It was great to receive the support from all Somerset West and Taunton councillors last Thursday evening for the joint motion from myself and Dave Mansell as the council declared a climate emergency, adopting a carbon neutral stance by 2030 and hopefully now taking a serious look at the impact that we are having on the environment. 

I heard many eloquent speeches by members of the public about the damage we are doing to it and ways in which we can rectify this.

Thursday was a turning point but we cannot stop there.

We need to ensure that the council adopts a planet-positive approach and looks to reduce our single-use item consumption, provides a strategic network of electric charging points, builds houses to a higher environmental standard and provides greener transport initiatives, all of which myself and my fellow Lib Dem colleagues have argued for consistently in the past.

The environment, though, is bigger than one political party, as the decisions we make today will resonate into the lives of my children and grandchildren.

We therefore need to work together, but the public needs to put pressure on every single councillor, county councillor and MP to ensure that each party has a planet-postive outlook and isn’t just playing lip service to the electorate as we lead up to election time.

We are pleased that a cross party approach has worked and that the administration supported us. However it is to be noted that we had to accept a last-minute amendment to the motion from the Conservative administration to reduce the funding by £50,000 to £25,000.

Whilst I was happy to accept the amendment in order to ensure the motion was passed, I am wary that without a Lib Dem administration we will not make the fundamental changes needed to ensure we reach these challenging targets.

I will be putting on pressure at every opportunity in the future so that Thursday proves the beginning of a new era in our quest for the council and residents to have a positive relationship with the environment.

Cllr Federica Smith-Roberts, Liberal Democrats Deputy Leader, Somerset West and Taunton Council.