A CALL for the county council to declare a climate emergency will be discussed next week.

The motion, put forward by Green councillors Matthew Jenkins and John Raine and Liberal Democrat councillors Fran Oborski and Liz Tucker, calls for bosses at County Hall to declare a climate emergency as well as pledge to make the whole authority carbon neutral – including all the council owned buildings, schools and services – by 2030.

The motion, which will be discussed when the county council meets in full next Thursday (May 14), also calls on the national government to provide the powers and resources to make the 2030 target possible.

The councillors also ask for a task group to investigate how the council would address the climate emergency, reporting back to cabinet by March next year.

Cllr Matthew Jenkins, Green Party councillor for St Stephen’s, said: “Obviously every week we are getting more and more information about the state of the environment and the state of the world. Just today we have heard about more flooding across the country. It is very important.

“It is really just trying to get climate change and the climate emergency at the top of the political agenda and in the back of our minds all the time.

“It needs to be something that we are thinking about during every decision we make and during everything we plan.

“Some things are easier than others and the easier things have been done now. I’m not saying it is going to be easy, it will be difficult, but we have to start somewhere.

“The county council is already doing some good stuff but it’s about speeding up that process and making it a priority.”

Cllr Jenkins said the most important thing is making the council realise that the climate emergency is a real emergency and should be a top priority. He said he is open to compromising on what the council’s targets should be and has been in discussions with cabinet member for environment Cllr Tony Miller to try and secure the support of the Conservatives.

A climate emergency for England was declared by Parliament last week.

Climate emergencies have already been declared in cities across the UK including London, Manchester, Edinburgh and Bath.

A protest in the city in March, which saw more than 200 students walk out of lessons to demand government action on climate change, also called for the government and councils to declare a climate emergency.