Reform revokes climate emergency

Reform UK has agreed to revoke a climate emergency declaration made by Sandwell Council.

The party, which took over the running of Sandwell Council in May, agreed to rescind the declaration at a full council meeting on Tuesday (October 20).

Cllr Gary Dale, the council’s deputy leader, led the call saying the borough was facing “immediate and pressing challenges” and the council would instead focus on “delivering more homes, supporting economic growth, creating opportunities for residents, improving educational, health and skills outcomes, regenerating town centres and tackling deprivation.”

The decision was ridiculed by opposition councillors including many in the former Labour administration who declared the emergency six years ago.

Cllr John Tipper (Green – Bearwood) said the move was “strange and unnecessary.”

He said: “There is no trade-off between accepting the scientific reality of climate change and all the other aspirations that Reform mention, which makes me suspect they haven’t got any real tangible plans for all the other issues raised.”

Cllr Luke Cotterill (Labour – Old Warley) said his mother was evacuated from her home during the summer’s fires.

“If we now believe there’s not a climate emergency, I’d invite members of the Reform Party to talk to those residents about how scared they felt with massive wildfires coming towards their properties, and whether these residents believe that there is a climate emergency,” he said.

The council’s Reform leader Ray Nock dismissed the complaints saying eight of the fires were caused by arson.

Cllr Maria Crompton (Labour – Tividale) said she was “ashamed” by his response.

“Surely you’ve got to realise that if it’s not dry enough, it can’t be set fire to, can it?” she asked.

“Surely you understand that if there was no dry grass, then they couldn’t have set the fire or at least they wouldn’t have spread.

“People have lost lives and their homes because of the fires.”

Cllr Luke Davies (Labour – Smethwick) added: “Two months ago, nearly 58,000 acres of Britain burned, including parts of Great Barr, Brandhall, Hateley Heath, Tipton, and Blackheath, and [in August] this same council administration declared a fire safety warning because of climate change.

“As the mayor sends condolences to those who are made homeless or killed by climate change [due to floods in Nepal], the leader shrugs and says it doesn’t actually happen.”

The climate emergency was declared by the previous Labour administration in 2020 as part of a bid to become a carbon neutral council by 2030 and borough by 2041. This included measures such as cutting emissions from its own buildings – including schools – and replacing its fleet with greener vehicles, improving recycling rates and cutting greenhouse gases in homes and businesses.

Reform UK’s motion, which made no reference to climate change or net zero, said “environmental sustainability” remained important for local government but councils should focus “first and foremost on the issues that most directly affect their daily lives, future opportunities and quality of life.”

Cllr Liam Preece (Labour – West Bromwich Central) said Reform’s move “said nothing, proposed to do nothing and abdicated [the council’s] responsibilities to future generations.”

“The motion doesn’t describe how the declaration of the climate emergency failed to put residents first nor does it give examples of the climate emergency getting in the way of the normal functioning of the council,” he said.

“Climate change is the single biggest threat human civilization has faced … That is not a political opinion, that is a verified, undeniable scientific fact.

“I think the party opposite are trying to suggest that the work to decarbonise the economy is a threat to growth, prosperity or housebuilding. That simply isn’t true.”

Cllr Preece said the Labour government was embarking on the “largest social housebuilding programme since the end of the Second World War” and was investing tens of billions of pounds in the green energy transition.

“This will create new high skilled jobs, re-energise our manufacturing industry,” he said, “and we in the Labour Party want to see Sandwell receive its fair share of that.”

Independent councillor Richard Jeffcoat (Tipton Green) said you would need to be “living under a very hot rock during the summer” to disregard the climate emergency.

He said: “I suspect this is driven not by care for Sandwell, but by a determination for the national priorities of their party.”

By Christian Barnett | Local Democracy Reporting Service