'Medway Council thinks the climate emergency is not an emergency' - Say local Liberal Democrats

Medway Liberal Democrats are shocked but unsurprised by Council Leader Alan Jarrett's comments at January's full council meeting. He failed to mention the climate emergency in his speech, when pressed on its absence, he said 'Putting [climate change measures] in place, it's not like flipping a switch, it's going to be a long process.' This is another example of this Conservative administration not giving the climate emergency the priority it needs.

During the COP26 meeting last year, the underlining consensus from the scientific community was that the time for action is right now. We know what to do, we know how to do it, so now is the time for us to actually do it. The price of inaction today is that the locked-in effects of the temperature increase will dramatically worsen. There is no time to lose. Yet this council administration continues to dither and delay, showing no true urgency and leadership.

Their lack of engagement shows that their declaration of a climate emergency in 2019 was little more than a PR exercise, the kind of gesture politics that the Medway Tories claim to hate. They have also continued to downplay the importance of the Council's duty of reducing Medway's carbon footprint. Cllr Jarrett and Cllr Doe repeatedly state that Medway Council is only responsible for 1.4% of Medway's carbon footprint. However a report by the LGA (https://www.local.gov.uk/publications/councillor-workbook-local-pathway-net-zero) shows that a local authority can influence 30% of their area's carbon footprint.

Stuart Bourne, a spokesperson for Medway Liberal Democrats said 'I'm not surprised Cllr Jarrett said these comments, he clearly doesn't think that climate emergency is an emergency at all, and has simply been using it as a PR stunt. I attended the Council's climate change forum, and whilst passionate people from across Medway were discussing what could be done to reach net zero, he spent most of the time looking at his phone and not listening. So whilst he sits back and does nothing, vast areas of Medway are at risk from being submerged under water unless we do something right now.'

The sense of urgency of the climate emergency is not lost on the Medway Liberal Democrats, and we vow to make it our number one priority if we were in power. Not only do we have already a 5-point plan for fighting climate change in Medway, but from day one we would appoint a portfolio holder just on climate change. Their job would be focused solely on ensuring Medway Council meets our target of making the Medway net zero. Medway Conservatives only care about looking like they care, whereas Liberal Democrats care about protecting Medway for future generations.

ENDS