Reform UK councillor Leon Gibbs has proposed ending North Northamptonshire Council’s 2021 climate-emergency declaration, arguing it makes little sense alongside a carbon-neutral target now set for 2050. Full council is due to consider the motion later.
The council declared a climate emergency in 2021, months after its creation under Conservative control, and set a 2030 carbon-neutral goal. Last year, its Reform executive voted unanimously to replace that goal with 2050, the national target set by the previous Conservative government and reaffirmed by Labour. The proposed motion says environmental protection and responsible use of public funds do not require an emergency declaration.
Labour MP Rosie Wrighting argued governments should do all they can to advance climate policies, citing patients and staff coping with summer heat at Kettering General Hospital and winter flooding in Northamptonshire. Conservative group leader Helen Harrison said the motion changed nothing; Green deputy leader Ben Williams said it offered no new solution.
