South Tyneside Council has voted to withdraw its 2019 climate emergency declaration, with Reform UK councillors backing the motion at a full council meeting on Thursday. The move was approved by 35 votes to 11.
Cllr Steve Smith, the cabinet member who tabled the motion, said the authority could "continue to improve the local environment without maintaining a climate emergency declaration". The motion stated that "core services, economic growth and the cost of living should take priority over climate targets that are not statutory requirements", and said spending decisions should be based on "affordability, value for money and clear benefits for South Tyneside residents".
The original declaration, introduced by the Green Party, had set deadlines for the council to achieve carbon neutrality, aligning strategic decisions, policies and strategies with that objective, and championing carbon reduction across the borough.
Opposition warnings
Opposition councillors cautioned that the move would undermine the council's climate action and questioned whether it would deliver financial savings. Green Group leader Cllr Rachael Taylor argued the motion "created a false choice between climate action and delivering good local services", noting the council already "considers affordability, value for money and evidence before spending public money". She said there was no proof of savings and the move would "weaken South Tyneside's leadership on issues that remain critically important."
Cllr Kate Owens-Palmer, of the South Tyneside Alliance Group, said she was "perplexed" that the motion sought to rescind the declaration while pledging to "do all the things that are going to protect nature and look after the climate". Green councillor Matt Blair said "rescinding a framework before assessing the consequences is not evidence-led government" but "policy-making backwards."
Reform's closing response
Wrapping up the debate, Cllr Smith said the motion was a "very emotive topic" where "everybody has an opinion". He added: "The councillors in this chamber have been given notice of this motion and have listened over a number of years, I have no doubt, to various arguments on each side, and all the narratives that have come over the last five years. So in response to all the councillors that we have heard, I would say that let's just allow the democratic process to take place and just trust that the councillors have their own minds and their own views on this."
Before the meeting, environmental campaigners staged a demonstration outside South Shields Town Hall to voice their concerns about the Reform UK motion.
