Darlington councillor warns climate change is a ‘present disaster’

Councillor Gerald Lee issued an impassioned plea at Darlington Borough Council’s meeting on Thursday in the wake of County Durham’s controversial decision to scrap its climate emergency pledge. 

The Conservative member for Heighington and Coniscliffe urged colleagues to put politics aside and join together in tackling the issue. 

“Climate change is not a distant threat; it is a present disaster,” he said. 

The Reform-led Durham County Council decision came after a request to prioritise a ‘County Durham Care Emergency’, which Reform said would help recognise the “critical and escalating crisis” in children’s social care, including Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) provision. 

Dismissing the council’s 2019 pledge, cllr Darren Grimes said: “We are done with expensive virtue signalling tripe”. 

As a self-professed ardent climate campaigner, cllr Lee was damning in his assessment of the neighbouring authority’s decision: “This is not leadership, it is abdication.

“We must consider our moral responsibility; if we delay action, we are not saving money, we are transferring the cost to future generations, who will face more frequent disasters and fewer options.”

Outside County Hall, a young campaigner held a sign that read: ‘If you care… allow me to have a future’. 

“That is the voice we should be listening to,” cllr Lee added. “Not addressing climate change is an abdication of our responsibilities to our sons and grandchildren.”

Cllr Lee’s speech came just over a week after former council leader Jonathan Dulston branded the local authority’s climate change ambitions as “nonsense”.

Recommended reading: 

Darlington Borough Council’s latest climate change progress report details the plan to introduce energy-saving measures and become carbon neutral by 2040. 

Yet, Conservative Leader Jonathan Dulston argued the cost-of-living crisis should be prioritised over the climate change agenda.

Cllr Lee’s comments, however, suggest the party leader’s comments do not have unanimous support. Closing his speech, cllr Lee said: “Let us not be the council that chose courage over caution. Let us be remembered not for what we failed to do but for what we stood up to protect.”