On Monday this week (September 16), Rother District Council unanimously adopted a motion to declare a climate emergency, following in the footsteps of neighbouring local authorities in East Sussex.
The motion was debated with obvious passion, commitment and determination by several individual councillors of differing political affiliations. Cllr Sally-Ann Hart (Eastern Rother) stated that action on climate change should not be a party political issue and all of us should take responsibility. There is an opportunity for clean economic growth which can provide jobs and opportunities for young people. She also wishes for Rother district to become a single-use-plastic-free zone.
Cllr Paul Osborne (Eastern Rother) spoke of his efforts to live a low-carbon lifestyle. He lives in an ‘A’ rated house he built and is now building a house for his son that does not require a fossil fuel heat source at all. He has not flown for more than 15 years and cycles greater distances than he drives. He is almost vegetarian but not quite ready to abandon his Sunday morning bacon roll!
The resolution drew applause from members of the public and this decision increases the chances of Rother taking meaningful action although no vote on such action has yet been proposed or taken.
Image Credits: Dominic Manning .
I have an all electric Nissan Leaf car but where are the charging points in Rye??
At Rye Harbour, for three months of every winter , all day every day , a deafening convoy of several enormous diesel-engined lorries ferry pebbles to and fro Rye Harbour and Winchelsea Beach along the coastal path immediately adjacent to
Rye Nature Reserve .
Tourists , and visitors to Rye Nature Reserve would be even more inspired to visit the area
( and suffer less pollution ) if the malodorous lorries were replaced with a team of Shire
Horses ( currently facing actual
extinction ) , stabled in the
new ‘visitor centre’ currently under construction.
The article fails to note that the motion to declare a climate emergency was submitted by the leaders of the ruling Alliance of Independent, Lib Dem, Labour and Green members on Rother District Council and that Cllr Kathryn Field (Lib Dem) proposed it supported by Cllr Polly Gray (Green). The fact that the Conservatives supported the motion (and constructively amended it) was and is very welcome.
In answer to Brian Mathews the question of electric car charging points is one of many issues which will need to be addressed. This is the beginning of a process to identify all the things we in Rother can and should do – and then to make them happen.
I congratulate RDC councillors in passing this motion and look forward to seeing policies coming forward that have this at their heart.