A Reform-led council expects to generate over £2m in savings by abandoning its net zero programme.
Newcastle-under-Lyme Borough Council has announced its decision to drop its ‘Net Zero Newcastle 2030’ plans, which will involve an attempt to write off a 2019 decision to declare a ‘climate emergency’.
The motion is to be brought to Full Council, and if passed, the programme’s spending will be assessed.
As part of the move, the council has cancelled plans to substitute its waste collection lorries with electric vehicles, with the local authority confirming in a statement that this will unlock £70,000 of savings per lorry.
It said that an additional £2.19m will be saved by replacing the lorries with non-electric vehicles that meet the latest emissions standards, as well as £349,000 being generated by cutting associated financing costs over a five-year period.
Jonathan Gullis, Leader of Newcastle-under-Lyme Borough Council and Cabinet member for Planning and Town Centres, said: ‘We meant it when we said this Reform UK-led council would put taxpayers before Net Zero virtue signalling.
‘Residents care about their bins being collected, streets being clean, communities being safe and council tax being spent properly, not costly electric bin lorries bought to satisfy a political agenda.’
He added that the council plans to ‘focus relentlessly on the real priorities people elected us to deliver’.
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