A MOTION by Test Valley Liberal Democrats to increase funding for the climate emergency action plan was quashed at a recent meeting.

Cllr Neil Gwynne brought the motion, to set aside £1m, to the full meeting of Test Valley Borough Council on Wednesday, September 13.

Speaking at the meeting, Cllr Gwynne said: “Members, actions have been taken on climate change by this council, of course. Planting tree saplings, replacing fossil fuel in most of its fleet, and improving energy efficiency in one of its buildings. Plus there has been signposting to residents of help re climate-related issues.

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“However, the extensive list of potential actions documented by an OSCOM panel on the Climate Emergency Action Plan (CEAP) – a document unanimously supported by OSCOM members and presented to this council – remains mostly untouched and without funding. 

“So this motion is a plea for a reconsideration of the proposal from Cllr Celia Dowden that £1m is set aside specifically for CEAP actions because these actions address not just the climate emergency. For example, financial support to housing associations to better insulate their properties would address the cost of living crisis for many of the poorest in our borough.”

Cllr Gwynne added: “The debate on the motion I put forward included denial that higher carbon dioxide levels cause global warming, denial that solar panels and wind power are good things, and insistence that the council’s actions since declaration of a climate emergency four years ago have been sufficient. 

“Nationally the debate within the Conservative party may well lead to backsliding on agreed targets – locally we Liberal Democrats need to keep the pressure on, or else this council will continue to fail to act quickly enough on this hugely important issue. The council should be providing leadership, and it is not.”

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Climate emergency and countryside portfolio holder, Cllr Ali Johnston, said: “Test Valley Borough Council has already spent many hundreds of thousands of pounds boosting biodiversity and combatting climate change since we declared a climate emergency in 2019. This includes reducing carbon emissions in our fleet vehicles by 95 per cent by switching from diesel to HVO fuel; investing in electric vans and road sweepers; installing charging points in our car parks; planting 23,000 trees and successfully applying for £550,000 from the Government to decarbonise our buildings and to investigate proposals for a heat network. We’ve invested in new nature reserves, have reduced nitrate pollution through taking agricultural land out of intensive use at the same time creating nitrate credits to allow house building to continue and we have expanded our urban meadow programme to improve biodiversity. 

“More recently we’ve decided to boost the capacity of our housing team to proactively support local homeowners and landlords to increase the energy efficiency of their homes. Contrast this to Lib Dem-run Eastleigh, who have just switched back to using diesel in their bin lorries because they can’t afford the greener alternative.

“Thanks to Test Valley’s financial stability, there is money to continue to boost our climate change credentials but we’re not prepared to support an arbitrary number that’s been plucked out of the air, nor do we want to limit our ambitions to £1m. Instead of putting forward motions as a political stunt, we would urge the Lib Dems to work with us to refresh the climate emergency action plan and identify specific projects we can fund.”