LABOUR’S group leader is hoping to keep the environment at the top of Cheshire East Council’s agenda following an election pledge made by the Conservatives.

The Conservative group committed to making CEC carbon neutral by 2025 in its election manifesto – something which Cllr Sam Corcoran, Labour group leader, is keen to see carried out.

And after MPs on both sides of the political divide backed Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn’s call to declare a climate emergency last week, Cllr Corcoran is hoping the same consensus can be reached in the newly-hung CEC.

He said: “Climate change is the greatest challenge facing our generation and I was pleased to see a commitment in the Conservative election literature to make CEC carbon neutral by 2025.

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“I was even more pleased to see that Parliament has declared an environment and climate emergency.

“We can tackle climate change and win, but it needs to be addressed on an international level, a national scale, a local scale and even an individual scale. CEC and every resident has a part to play in that.

“We can set the agenda, we can change behaviours, we can change hearts and minds – or we can carry on as we are and end up changing the climate for worse.”

Despite the Conservatives’ environmental push, the party lost 19 seats in last week’s election – ending Friday’s count with 25 members and the council slipping into no overall control.

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Cllr Corcoran’s Labour group gained nine seats to finish with 25 councillors, while the independent group grew from 11 to 19 members, and the Liberal Democrat group doubled in size from two to four.

Cllr Corcoran said: “The electorate have clearly said that they want change, but it is up to others whether they want to deliver that change, or whether they want to prop up the Conservatives.

“Whatever happens from now, the politics will have to be more consensual than in the past.”

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