A PETITION calling for Bentham Town Council to declare a climate emergency is being assembled.

Once finished, it will be handed over at a town council meeting, alongside a proposal outlining various measures it is hoped will be adopted.

It has been put together by Bentham Environmentally Sustainable Town (BEST), a group of people from Bentham and the surrounding areas working to reduce the town's carbon footprint and make it environmentally sustainable.

Richard Wilson, a member of BEST, said: "We are in a climate emergency. We don't see the government at any level taking any action that suggests to us that they think there's an emergency."

Mr Wilson added he hoped the petition would get a few hundred signatures.

An accompanying proposal will also be submitted. The 'Bentham Town Council Climate Emergency Motion' is as follows:

That the council supports the climate emergency declaration by Craven District Council, and resolves:

- To declare a climate emergency in Bentham

- To support reduction of carbon emissions with the measures listed
below:

1 - Commit to a target of reducing its net carbon emissions to zero by 2030, so that by then it will not produce a CO2 surplus in carrying out its responsibilities - whether through travel, building, running costs, or in the production of what it buys.

2 - Establish, by the end of 2019, what carbon emissions it is currently responsible for, and create a plan for achieving the 2030 target.

3 - Create a grant pot to encourage and enable carbon-reduction schemes in Bentham, with priority given to applications that will give the greatest CO2 savings per pound spent.

4 - Make the environmental implications, including CO2 emissions, of matters on which it is consulted a primary consideration.

5 - Consider ways of using the town hall to enable, encourage and support positive environmental initiatives.

6 - Provide leadership to our community in reducing its direct CO2 emissions and its consumption of things that cause CO2 emissions elsewhere, and in preparing for changes caused by global heating. We will take active steps where possible to encourage:

- More sustainable transport

- Reductions in energy use in homes, businesses and
elsewhere

- Cooperation with organisations seeking to develop low-carbon and community-led affordable housing

- Use and development of renewable energy

- Production, sale and consumption of locally sourced food

- Reduction in food and other waste

- Any other methods of achieving the aims above