Former council leader branded climate change ambitions as “nonsense”

A former council leader branded a local authority’s climate change ambitions as “nonsense”.

Darlington Borough Council’s latest climate change progress report details the plan to introduce energy-saving measures and become carbon neutral by 2040.

Yet, Conservative Leader Jonathan Dulston argued the climate change agenda should not be a council priority.

He told a cabinet meeting: “We don’t hear enough from the council about the real issues of supporting businesses, supporting our town centre, and the cost of living. You harp on time and time again about climate change.

“Officers have limited resources, and they are using their time to compile all of these reports – it’s nonsense.”

Despite recent progress, cllrs were told that carbon emissions increased in the past year, partly due to the opening of the new Hopetown railway museum.

And the local authority was also criticised by the Eastbourne cllr for paying an external company around £3,300 to provide information videos about climate change.

Cllr Dulston added: “We are focusing on the wrong stuff in terms of the climate change agenda and putting too much emphasis on that.”

But Council Leader Stephen Harker criticised the Tory rhetoric around the council’s carbon neutral ambitions.

“You really are lurching to the right,” he said. “It seems to be beyond your comprehension that this local authority is able to do more than one thing at once.

“It does not mean we are not doing anything else. Sixty-six per cent of our budget is spent on social care, the vast majority goes towards looking after vulnerable adults and children, but we are capable of doing more than one thing.”

The former Conservative administration approved the council’s initial climate change strategy in 2020, labelling it “ambitious and forward-looking”.

Cllr Harker added: “Have you completely changed your views about it? Is this part of a lurch to the right that you are making, and you no longer believe in it? If we don’t tackle this, life is going to become more complicated and impractical for many people.”