Reform scraps climate change committee, sparking fears over the impact on flood prevention

Reform has scrapped Derbyshire’s committee on climate change, biodiversity and carbon reduction, with fears this will directly impact flood prevention.

In its first series of decisions with the keys to Derbyshire County Council, Reform UK has chosen to axe one of the authority’s scrutiny committees, formed four years ago by the Conservatives.

The climate change committee, which also focuses on biodiversity and carbon reduction, has been scrapped in a move which marks a clear line in the sand for the new administration, backing up its position that these areas of decision-making are “not a priority”.

Legal obligations will still be met, Cllr Alan Graves, Reform leader of the authority says, and some of the work will be continued by other committees and through the work of Cllr Carol Wood, the administration’s cabinet member for net zero and the environment.

Cllr Gez Kinsella, Green Party Group leader told this week’s full council: “While that is something that I basically think is not a good decision, I do want to reiterate that I am willing to work with the administration around the net-zero issue.

“One of the concerns we have about the removal of that committee is some of the work that we can potentially do around insulation for the poorest households and increasing renewable energy while also giving us greater energy security.

“Our growing Derbyshire green economy could create thousands of new jobs.

“All of this work will be threatened and undermined.

“There is also the council’s legal duty for biodiversity which with a statutory responsibility to deliver.

“It will hinder delivery of cheaper, cleaner energy, of insulation of homes for the poorest in our economies and we will have wasted an opportunity to grow our economy and create new jobs.”

Cllr Wayne Major, deputy leader of the Conservative Group, said: “I think it is a shame. The scrutiny committee was far more than just CO2, it was about protecting Derbyshire’s countryside and enhancing our biodiversity, protecting it from things like solar farms, which are a blight on our landscape.

“It is also about protecting people’s homes, bringing people’s energy costs down. It was also doing fabulous work on mitigation.

“Climate change is happening and we can’t stop the climate emergency when China is building two coal-fire power plants every week. 

“A lot of the work we were doing was about mitigating and adapting to those changes. If we don’t do that work on flooding and mitigation people’s homes and businesses will flood and some have already flooded. 

“I don’t want people to come to this chamber saying ‘my house flooded because you stopped work on adaptation and mitigation methods’.”

Cllr Graves detailed: “Our legal responsibilities as an authority will be carried out. It is essential that we carry out vital work on biodiversity, we have absolutely no problem with that.

“The reason we are doing this is because it is one of our policies that we campaigned on.

“We have a different view and you will just have to get used to that.

“I do find it a bit disrespectful to suggest that removing the climate change scrutiny committee will flood people’s houses.”

Before the meeting, Cllr Graves had said: “We don’t believe it has any value and scrapping that particular committee saves the council quite a bit of money.

“Net zero is not a priority for us, in fact it is the opposite of a priority for us.

“The whole net zero agenda is in fact costing every single person in our country a lot of money to heat their houses to use their gas, use their electricity and what we want to do is find ways where that cost isn’t handed over to everybody.

“As a country we are very efficient at cutting carbon, why do we need to burden the people out there with more?”