Poor public transport 'contributing to climate change'
Tony Wallis said that the cutting of local services was pushing people away from public transport and into their cars.
Coun Wallis, who represents Castleford Central and Glasshoughton, made his remarks as Wakefield Council declared a "climate change emergency", and pledged to become a carbon neutral authority by 2030.
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Hide AdSpeaking at the authority's annual meeting on Thursday, he said: "This isn't the Millennium Bug.
"We can't just not talk about this and pretend it isn't happening. Climate change is happening.
"To help, we need more people on buses, but services are being cut.
"And people in my ward are telling me that the new train timetables are going to leave more people standing on the Castleford to Leeds train.
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Hide Ad"This is going to drive people away from using public transport."
The climate change motion was put forward by council leader Peter Box, who said that politicians needed to go "further and faster" to stop the planet suffering irredeemable harm.
He said the authority had already taken a number of steps to slash its own carbon footprint, including installing solar panels, replacing coal boilers in schools and libraries, and introducing PC shutdown software.
Labour backbencher Steve Tulley said: "We are all visitors to this planet. We are here on short-term loan. We owe it to our children and grandchildren to leave this place how we found it.
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Hide Ad"We need to call out the climate change deniers like (Donald) Trump and (Nigel) Farage."
The issue received unanimous support across the council chamber, with Conservative group leader Nadeem Ahmed welcoming it as a "good motion".
But there was criticism of Labour's approach from newly-elected Liberal Democrat councillor Tom Gordon.
He said: "I am disappointed that this motion delegates the development of specific emergency plans solely to Cabinet, rather than a cross-party working group.
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Hide Ad"There is no greater issue and no one political party owns it."
He suggested the council scrap free parking permits and travel supplements and offer incentives to travel by bike, bus or train, and added that the authority should go "fully digital" and avoid printing excessive amounts of paper.
In response, Coun Box accused Coun Gordon of "showboating" and referenced the Lib Dems' support for the Conservatives during the coalition years, during which some green subsidies were axed.