Climate concerns in Worcestershire County Council's budget

Worcestershire County Council presented its draft budget during a meeting on January 7, but several concerned residents asked councillors why climate change and carbon emissions had not been covered in its budget for the next year.

Retired ecologist Dr Johnny Birks said he was “perplexed and deeply worried” by the emission of climate change in the draft budget and asked the council’s cabinet whether it had been left out deliberately.

He said: “This council demonstrates that in the important field of financial planning it can recognise and act upon the impacts of a serious crisis.

“There are 53 mentions of the Covid pandemic in the document in relation to council services Worcestershire’s businesses, and the wider economy. I find it extraordinary therefore that there was no mention of the climate crisis nor even a mention of this council’s recently approved net carbon plan which requires urgent action right now if it is to deliver on its laudable aims.

He said councillors had said they “got” climate change but the budget “suggested quite the opposite.”

“If climate change considerations do not feature anywhere in this council’s budgeting and then how can it possibly protect Worcestershire’s residents and businesses against a crisis that, experts tell us, will dwarf the impacts of the Covid pandemic.”

Council leader Simon Geraghty said the council was committed to the environment and it was one of its “four key priorities” in the council’s corporate plan for “as many years as he could remember.”

“We are certainly not coming to the environmental issue late,” he said. “In fact it has been something that we have been working on for many years about how we [as a council] reduce our environmental impact on Worcestershire.”

Rosemary Wormington said she was shocked to find that there was no mention of climate change in the 56-page draft budget.

“The UK government has set us a target of at least a 68 per cent reduction in greenhouse gases by 2030 and with just nine annual budgets to go I do find it astonishing that there is no mention of climate change at all in this budget,” she said.

“Surely it is the council’s duty to take a leadership role in guiding residents and businesses towards zero carbon emissions. So why is this not evidenced in the report?”

Janice Bell asked cabinet how the planned £10 million spend on cutting congestion would tie in with targets to cut carbon emissions and whether the council had looked at incorporating cycling and walking as well as public transport as a way of leading people away from using cars to travel.

“How is this work compatible with the government’s commitment to cut carbon gases?” she asked councillors. “Particularly as it is well-documented that simply building more roads and widening existing roads just leads to higher car use.

“It would be such a shame for the county council to persist in continuing to steadfastly ignore the climate crisis we are facing despite calls from all around to act now, especially when previous iterations of this council have been forerunners in caring for the environment.”

By Christian Barnett