Finally, a climate emergency in Wirral

Seven months ago, I asked Wirral Council to declare a climate emergency. Sadly, the other parties failed to back me.

This week, the council finally caught up and has now recognised climate breakdown as an emergency. You can listen to my contribution to the debate at (20.05) via this link.

Our amendment (copied below) and the wider Climate Emergency motion won unanimous support and will help shape council policies in the future.

This is another sign that the entire debate and public sentiment around climate chaos is moving in the right direction.


Green Party motion proposed by Cllr Pat Cleary, seconded by Cllr Chris Cooke:

After the existing motion, add the following:

Specifically, Council requests the Cabinet to:

Set senior leadership responsibilities across all departments reflecting that the climate emergency relates to all aspects of the council's activities

Prioritise the climate emergency as part of a wider partnership ensuring the Cool Wirral initiative has clear reporting links with other strategic partners

Implement a long term climate emergency communication programme including a dedicated web site and a dedicated mailing list to build a network of interest groups

Adopt appropriate decision making tools supported by a staff and member training programme. This to include:

• the reintroduction of environmental impacts in committee report templates
• the reinstatement of carbon budget reports
• robust carbon/sustainability appraisals for all significant plans and strategies

Establish a cross - department task group to draw up a council climate emergency action plan.