Researchers have found Torridge District Council to be one of the worst-performing in England (149th out of 164 district authorities) in tackling climate change. And it seems not nearly enough action is being taken to tackle it.
Exeter is currently the third best-performing district council in the UK for taking action towards net zero, according to council climate action scorecards produced by grant-funded community interest company Climate Emergency UK.
Teignbridge is sixth (47%), East Devon 16th (42%), South Hams 20th (39%), West Devon 30th (37%), North Devon 64th ( 31%) and Mid Devon 85th (28%), but Torridge is down in 149th position (17%).
Donna Sibley, Torridge’s sustainability and climate change officer, said: “There’s nothing really missing from our carbon environment and biodiversity plan, but the difficulty is that this work isn’t given Government funding and we have to scrape together the funds for this.”
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However, one letter writer, writing into our sister print title the North Devon Journal, says that while council officers have worked hard to produce a carbon reduction plan for Torridge, if the council is serious about wanting to achieve net zero then it needs to commit finance and take action now.
Read the full letter below
Get serious over climate
Globally, 2023 was the warmest year in 125,000 years, and 2024 is on track to be even warmer. That was the stark message delivered recently by Malcolm Hart, emeritus professor at Plymouth University, to a cross-party climate emergency working group set up by Torridge District Council.
An expert on the climate crisis, Professor Hart explained that while natural phenomena such as the El Niño effect in the Pacific can have an impact on temperatures, the increase in carbon dioxide since the start of the Industrial Revolution is much more significant. Climate change is happening so fast that our sea levels are “running behind the clock” and could soon rise dramatically. Geological formations known as raised beaches, such as those at Saunton Sands and at Seafield House in Westward Ho!, provide evidence of how much higher sea levels were the last time global temperatures were where they are today.
The professor’s message remains one of hope; we have the ability to slow rising temperatures – but only if we have the will to do it.
So what action is being taken here in Torridge? Not nearly enough, judging by a national survey reported in the North Devon Journal (“League table sees Exeter lead Devon to net zero target”, February 22).
Researchers found Torridge District Council to be one of the worst-performing in England (149th out of 164 district authorities) in tackling climate change. A council officer quoted in the article blamed a lack of central government funding for climate action. It’s true that with a large rural area to serve, and after brutal cuts by Conservative governments, Torridge has very limited resources, but this doesn’t explain why every other council in Devon appears to be achieving more than ours.
Council officers have worked hard to produce a carbon reduction plan for Torridge. Supporting them have been cross-party councillors including, from the Green Party, the late Cllr Peter Christie, and Cllr Peter Hames, lead member for the climate crisis, but where is the sense of urgency or ambition on the part of those who hold the purse strings in Torridge?
If the council is serious about wanting to achieve net zero then it needs to commit finance and take action now. Prevarication might look like a cheap option, but climate chaos will cost us dearly.
Tracey Beresford
Torridge Green Party
