Petition calling on Norfolk County Council to declare 'climate emergency' delivered
Norwich Friends of the Earth have gathered enough signatures to force a debate on the issue
A petition calling on Norfolk County Council to declare a climate emergency, has been delivered to County Hall.
It's been organised and handed over by Norwich Friends of the Earth after reaching the minimum 4,500 signatures in six months needed, to trigger a debate.
It's understood that the local authority could discuss the issue as early as mid-March.
Dr Sarah Eglington, the coordinator of Norwich Friends of the Earth said:
"It has really shown the council what the people of Norfolk want. There is a climate emergency and I think they need to acknowledge that. I hope they will work with us to put some decent policies in place that will actually make a difference, rather than their current environmental policy which sounds great but when you actually look at what they're doing, it's the opposite really.
"When we were collecting these signatures there were very, very few people that didn't want to sign it. Almost everyone was like 'that sounds great, we should sign it'. You've got to also remember that Norfolk is one just a few councils left that haven't declared a climate emergency. 80% of councils across the country have declared one".
Numerous local authorities have taken the step of officially acknowledging the climate crisis over the past few years.
Often, a declaration of a climate is coupled with efforts to cut carbon emissions.
Ahead of the COP 26 climate conference last year, Norfolk County Council revealed that it is to end the purchase of fossil fuel powered vehicles, switching to electric alternatives.
All streetlights across the county will be swapped for more energy efficient LEDs.
But Sarah wants the authority to go further, and says her group will be attending the debate on the climate crisis:
"We're going to try and get a big group of us there, so we can get involved during the day as well. I think we need to try and work with as many of the different opposition parties as we can. A lot of them are on board already actually, so we just need to try and influence them as much as we can".
"The council needs to put a really ambitious action plan in place. They've got this environmental statement, which I read yesterday and sounds great on the surface but there's very little substance to it. I'd love to work with the council so they have some measures and targets in place".
Norfolk County Council told us they remain "very confident" in their Environmental Strategy devised in 2019, which sets out plans to make the county carbon neutral by 2030.