The Reform Party’s overwhelming victory in the recent Staffordshire County Council elections has cast a deep shadow over efforts to act on Climate, Nature and the Environment. Reform’s national stance on Climate Action is well known – their manifesto explicitly calls for Net Zero to be ditched as an ‘expensive waste of time’. According to DeSmog, 92% of the party’s donations since 2019 has come from sources associated with the fossil fuel industry or climate deniers.
As has already been well-publicised, Nigel Farage has already said that anyone with climate (or diversity) in their job title should be ‘looking for another role’. With Reform likely to use Staffordshire as a laboratory for their ideas on local government, first signs aren’t good; there is no Cabinet member to replace Simon Tagg, who previously had responsibility for Climate Change and the Environment.
Early signs from other Reform-controlled counties indicate a similar abandonment of climate priorities. Staffordshire has so far worked through a number of broad channels: through policies including its own Climate Plan, through supporting community groups, and in co-operation with the county’s districts and boroughs.
The latter work includes sectors such as EV charging points – while SMDC has installed some of its own at key locations such as Moorlands House, the County is responsible for a wider roll out though the centrally-funded LEVI (Local Electric Vehicle Infrastructure) scheme.
Community-oriented programmes such as Waste Savvy Staffs (with whom MCA works closely) and the Staffordshire Green Network may also come under scrutiny. The future of the Staffordshire Sustainability Board may also be in doubt as may the Community Climate Fund which has historically provided the core funding for the HuG festival as well as supported the Repair Café (via Charlotte Atkins, no longer at Stafford, of course).
Other elements of the County’s programme may prove more difficult to interfere with as they either involve statutory duties or may have unintended consequences. The County’s new five-year Transport Plan is about to be unveiled and should contain significant support for cycling and buses. While the new members may not like these elements, decarbonisation and ‘modal shift’ are baked into the guidelines for receiving funding from Whitehall for the whole package – including roads.
Likewise, the new Local Nature Recovery Strategy is mandatory under the 2021 Environment Act. This is expected to be unveiled by the end of June. Stopping new solar and battery developments is a flagship policy of Reform and Staffordshire Moorlands has even figured in Farage’s speeches. But the power of approval lies with districts and boroughs as the Local Planning Authorities and even there, opponents have found it hard to argue with national planning policy.
How this all plays out over the next few months is yet to be seen. A battle lies ahead.