Agenda item

Energy Policy

It was moved by Councillor John Booker, seconded by Councillor Keith Davis, that this Council

(a)       regrets that, over the last two decades, consecutive governments have seemingly conspired to support failing energy policies that do nothing to reduce global emissions, but bring hardship to British families, and that their "green" agenda does not make them friends of the earth, but enemies of the people;

(b)       further regrets Britain’s major global competitors - USA, China, India - are switching to low-cost fossil fuels, while we are forced to close perfectly good coal-fired power stations to meet unattainable targets for renewable capacity;

(c)        notes the 2008 Climate Change Act drives up costs, undermines competitiveness, hits jobs and growth, and that this is the most expensive piece of legislation in British history, with the Government’s own figures putting the cost of the Act at £18 billion a year over 40 years, or £720 billion between 2010 and 2050;

(d)       further notes the European Union's Large Combustion Plant Directive and the planned Medium Combustion Plant Directive both have the effect of closing down secure, reliable and economical electricity generation;

(e)       also notes that the British coal industry once employed one million miners, yet now all three remaining deep coal mines are set to close by 2016, at a cost of 2,000 jobs, despite having many years of productive life left and regardless of Britain’s continuing need for coal, and further notes that 30 per cent of our electricity is still produced from coal and we will be dependent on fossil fuels for many more years to come;

(f)        believes a commission should be set up to investigate ways to assist and rejuvenate the coal industry and seek to secure the survival and expansion of Britain’s indigenous coal industry in the form of deep, opencast, and drift mining, and that the carbon floor tax should be abolished on the basis that production for coal-fired power stations is combined with carbon capture and storage;

(g)       recalls that in 2014, the Government forced energy companies to add nearly £3.2 billion onto energy bills to finance their energy and climate change policies, and notes that these costs are expected to increase to a staggering £9.8 billion by 2020, amounting to an extra £197 going onto our average domestic fuel bills;

(h)       demands that the Government finds a fairer way of paying our bills, by stopping energy companies charging extra for customers who use prepayment meters; and

(i)         further believes Britain is sleepwalking into an energy crisis, that political doctrines, ideologies and party before the people policies will not keep the lights on, and that we all have a duty to avert this real problem and work towards a sustainable solution to our country’s energy needs.

Whereupon, it was moved by Councillor Terry Fox, seconded by Councillor Tony Downing, as an amendment, that the Motion now submitted be amended by the deletion of all the words after the words “That this Council” and the addition of the following words:-

(a)        believes that climate change poses an existential threat to mankind;

(b)        believes that cooperation with other nations rather than isolation is needed to tackle shared global challenges like climate change and that Britain should be looking outwards and showing international leadership in the transition to clean energy;

(c)         condemns the Government’s decision to scrap subsidies for renewable sources of energy and agrees with John Cridland, Director General of the CBI, that “these changes send a worrying signal about the UK as a place for low-carbon investment";

(d)        is deeply concerned that the plan to build a prototype plant to capture carbon from a coal-fired power station in North Yorkshire is under threat after Drax Group plc - a key shareholder - pulled out blaming Government cuts in renewable energy subsidies, and calls on the Government to deliver on their manifesto pledge to commit £1bn in carbon capture and storage technology;

(e)        believes that Britain needs to reduce its dependence on imported fuel by investing in a new clean energy system to reduce energy bills and create the skilled jobs our economy needs, and does not think that achieving lower bills and protecting the environment are mutually exclusive goals; and

(f)         further believes that energy should be democratised and welcomes the Administration’s plans to explore options to set up a local energy company to tackle unfair fuel prices and bring down bills.

On being put to the vote, the amendment was carried.

It was then moved by Councillor Brian Webster, seconded by Councillor Sarah Jayne Smalley, as an amendment, that the Motion now submitted be amended by the deletion of all the words after the words “That this Council” and the addition of the following words:-

(a)        regrets that successive UK governments have failed to bring forward long-term policies to deal with the related problems of energy price, security and environmental impact;

(b)        further regrets that the UK has not followed the example of European partners such as Germany, which in 2014 benefited from increases in renewable energy and falls in fossil fuel generation, energy consumption and energy prices;

(c)         believes reducing energy consumption through widespread energy efficiency measures is the best way to combat fuel poverty by reducing bills and increasing comfort;

(d)        notes that onshore wind is now the cheapest form of electricity in the UK, according to research by Bloomberg, and further notes comments from Seb Henbest of Bloomberg that, “There’s still a tendency for the general public to believe that renewables are really expensive, while coal and gas are really cheap … This is how it used to be not so long ago, but over the past five years technology costs have come down significantly, along with financing costs.”

(e)        notes that coal is the most damaging of all fossil fuels in terms of carbon emissions, air and water pollution;

(f)         notes that while the UK currently subsidises renewable energy by approximately £3.5 billion the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has estimated that the UK will subsidise fossil fuels by £26 billion in 2015, or £400 per person, and that the IMF further stated that eliminating this subsidy would reduce fossil fuel related deaths by 50%, reduce carbon emissions by one fifth and generate revenue; and

(g)        believes this Council has a very poor record regarding renewable energy generation, which may have cost the city millions of pounds in loss of investment and potential fuel savings, and calls on the Cabinet Member for Environment and Transport to bring forward plans for an immediate improvement.

On being put to the vote, the amendment was negatived.

(Note Councillors Richard Shaw, Rob Frost, Joe Otten, Colin Ross, Martin Smith, Penny Baker, Shaffaq Mohammed, Sue Alston, Andrew Sangar, Cliff Woodcraft, Steve Ayris, Denise Reaney, David Baker and Vickie Priestley voted for Paragraphs (c) to (g)    and against Paragraphs (a) and (b) of the amendment and asked for this to be recorded.)

The original Motion was then put as a Substantive Motion in the following form and carried:-