Creeting St Peter - a Parish Council and a Climate Emergency...

I noted the other day that I was running out of Liberal Democrat things to do. The last remaining role I have is that of membership of the Appeals Panel for England, and my five-year term expires in March. It can be renewed once, however.

As a courtesy, I notified the Regional Secretary once her re-election had been confirmed more than five weeks ago but, as I haven't heard from her one way or the other, I'm guessing that either my services aren't required, or nobody cares or, quite possibly, that the Appeals Panel for England has become obsolete. In truth, I'm a bit out of touch with the constitutional settlement of the Party these days, which feels a bit strange for a self-confessed political bureaucrat.

Luckily, into that "vacuum" has fallen my work as a Parish Council Chair. And boy, are we busy at the moment, with two large (one of them vast) planning applications to respond to and all of the work that involves.

But it probably isn't enough to be reactive, and so I've decided to initiate a small project, to "green" the Parish Council. The first step is to declare a Climate Emergency.

I know what you're thinking. Isn't little old Creeting St Peter Parish Council, residents 275, precept £5,285, getting a bit up itself with this whole climate emergency thing? And, I suppose, you may have a point. We don't have a building to maintain, or much in the way of energy burning assets, and the village sits in the midst of fields of wheat, barley, oil seed rape and sugar beet.

But, we can play a small part. Our street lights are aged, obsolete and decidedly inefficient. We could print less paper, lobby our District and County Councils to rethink the services they provide to us, encourage recycling and walking, plant trees.

And so, I've drafted a very simple motion for discussion at our next meeting on Monday week which reads;

This Council pledges to:

1. Declare a climate emergency.
2. Ensure that, in its decisions, it takes into account the impact of its actions on the environment.
3. Work with local government partners towards the aspiration of making the county of Suffolk carbon neutral by 2030.

It isn't particularly fancy, but it isn't prescriptive, and I can't help but feel that, like a lot of rather larger local government bodies, we're going to have to rethink how we do much of our business in the coming years. And if, by doing that, we can both offer value for money and improve our communities, no matter how marginally, that must be a good thing.

Luckily, there is much inspiration available, both through the Suffolk Association of Local Councils and the National Association of Local Councils. But, ultimately, it will be up to us as a community to design solutions that suit us.