Environmentalist call on West Yorkshire council not to cancel climate change and biodiversity emergency declarations
Wakefield councillors are due to vote on a motion this week, put forward by the council’s new Reform leader Karl Johnson, to scrap declarations made the previous Labour administration.
Coun Johnson said the move was part of his party’s commitment to “moving away from gesture politics.”
The proposals have been criticised by Just Transition Wakefield, a group which formed to help the district achieve low carbon targets and to hold the council to account on green issues.
Group chair Stuart Boothman said revoking the declarations would put the council at risk of losing out on government funding for carbon reduction projects.
He said: “We are really disappointed in the council taking this action. It is clear that the emergency has got worse. It hasn’t gone away.
“The declarations were made in response to public pressure – does the council reject public opinion, and reject the investment from central government?
“In 2024, the council held a listening exercise with a cross-section of local people, covering all walks of life and every part of the district.
“This ‘citizen visioning’ gave a clear mandate for more action to tackle climate and support nature, not less.
“This agrees with academic research that says over 80 per cent of UK citizens want more action too.”
Just Transition member Leda Prest also said: “People value tree planting, solar panels on schools and on community centres.
“We don’t expect the council to tackle global problems, but climate change is a local problem too. We should have cheap renewable electricity, just like other places.
“It will be too late when homes are flooded. It will be too late when the old and vulnerable are suffering and town centres are empty because of heat waves.
“We need to safeguard our local communities now, not wait until it is too late.”
Under Labour, the council declared a climate emergency in 2019 and pledged to become a carbon neutral authority by 2030.
A biodiversity emergency was then declared by councillors in 2021.
Coun Johnson’s motion states: “The leader of the council committed to moving away from gesture politics and towards focusing on delivering practical things that make the lives of our residents easier
“Undeclaring both the climate and biodiversity emergencies in Wakefield are part of that commitment.
“This is not a withdrawal from action on the environment.
“It is a recognition that the language of ’emergency’ does not deliver better outcomes for our residents.
“We should focus on tangible action within our control that improves everyday life and focus our limited resources where they are most needed.”
