PEMBROKESHIRE Friends of the Earth are delighted that the Welsh Government, the UK Parliament and numerous local authorities have declared a climate emergency.

We urge Pembrokeshire County Council to quickly follow suit.

It’s vital that these declarations rapidly deliver major cuts in the emission of climate-changing gases by measures such as cutting energy use (and fuel bills) in homes and workplaces; developing more solar, wind and tidal energy; and making public transport affordable and widely available.

Last week, (May 2), the Committee On Climate Change published its report, Net Zero: the UK’s contribution to stopping global warming.

This emphasises that, whilst we will all have to make changes to the way we live and work, the price is bearable - and far less than the longer-term cost of not doing enough.

“Going green” in a major way could be very good news for Pembrokeshire businesses: we have great onshore renewable energy resources and we could be the hub for a huge expansion in offshore energy of various sorts.

However, we will surely have to do something about the huge inertia in our planning systems: the Local Development Plans which are so ponderously created they are out of date by the time they are published; the tendency of MPs, AMs, and county councillors to “kick the can down the road”; and the ever-present threat of death by committee strangulation.

This really is an emergency: we surely need emergency planning measures which say, for green schemes, “Just Get On With It!”.

If that doesn't happen, our ecology and environment, on which we depend and which our county’s visitors so highly value, will be irrevocably damaged by extreme weather events, sea level rise, sea temperature rise, ocean acidification, and soil degradation.

BETTINA BECKER

Pembrokeshire Friends of the Earth