COUNCILLORS on the new West Devon Borough Council have backed a motion to declare a climate change emergency.

The motion to act now to reduce the borough’s carbon footprint was proposed by outgoing mayor, Cllr Mike Davies.

Cllr Davies said the motion had been prompted by children across the borough who told him they wanted action on reducing plastic.

‘In my mayoral year I visited many of the schools within the borough and took many assemblies and fielded lots of questions from school councils,’ he said.

‘The universal question asked by all was – what I am doing as mayor about recycling and the use of plastics?’

He told councillors at the annual meeting at the council offices at Kilworthy Park on Tuesday (May 21) that the council should act now to put its own house in order and also encourage residents to recycle more and stop dropping litter.

The council itself should drastically reduce its plastic use and use of energy from fossil fuels, he suggested.

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