Opposition groups criticise Reform's bid to scrap climate emergency declaration in Kirklees as 'threatening the future for young people'

Reform has tabled a motion to Wednesday’s (October 21) full council meeting seeking to rescind the climate emergency declaration and ditch the district’s 2038 net zero carbon targets. The declaration was made after Labour, Lib Dem, Green and Independent councillors backed a motion in January 2019.

The new Reform motion calls for 13 actions in total, including amending the council’s key environmental policies to reflect the updated stance, requiring “evidence” for investment, and abolishing the environment and climate change scrutiny panel.

It says that a focus would be placed on “statutory services, affordable living, reliable infrastructure, local economic opportunity and practical environmental improvements with demonstrable benefits to residents”.

A debate on the matter is due to take place at this week’s meeting, with a vote to follow. A majority will need to be reached for the motion to be upheld.

But since the agenda has been published, the Green and Liberal Democrat groups have voiced their fierce opposition to it. Between them, the groups have branded the move “dangerous”, “backward” and “irrational”.

Leader of the Green group, Coun Andrew Cooper, said that Reform is “ignoring climate science and so is threatening the future for young people and future generations”.

He added: “Reform councillors may remove the council’s declaration of a climate emergency but that won’t address the extreme heat, flooding and excess rain we are experiencing in Kirklees. Man made climate change is real, it is happening now and it is getting worse.

“Nationally there have been an additional 2,877 excess deaths in the UK due to extreme heat this summer and each year the trend is for higher temperatures each subsequent year. Flooding incidents are becoming more common in autumn and winter months and our already crumbling roads are very badly affected by excessive and long periods of rainfall.

“Climate change is an emergency in Kirklees, as it is in the UK and around the world. It is irrational to pretend it isn’t happening.”

The Lib Dems, led by Coun Anthony Smith, have pledged to vote “firmly against” Reform’s proposals, and argue that there are “severe logical flaws, factual inaccuracies and costly contradictions” at the heart of Reform’s plan.

They argue that the proposed action would result in higher household costs, cause a “mountain” of unnecessary bureaucracy, and leave Kirklees unprepared for natural disasters such as flooding.

Coun Smith said: “Reform’s motion to undeclare the climate emergency is a dangerous, backwards step that will cost Kirklees taxpayers dearly. You cannot rewrite physical reality simply by deleting the word ‘climate’ from council documents.

“Under the guise of saving money, this administration is proposing to halt the very green investments that would lower residents’ energy bills and protect us from volatile energy markets. Even worse, their reckless approach to flood management explicitly dictates that we must wait until our communities are already underwater before taking preventive action.

“To top it off, they plan to abolish the environmental scrutiny panel so no one can effectively hold them accountable for these decisions. This isn’t common sense, it’s an expensive, ideological paper-chase that will leave our district poorer and more vulnerable.

“Instead of this regression, the Liberal Democrats will continue to advocate for practical, forward-thinking solutions: insulating homes to permanently cut heating bills, investing in proactive flood defences to protect our valleys before disaster strikes, and delivering cleaner air for our communities.

“We will fight this motion every step of the way.”