Council under fire for failing to tackle threat of climate change

EAST Riding Council has been told to make a series of improvements to its plans for tackling climate change after grave concerns were expressed over its efforts to cut carbon emissions.

The authority was the first in the country to be inspected by the Audit Commission because its emissions were high relative to the size of its population.

There were also worries that the issue was not being adequately addressed by the council and its partners.

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The authority was given a one-star "fair" rating and told to "pick up the pace" of its response to climate change, although it had "promising" prospects for improvement.

The council published a draft climate change strategy in May, but was criticised in the report for its lack of engagement on the issue with residents and the business community.

Its action plan was "not robust" and the strategy was not clear on how its targets would be reached, or how much it would cost, the report said.

Audit Commission manager Tim Priestley said: "The council is providing good leadership in tackling the vital issues of climate change, flooding and coastal erosion.

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"It understands what is needed and is making progress, for example reducing its own CO2 emissions, encouraging people to use alternative transport, and working with partners locally and across boundaries.

"It needs to continue to grow its community leadership role and, importantly, to be clear in its climate change strategy just how it will meet the aims, and what it will cost."

Paul Bellotti, the council's head of housing and public protection, said the council had not agreed with all the findings of the report.

He added: "I think it's fair to say there were differences in the findings of the Audit Commission and differences of approach.

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"The East Riding of Yorkshire Council's approach is that we are working really hard to tackle climate change but there also has to be a business case to do so.

"We have addressed this by reducing waste, reducing costs and investing in projects that save costs in the future.

"We have spent 1.5m over the last three years on energy efficiency projects, where there's a business case to support it.

"We have to recognise the East Riding is thousands of square miles and we can't lump the East Riding in with dense urban centres because we have considerations of further travel to access services and jobs, and more space for business activity, and often we get the power-hungry activities in large, rural areas compared to more dense areas.

"We have to accept they will lead to more CO2 emissions."

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The report said the East Riding had already experienced the potentially severe effects of climate change through the summer floods of 2007.

It said the area would experience extreme weather events more often.

Sea levels are predicted to rise by a metre over the next 90 years, increasing the risk of flooding, and summer temperatures could rise by 2.5 degrees centigrade.

Not all members of the authority are convinced by some of the more apocalyptic predictions of the effects of climate change, however.

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Coun Bryan Pearson said: "The council has to toe the line because of Government edicts and you have to do as you're told, but free-thinking individuals want the information from both sides and the information from the IPCC (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change) and those allied to it is not to my satisfaction.

"I'm not saying the climate isn't changing,

"I don't think it's changing as drastically as some people make out. Is it manmade or cyclical? I would like to know."