South Walks House in Dorchester was packed full today for the first meeting of the brand-new Dorset Council.
82 newly elected councillors, senior officers and a full public gallery filled
the committee suite at South Walks House to debate the business of the new council and vote in its new Leader and Chairman.
During a lively public questions session, there were statements read and questions asked about the new council’s approach to environmental matters and specifically climate change, including questions from climate change group Extinction Rebellion and Friends of the Earth.
In response to this, Cllr Ray Bryan, Dorset Council’s portfolio holder for Highways, Travel and Environment said:
“We have an opportunity and an obligation to demonstrate leadership – thinking globally about the implications of climate change and acting locally to help address it in our communities.
“The crucial need to tackle climate change is something that we can all agree on. It is an issue which transcends party politics and after discussions with the other group leaders we have agreed on the need to create a cross-party Panel on Climate Change to develop a policy for Dorset Council.”
Further to this, a motion was proposed by Cllr Nick Ireland, leader of the Liberal Democrats which asked for the council to recognise that climate change is happening and that the council agrees to declare a climate emergency.
69 councillors voted to pass this motion, two voted against and 6 abstained meaning Dorset has officially declared a climate emergency.
New positions on the council
Cllr Pauline Batstone has taken up the position of Chairman. This role was previously held for the Shadow Dorset Council by Cllr Hilary Cox.
Cllr Batstone began the meeting by thanking Mrs Cox for her work and dedication over the past five years as Dorset County Council Chairman and latterly as the Chairman of the Shadow Dorset Council.
Cllr Batstone went on to say: “The next year is vital for setting the tone of the new council and the manner in which it operates as a 21st century council.
“The aspirations and ambitions of this new council are for Dorset to be a place where people want to live, visit, learn and work and I am delighted to be able to play a key role in that.”
Cllr Spencer Flower was then voted in as Leader of Dorset Council. He thanked the Chairman and members for putting their faith in him to be the first leader of Dorset Council.
Cllr Flower went on to say: “This is a great honour and an immense privilege. As Leader I want to promote a collaborative approach to the delivery of quality public services, whilst dealing with the known challenges of rising demand and severe financial pressures.
“We need to create a ‘can-do culture’ within the council that puts the interests of our communities first. A member led council, making a real and lasting difference in Dorset. This is a big job, but with the support of members in this chamber we really can make the difference our communities deserve.”
Following the election of the Chairman and Leader, Cllr Flower announced the members of the Dorset Council Cabinet, as follows:
- Leader / Governance, Performance and Communications – Cllr Spencer Flower
- Deputy Leader / Corporate Development and Change – Cllr Peter Wharf
- Finance, Commercial and Assets – Cllr Tony Ferrari
- Housing – Cllr Graham Carr-Jones
- Economic Growth and Skills – Cllr Gary Suttle
- Children, Education and Early Help – Cllr Andrew Parry
- Adult Social Care and Health – Cllr Laura Miller
- Planning – Cllr David Walsh
- Highways, Travel and Environment – Cllr Ray Bryan
- Customer, Community and Regulatory Services – Cllr Tony Alford
A further debate on the issue of climate change is on the agenda for the next meeting of the full council.
I was pleased to read that the new Dorset Council has declared a climate emergency, after all this is just what we need above everything else or so it seems! I do hope that the 82 members are true to their word and will lead by example by leaving their cars at home to travel to committee meetings by public transport, on foot or by cycling.
They may then understand that rhetoric does not mend the appalling public transport system we have in rural areas and how dangerous the roads are for pedestrians and cyclists alike.
May I suggest that before they make statements which look like they have jumped on to the latest passing bandwagon, the members should concentrate and prioritise on the major issues affecting us all on a daily basis in this area such as education, housing, road improvements etc.
Are they completely mad? Social services in disarray and suffering cuts – no help for the really needy. Elderly vulnerable people ignored. People dying home alone. Homelessness for others. CCG cuts. Escalating waiting lists. People in pain left waiting. Some not surviving the wait. Police cuts; police stations closed. Traffic violations rife. Fear of walking the streets. Millions withdrawn from schools. Withdrawal of funds from preventative programmes. Reduction of domestic waste services. Increases in Council Tax. Waste of resources. And the first announcement of the brand new Dorset Council is that it is “declaring a climate emergency” and it is going to tackle global climate change. What sort of introverted Little Englander is that?
Are they totally and utterly out of touch with reality? We didn’t know we ere voting for complete twits. Please could the Council get back to the real world.
Well put Taxpayer. There is no ‘climate emergency’, anywhere. Not in Dorset, not anywhere in the UK, nor anywhere else in the world. It’s an evil scam based upon a total hoax designed to fool the gullible, scientifically illiterate masses into accepting global Socialist governance. I hope they publish my comment which if they do, you’ll see below.
Hi Anthony, I’m curious why I should side with you, an internet commenter, rather than the 98% of puplishing, peer-assessed climate scientists who have spent the last 30/40 years studying Climate Change?
The scientific community are all in agreement that Climate Change exists and is being fuelled by human activity. What insider information (or facts even) do you have access to, to convince me otherwise? I must be looking in the wrong part of the internet!
It’s a fairly elaborate hoax… With some pretty hard evidence pointing in the opposite direction (today it’s 32.4C in London, maybe that’s a lie too).
I must be gullible and scientifically illiterate because I must have imagined that in February we saw the hottest winter temperature ever recorded in the UK at 21.2 °C and that fires broke out on Saddleworth Moor in the North of England.
It must also be a coincedence that the 20 warmest years on record have occurred in the last 22 years… or maybe those pesky global Socialists have infiltrated my thermometer too.
Is that the best the new council can do have a vote on climate change God help us, at least you satisfied the protestors on your doorstep. There are thousands of other items that need more urgently looking at for the sole benefit of Dorset. Which is after all what you are supposed to be there for. What do we get a group of self satisfiers.
I am delighted that the Dorset Council has declared a climate emergency at the first meeting of the new council. It is greatly encouraging that our Councillors have understood the latest scientific evidence from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change and environmentalists such as Sir David Attenborough that we may have only 12 years remaining to stop the threat of potential run-away climate change. That surely is an emergency which should set alarm bells ringing and lead to action at the local level to dramatically reduce greenhouse gas emissions and at the same time create thousands of new jobs.
You are a very gullible man Pete
Sad to read so many cynical comments.
I like some others feel very positive about the councils stance and would like to know whether all departments (not just a cross party panel) will now consider how their decisions and policies will impact the climate / environment?
It is good that the council is listening and interested in the bigger picture because the science exists and it is a real problem that we all need to get to grips with.
We need strong leadership and action please – as far as I am aware the 2 things likely to make the biggest positive impact are reducing air travel and moving to renewable sources of energy. (Points that have also been made by others).
You forgot the most important requirement – Reduce the population!
At the rate it is growing, water supplies throughout the world will no be sufficient.
With our large extended family, for many years we have rented sizeable property’s in the area for the 3 summer mths & for 2 week at Xmas.
But as several members of our family are very worried about the number of climate emergencys declared in the south west, this year we will sadly not be revisiting our favoured haunts, but taking a villa in the Canary Islands, as their climate has been stable with no discernable sea level rise for the last 90yrs.
Flying times are about the same as driving in the UK, property rental costs are lower than UK, we understand most people speak / understand English.
Hi Jan. Sorry to be the bearer of bad news. It’s used to be called “global warming” for a reason. It’s now called “climate change” as global warming sounds nice. This week 9000 people were evacuated because of wildfires in the Canary Islands. That is climate change. Your flights to and from are actually contributing to climate change.
I obviously need to cancel my holiday in Dorset, as it must be too dangerous to visit during this emergency.
Catastrophic Anthropogenic Global Warming (CAGW), aka ‘climate change’ is an enormous hoax invented by eco-fascists, namely The Club of Rome and the UN back in the late 1960s which serves as a Trojan Horse in which to hide an evil, anti-capitalist and misanthropic agenda. The agenda commonly known as Agenda 2030 is to convince the gullible masses (many of whom have posted their alarmist comments to this thread), to accept that global totalitarian Socialist governance is needed to mitigate the (non) problem of global warming or ‘climate change’, ocean acidification, doom / gloom, misery death (whatever hysterical propaganda sounds scariest) and that it’s all our (humanity’s) fault.
It’s absolute baloney in the extreme but now these bigots have stooped about as low as they can go, by scaring innocent young children to propagate their doom and gloom nonsense. I.e. climate strikes and an autistic 16 year old girl dressed as a 10 year old telling world leaders what they must do to ‘mitigate’ (an invented hoax) the effects of human caused climate catastrophe. Truly shameful behaviour!
I cannot believe some of the comments here – do you people actually believe this utter tosh is real?
Do none of you possess enough simple common sense to work out that this nonsense they’ve been screaming, including numerous predictions of doom and gloom which has all been rammed down out throats via the complicit MSM for the past 3 decades or more, yet not ONE of their bizarre predictions has even looked like happening? Yet you still listen to them and take them seriously?
Wake up! It’s a massive con-job. The propagandists and their hysterical scaremongering rely on your total ignorance of basic science to scare you into believing there is a problem with the climate, which YOU are responsible for and that you must accept their anti-capitalist, humanity loathing agenda to counteract… NOTHING.
“do you people actually believe this utter tosh is real?”
The thermometer at my sister in laws in London was reading 31°C earlier today. I think I’d rather believe that than you.