Warwickshire County Council’s climate emergency declaration has remained intact after Reform UK’s bid to eliminate it was rejected by Conservative councillors.
The governing Reform administration attempted to overturn the declaration originally made six years earlier — one that had been restated at the beginning of their administration last year — however Conservative amendments to their proposal gained backing from Liberal Democrat, Green and Labour members.
The revised proposal still recognised Reform’s stance that net zero targets are no longer economically sustainable in the short term — language that had already caused climate matters to slip down the priorities in the updated council strategy earlier this year — however the Conservatives added reference to the real and ongoing long-term challenge of climate change, asserting the council should consider the impact of its activities in the light of that challenge.
In practice, Reform’s campaign to abolish the climate emergency declaration and promises to make new county buildings carbon neutral were entirely dropped.
The Conservatives altered the terminology to reaffirming a pledge to protecting residents from the impacts of climate change, with policies and targets to be assessed periodically to ensure they remain evidence-based, affordable, deliverable and focused on practical outcomes.
Heat resilience was added alongside Reform’s existing emphasis on flood management. The new cross-party working group suggested by Reform was preserved, though the terms of reference will now be discussed by the full council rather than determined solely by Reform cabinet members.
Regarding new construction, the pledge is to make buildings energy efficient and resilient to extreme weather by prioritising good building fabric rather than costly mechanical solutions.
Following protests involving around 80 demonstrators against Reform’s proposal, the discussion was predictably full of political friction.
Councillor Will Roberts (Green, Leamington Willes) expressed surprise that Reform’s motion had not appeared sooner.
He pointed out that this was happening across many Reform councils, which must mean it was a command coming down from Reform HQ. He stated that it was not the first time Reform HQ had meddled in local politics.
He highlighted multi-million pound contributions to Reform from Christopher Harborne, who is closely connected to the oil industry through his company AML Global, accusing Reform of turning their back on national and food security, Warwickshire farmers and the county’s residents as a whole.
Leader Councillor George Finch (Reform UK, Bedworth Central) claimed the Tories were going far, far to the left by proposing the amendment and tried to restart a dispute with long-time opponent Councillor Keith Kondakor (Green, Weddington), maintaining that flooding in his area from the River Anker was not caused by climate change but rather an act of God.
Cllr Finch described this as simply life, to audible disapproval. Unmoved, Cllr Finch then addressed members who had participated in Tuesday morning’s protest.
He suggested they could paint posters in their spare time and cry with 70 protestors outside who should be doing other things.
He argued that those residents of Warwickshire who had huge concerns with the cost-of-living crisis and could not afford food or heating their homes were being told they should care more about what countries like China, Brazil, America and Russia were doing with their climate, which they had no power to deal with. He suggested those members thought this small island could change what the climate emissions were across the world, which he described as delusional.
He continued by stating this was not a priority for residents and should not be a priority for the council.
Councillor Chris Kettle (Con, Feldon) dismissed any suggestion he might be considered a closet hard-lefty and urged all members to examine proper evidence.
He observed that it was difficult to reconcile comments that climate change was not happening when there were record temperature rises across the world, long-established glaciers were melting and at higher altitudes, ice caps were shrinking and sea levels had risen by six inches since 1901.
Drawing on NASA research about human influence on climate change, he questioned where the body of evidence was to suggest international experts were wrong and since when burying one’s head in the sand was a good place to find that evidence. He advocated for a rational, informed approach to immediate cost-of-living concerns alongside the very serious long-term consequences of climate change that could wipe out any short-term savings they could make.
With the result appearing certain, portfolio holder for environment, heritage and culture Councillor Darren Cheshire (Nuneaton East), who had originally introduced Reform’s motion, delivered a prepared address.
He lamented the dilution of his group’s intentions while acknowledging the revised proposal still contained worthwhile and important work, adding they would support the amended motion.
He stated they wanted the work to begin and genuine progress to be made.
He acknowledged that nobody should pretend the chamber had delivered the reset originally proposed. He noted the amendment removed the central decision to repeal the climate emergency declaration.
He continued by saying the amended motion would achieve something and would move the council in the right direction, but it was a job half done.
Council chair Councillor Dale Keeling (Con, Dunsmore and Leam Valley) asked for confirmation about whether the amendment had been accepted. Cllr Cheshire confirmed it had not, meaning the initial vote concerned whether to support the Conservative version over Reform’s.
The 21 Reform and Restore Britain councillors and Reform-supporting independents voted against, but were surpassed by 31 Tories, Lib Dems, Greens and Labour councillors. This led to a vote on the Conservative version, which secured backing from 49 of the 52 councillors present.
Cabinet member Councillor Robert Gisbourne (Reform UK, Atherstone), Councillor Neil Garland (Reform UK, Bedworth North) and Councillor Ed Harris (Ind, Baddesley and Dordon) all chose to abstain – declined to vote either way.