THE PROPOSAL, RATIONALE

Growing numbers of parish, town and county councils are declaring a Climate Emergency. This is a non-binding commitment that is partly symbolic but is a genuine commitment to work towards a specific measurable target. It might seem that a Parish Council can't really do much, but by declaring a climate emergency as a policy we could...

• All levels of government, national, regional and local, have a duty to secure our community from the negative impacts of climate breakdown. The local government should not wait for the national government to change their policies.

• Start by acknowledging the problem, and accepting that action is needed.

• Climate change is already relevant to many of our activities

• This could also be a route for getting help with some projects if they are in the context of working towards a carbon-neutral community.

• The proposal is that we:

• Join other councils in declaring a Climate Emergency (see 4 for wording)

• That this declaration goes as a footer on all agendas, correspondence etc

• Form a discussion group to refine, define and finalise this document over the next six months and report to our Parish Council by April 2022 with a specific action(s) proposal.

• The document should include one or more measurable targets, and actions that both the Council and community can take to achieve the target.