Kirklees Budget 2019 - Green Party Leader Cllr Andrew Cooper's speech

It’s at moments like this that I genuinely miss Tory Councillor Andrew Palfreeman as he had his good natured bash at the Green Party Budget Amendment with no hint of malice. He would always end by naming us. My favourite was when he referred to us as Compo, Clegg and Foggy. Which I pointed out were 3 old guys from Holmfirth who had some bizarre ideas. I suggested that perhaps he should look closer to home for these characters. But I guess nothing from the Tories today, no Tory Budget amendment so they must be happy with Labour’s budget. No ideas not even bizarre ones. So I guess it will be a dignified silence from them now. Perhaps not.

We have reiterated our call for support for rough sleepers in our town centres, to restore play areas removed for health and safety reasons and greater support for safety schemes on our roads. We have proposed taking action to address the lack of support for new tenants on low incomes getting set up in a new homes and provision of outdoor gym equipment in our town centres to encourage greater exercise and a new element as part of our town centre regeneration. We of course recognise the increasingly embarrassing record of Kirklees on recycling and have suggested ways to address this.

We have been inspired by the Council’s Declaration of a Climate Emergency and want to get Kirklees off to a flying start in efforts to reduce carbon emissions and play our small part not just saving the world but also creating a better world for us here in Kirklees.

We have sought a realisable but ambitious tree planting programme. The Kirklees Forest Project, where every school child will get the opportunity to plant at least one tree during their education. But this is not just a fluffy feel good project, or as has been suggested by one uninformed commentator ‘virtue signalling’. This is a project to plant 150,000 trees over 4 years and the precursor to a much larger project over the next 25 years. The Kirklees Forest project is not just about capturing carbon, it is about flood resilience through strategic planting, it provides habitats for wildlife, reduces air pollution and noise levels in built up areas, creates natural space which is good for communities, well being and mental health.

As you will see from our amendment it is not all Council money we are using it as leverage to bring in funding from other sources. It is an ambitious and worthwhile project the sort of thing we need to be doing if we are to be a leading Council on something that stands out in this country and beyond on addressing climate change.

We have again called for a much more ambitious investment in electric vehicles. Leeds City Council has 200 in its vehicle fleet, Kirklees 3. I know there are more to come but it’s piecemeal. We need to be bold, we need to regain the lead we once had, that has been lost, as a ‘Green Council’. We propose 127 electric vehicles cutting emissions on our roads, lowering running and maintenance costs for our vehicles and the investment in the charging infrastructure needed to support them.

Not a matter for this budget but we also need to see what we can do to set higher energy efficiency standards in our Local Plan though Supplementary Planning Guidance. We can do this and we should

With these 3 measures we can make a beginning on the road to action. Without some sort of significant, substantial actions on climate change then you simply make the words of the naysayers true. If your house is on fire it is an emergency. You don’t throw a cup of water on it you call the fire brigade and get a hosepipe on it. Declare a Climate Emergency yes but then act accordingly.

So I propose that after we have heard the Lib Dem amendment that we have a short recess to consider the elements of the amendments that refer to a climate emergency and see if we can come to a consensus on this one crucial issue.

The support for a Declaration of a Climate Emergency was agreed on a cross party basis so why not an amendment to the Council Budget agreed by those parties who voted for the Climate Emergency and those that have actually submitted amendments.

In other parts of the country we have people protesting in council chambers because they feel they are not been listened to on action on climate change. We are not in that place yet in Kirklees and I sincerely hope we won't be.

 And I suggest to the Labour Party that having a Majority and taking on the views of other parties shows more strength and confidence in your administration than the times when you have had to because you don’t have a majority.