Council accused of 'greenwashing and rhetoric' over climate emergency

West Berkshire Council has been accused of greenwashing and rhetoric over the climate emergency.

Around 10,000 homes are likely to be built in West Berkshire in the next decade.

But an obscure committee looking into digging new sand and gravel pits to provide the building materials has turfed up claims that West Berkshire Council is paying lip service to its own climate emergency.

The district says it needs to produce 1.63m tonnes of construction aggregate over the next 25 years, and has put two sites – one at Chieveley and one at Tidney Bed, west of Theale – forward to deliver it.

But HGV movements had not been factored in to the council’s considerations when deciding which sites to allocate for mineral extraction.

“This is rhetoric and greenwash,” local resident Paul Machin told the Proposed Minerals and Waste Local Plan public hearing examining the plan.

“The point about climate change is that it is imperative to act correctively. Nothing in the cornerstone of this plan raises anything about climate change.

“Given that HGV movements are primary for C02 emissions I would have expected to see something.”

The meeting heard multiple accusations that the council was trying to sidestep its climate emergency declaration by attempting to push the emissions issue into the planning rather than the strategy stage, and adapting policy documents on the fly.

“This is a dereliction of duty and of care,” said Charlie Hopkins. “Just by way of illustration, if you go to the sustainability appraisal, taking the Tidney Bed site as an example, there are no carbon emissions or climate change concerns either listed or noted by the council.

“One would have thought the priority the Government has given to reduce carbon emissions we have no assessment at all of carbon footprints of any of the sites identified by WBC. We have no idea of how different sites compare in respect of carbon emissions or proximity to markets.”

Stephen Bullock, another member of the public, told the inquiry: “It seems incredible that here we are in 2022 that the council can say climate change is too hard, we haven’t done any of the work. This is not the standard you expect the council to operate at.”

The council maintained that climate change had been considered for every site.