters the chance to buttonhole their council representatives as they came in to the meeting. Councillors had already been lobbied by many of their constituents to back the vote, thanks to a county-wide letter writing campaign organised by the South East Climate Alliance (SECA).
Protesters making their voice heard outside County Hall
“We are taking today’s vote as a definite win for the climate,” said Dr Sally Barnard, Coordinator of SECA. “We were greatly encouraged by the breadth of support across the council chamber for stronger climate action”.
However, campaigners were disappointed that the amended motion states that the Council ‘notes the call for a campaign to declare a climate emergency’, rather than actually declaring an emergency, as the original motion proposed.
“It all depends on what happens next,” according to Dr Barnard. “If the Council follows up on the pledges it has made today, this could be a tipping point for climate action in West Sussex”.
“We are ready to work with the Council in coming up with an ambitious action plan, and in helping hold them to account in delivering on it”.
Aviation growth – one of the biggest threats this planet faces today. The message sent to councillors during the WSCC debate on Friday 5thApril.
6th April 2019 (CAGNE press release)
CAGNE is the campaign group, Communities Against Gatwick Noise and Expansion
“We can only hope that this will mean that they will not be able to support new runways, growth at Gatwick Airport as this would be catastrophic for the planet, local air quality and climate change,” said CAGNE who were present throughout the debate held at County Hall, Chichester.
South East Climate Alliance campaigners hailed yesterday as a potential ‘tipping point’ in West Sussex, as the County Council agreed unanimously to back an amended motion pledging action on climate change.
In a display of cross-party consensus, councillors from across the political spectrum took turns to underline the risks posed by climate change and need for decisive leadership by the County Council. Speaking in front of a packed public gallery, councillors called for action on cycle paths, electric charging points, food waste collection, public transport, air quality, aviation and a range of other priorities.
“We believe it was only because CAGNE was present that aviation was included in the debate with two councillors, Cllr Liz Kitchen and Cllr Bill Acraman, raising the issue of Gatwick Airport expansion; aviation being one of the biggest threats the planet faces today.”
The six point action plan set out in the motion includes a pledge for the Council to go carbon neutral by 2030, well ahead of UK-wide climate targets. It also sets out ambitions to ‘investigate ways of taking climate change impacts into account in all the Council’s policies and operations’.
The debate was preceded by a march by climate campaigners and concerned citizens of all ages. The march ended on the steps of County Hall, giving campaigners the chance to discuss climate change with councillors prior to the meeting.
CAGNE lobbied councillors before the debate to the facts about aviation emissions and the breach in climate change targets with Heathrow alone, let alone Gatwick growth or expansion.
CAGNE is a member of the South East Climate Alliance (SECA) who organised the event.
The South East Climate Alliance (SECA) was set up in February 2019, following a ‘SOS Climate Emergency Day’ meeting in Horsham attended by over 120 people from 14 environmental groups across Sussex and Surrey. Between the groups present, we could cite many examples of thriving green initiatives – from repair cafés to solar schools. Yet there was a widespread feeling of frustration that the current overall response to climate change just does not match the scale and urgency of the climate threat.
The room was packed for our inaugural meeting – we had to change venue three times to find a big enough room to meet in!
We decided to join forces to address this. We agreed that our first focus should be a campaign to urge District and County Councils across the region to ‘Declare a Climate Emergency’. We plan to use the upcoming local government elections on May 2nd as an initial rallying point for mobilising local action. In this way, our aim is to demonstrate how widespread the concern about climate change really is, and encourage councillors and candidates to publicly get behind the idea of declaring a Climate Emergency.
Who We Are
The South East Climate Alliance (SECA) is a coalition of local environmental, community and faith groups from the South East of England uniting for urgent action on climate change. It acts as an informal umbrella group and has been set up to share ideas and coordinate action. Groups affiliated with SECA remain autonomous and will continue to take their own decisions. Some will adopt traditional community organising approaches; others may prefer a non-violent direct action approach, as is being championed by the Extinction Rebellion movement. SECA is not responsible for the actions of its individual member groups.
SECA is not affiliated to any political party. We have pledged to take a deliberately cross-party approach in our campaigning as we believe that the issue of climate change goes way beyond party politics.
In preparing this website, we have drawn considerably on the ideas and resources made available on the ClimateEmergency.uk website, which provides an excellent overview of the progress of the climate emergency movement across the UK.
