CAMELFORD Town Council has formally declared a climate emergency.

At the meeting of the town council on Thursday, July 4, councillors officially declared an emergency to address the climate crisis happening worldwide. This follows on from deputy mayor and Cornwall Councillor for Camelford, Rob Rotchell’s proposal to ‘formally acknowledge’ the climate emergency. In January, Cornwall Council formally declared one, with the view of being carbon neutral by 2030, followed by UK parliament in May.

Following the meeting, mayor Claire Hewlett filled the Post in on the declaration. Cllr Hewlett, also Green Party member for North Cornwall, was pleased that the council is taking a vital step forward in addressing the ever-concerning issue. She said: “Camelford Town Council have finally declared a climate emergency. This means we are now actively working to address the issue with Cornwall Council and the network panel.”

She added that Camelford Community Network Panel has made the climate emergency one of its priorities for the coming year. For this, they are looking for people to form a working group to come up with ideas and ways of tackling the issue locally.

“The problem is, Camelford Town Council is limited to its parish, which is a much bigger area to look at,” Cllr Hewlett said. “So we are putting together a working group, with our community link officer getting in touch with parish and town councils as well. We are looking for informed members of the public to get together and decide as to what can be done locally. It’s basically looking at what we can do to stop it getting any worse.”

Anybody interested in getting involved in the network’s climate emergency working group should contact the area’s new community link officer, Tina McGrath, on [email protected].

Similarly, the town council’s formal recognition of the climate emergency is an important step forward, with the town council already ‘doing bits’ to be more environmentally friendly and green, including switching their electrical supplier and allowing more wild flowers such as daisies to grow on town council land.

Cllr Hewlett added: “Our decision on Thursday was to basically state that we accept the climate emergency, which then requires us to think, how do we proceed from there? We are also putting together a strategic working group which will work alongside our environmental policy. Watch this space!”