Reform UK declares war on Wiltshire Council’s climate crisis declaration
A climate crisis was declared by the Council in 2019
Councillors from Reform UK will be urging Wiltshire Council to overturn its climate crisis declaration and net zero targets at a meeting next week.
Councillors Ed Rimmer and Chris Vaughan will put a motion before Full Council – which meets next Tuesday, July 22 for the first time since the new Liberal Democrat-led council was formed – calling for the overturn of the council’s 2019 climate crisis declaration.
The motion reads: “This Council should not be constrained by a motion demanding unachievable county-wide 2030 carbon reduction targets as set out in the ‘climate emergency motion’ and so repudiates it.”
In a visit to Wiltshire during the local election campaign, Reform UK leader Nigel Farage threatened a “DOGE-style audit” of Wiltshire Council “on day one”.
In an exclusive interview with the Local Democracy Reporting Service, he said: “My problem with Wiltshire Council – and there are worse – is that they are dabbling in climate change. What the hell does that have to do with providing services?”
“They (local councils) have three main priorities: social care, special educational needs in children, because those repeated lockdowns did a lot of damage, and roads. So why are local councils getting involved in everything else?”
During the same rally Ed Rimmer – who would become one of 10 Reform UK candidates to win a seat and was later elected the party’s leader at Wiltshire Council – said he wanted to tackle the “wasted money spent on net zero.
“Wiltshire Council spent a third of a million pounds on an electric rubbish collection lorry. How many people’s council tax was spent on one bin lorry? That wasn’t a decision made on economics, it was a decision made on politics,” he said.
A motion by then-Lib Dem councillor Dr Brian Mathew – now MP for Melksham and Devizes – acknowledging a climate emergency and seeking to make the county of Wiltshire carbon neutral by 2030 by was narrowly carried in 2019.
Despite Conservative opposition at the time, the last administration changed its position to work towards carbon neutrality by 2030.
While it held power before the May elections, the Conservative administration worked with Wiltshire Climate Alliance to organise the first Wiltshire Climate Summit.
The event took place, with the backing of the new Lib Dem administration, on June 21 – the hottest midsummer’s day on record.
The enthusiasm for supporting net zero initiatives within both the Liberal Democrat and Conservative groups means Reform might struggle to get their motion carried.
Last month, Climate Emergency UK said Wiltshire Council was doing better than most local authorities in the UK to achieve its net zero targets, ranking it in the top 10 per cent of councils countrywide.