Environmental lawyers put local authorities “on notice” over alleged climate inaction

Environmental law charity ClientEarth has written to 100 local authorities across England to warn that they will violate their legal obligations and risk legal challenge if they do not introduce proper climate change plans.

The group said it was giving the councils concerned, which are all developing a new local plan, eight weeks to explain how they will set evidence-based carbon reduction targets and ensure these targets are then central to their new planning policy.

ClientEarth claimed there was a “massive shortfall” in compliant local planning policy across the country and that it would be seeking to advise authorities of their legal duties under planning and environmental law.

ClientEarth climate lawyer Sam Hunter Jones said: “There is a collective failure by local authorities across England to plan adequately for climate change. Too often climate change is perceived to be just a national or international issue and therefore solely the responsibility of central government.

“Clearly central government needs to do more, as the recent Committee on Climate Change progress reports stress. Yet so many of the daily decisions around new and existing infrastructure – such as new buildings, roads and utilities – are made at the local level. All of these decisions will ‘lock in’ an area’s future emissions and its resilience to climate change.”

Hunter Jones accepted that many local authorities faced difficult economic conditions, but added that there were substantial benefits to climate-sensitive planning, such as improving local economies and creating jobs.

Clientearth said that councils’ duties included setting targets and policies based on the local potential to reduce emissions, and that are at least in line with the UK’s Climate Change Act.