East Riding of Yorkshire Council Declares Climate Emergency

The East Riding of Yorkshire Council has declared a climate emergency.

This comes after an extensive examination of how the Council’s policies and practices impact the environment and climate change.

Declaring a climate emergency is just one of twelve recommendations in the report of the climate change review panel. It has been declared alongside the climate change policy review and a new strategy, as well as 11 other recommendations. This review was presented to members of the council’s overview management committee on 28^th January, before it went to Full Council on 24th February.

These recommendations follow two failed attempts to have a climate emergency declared.

Chaired by Councillor Mike Medini, the review panel was established in September 2019 to look at the measures that the council could take to continue to reduce its carbon footprint and help fight against climate change.

The panel has made 12 recommendations, including:

• That the Council develops a Climate Change Strategy within twelve months: working with partners this should include a vision statement for its ambitions on climate change across the county. This will be linked to an action plan that identifies key opportunities for climate change mitigation and adaptation in the East Riding.
• A review of the Council’s Environmental Policy will establish corporate objectives on the environment including climate change and help ensure that all departments can adapt to its impacts and include environmental actions in their service plans.
• That the council considers undertaking viability studies into the use of hydrogen as a fuel in areas where partnership arrangements could be put in place to share costs and benefit from reduced carbon emissions.
• That the Council promotes its achievements on climate change through new and existing channels. This should include the partnership work that is already underway across the county and region including the work of the Local Nature Partnership. Consideration should be given to how a ‘Your Green East Riding’ campaign could be appropriately resourced.
• That the Council considers a partnership with other organisations in the East Riding such as Yorkshire Water, the Environment Agency, Utility companies and Rail and Bus companies to create a rural electric charging infrastructure.

You can view the full list of recommendations here: https://eryc.link/review-panel-reports.

As of the 24th of February, all twelve recommendations have been accepted.

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A climate emergency has been declared by East Riding of Yorkshire Council after councillors voted to adopt 12 recommendations from an examination into how the council's policies and practices impact on climate change and the environment.

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— East Riding Council (@East_Riding) February 25, 2021

The review also points out the impact of Covid-19 on the natural environment, notably that it has affected the way “people impact and interact with the natural environment.”

As a result of the stay-at-home rules, people have been utilising outside space more for opportunities to get out for exercise and to meet with a friend. There was also a reduction in transport movement by 64% in the East Riding. This led to a reduction in carbon emissions and improved air quality.

Council Deputy Leader Mike Stathers said:

“The council has always recognised the threat of climate change and the risks it posed and had undertaken a great deal of work over the years to address this, but we are not complacent and realise a great deal more needs to be done and will be done.”

Last July, activists from Animal Rebellion called on the East Riding Council to “face the truth” about climate change in a protest outside the council’s Beverley office.

However, the council were reluctant to declare an emergency then, even though other major councils such as Leeds had already done so. The Council’s Deputy Leader Mike Stathers said the local authority had wanted to wait before making the declaration to avoid it being “purely symbolic”.

The strategy which will be linked to an action plan, will identify key opportunities for climate change mitigation and adaptation in the East Riding, as well as give a review of the council’s Environmental Policy.

This decision will be met with delight from the local community. Many young people who live in the Hessle, North Ferriby and Brough areas of the East Riding have said they are pleased with this decision and hope the plans will have a positive impact on the environment.

Amelia Cutting

Image courtesy of Harry Skinn. No changes were made to this image.