A PLEDGE to tackle climate change did not go far enough for environmental pressure groups who wanted to see Allerdale council declare a ‘climate emergency’.

Keswick councillor Sally Lansbury put forward a motion that would have seen the authority promise to make the borough carbon neutral by 2030, following the example of other councils in Cumbria and nationwide.

The meeting was attended by vocal campaigners carrying placards and urging the authority to back the entire motion.

However, a majority of the elected members stopped short of this and instead backed a revised version, sparking calls of “shame on you” from the public gallery.

Deputy leader Mark Jenkinson had proposed an amendment which committed to the emissions target only “where it does not negatively impact on our communities”.

And rather than committing immediately to make the promise, the council voted instead to have the overview and scrutiny panel look at how achievable the suggested actions were and come back with suggestions.

Mr Jenkinson’s amendment saw elements he described as “superfluous” deleted, reducing the call to action to a more a more general commitment from the council to look at climate change.

A clause which would have committed the authority to “work with relevant officers to divest from fossil fuels in ethical funds” was also struck out amid claims from Mr Jenkinson that such a proposal was “illegal”.

He also said that the council had a duty to the taxpayers to find the “best available” financial return and stressed that the proposals put forward by Coun Lansbury came with “no costings”.

He said that some of the requests could have “significant financial impact”, “affecting the poorest in our community the most”.

Council leader Marion Fitzgerald added that such an “important issue” needed to be “properly embedded in the council’s policy” and that this could not be accomplished on the back of a 30-minute discussion in the council chamber.

But several Labour councillors opposed Mr Jenkinson’s amendment, amid claims that the executive was “hiding behind” the scrutiny panel rather than taking the urgent actions needed to tackle climate change.

Councillor Michael Heaslip said: “If you remove the commitment to reduce CO emissions to net zero by 2030, or restrict

it by saying it only applies

where it doesn’t negatively

impact on our communities, there is a danger that there will be a negative impact on our communities.

“Erosion of the land up the Solway Coast as the sea levels rise, for example. There’s nothing more negative than having out house flooded or actually washed away.”

The meeting heard that Allerdale council had already taken steps to tackle climate change including a commitment to local procurement of services and was a “moving in the right direction”.

But a petition of more than 1,200 signatures was presented, urging them to join Carlisle, Eden, South Lakes and more than 200 other UK councils to declare a climate emergency.

Ms Lansbury pointed not only to the physical impacts of climate change, including flooding, but also to “climate despair” – a mental health problem particularly affecting young people uncertain of the planet’s future.

She said: “Show the next generation that you do care about them and their future: it can’t all be cost-driven.”