Council approves 1010 motion

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At full council meeting this week a motion calling on the council to sign up to the 1010 campaign was passed but with some reservation. Click here for more details about the 1010 campaign.

The motion was proposed by Kilian Buerke of the Lib Dem group and it called upon the Cabinet to report back to the next council meeting about the implications of joining the 1010 campaign.

This is a largely apolitical campaign and calls on individuals, companies and institutions to pledge to reduce their respective carbon footprints by 10%, next year compared to this year. It is supported by David Cameron along with several Conservative run councils as well as the Lib Dem leadership nationally. The members of the Lib Dem group on the county council have all signed up individually.

Unfortunately Cambridgeshire’s Tories smelt a trap. Only there wasn’t one. This notwithstanding they produced a last minute amendment which would have neutered the motion. However this was declared invalid! They then produced an even more last minute amendment which weakened it. The Lib Dems abstained in the vote on the amendment ‘in disgust’ but then accepted the amended motion which was passed by a thumping majority.

The only note of discord during the ensuing the debate came from the UKIP councillor who argued against climate change and voted against the motion. Several councillors spoke passionately about the need to do something now and not wait until it’s too late.

In the spirit of 1010 the Lib Dem group all used ‘sustainable tranport’ (bus, bike or walking) to get to the council meeting. It has challenged the Tories to do likewise for the December meeting. That will not be so easy because many of them live out in the Fens!

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