CONFUSION and a lack of detail undermine Wirral Council’s plans to tackle climate change, according to the leader of the Green Party on the council.

Almost three months after the council declared a climate emergency, Cllr Pat Cleary said the authority has failed to produce firm proposals and believes their ideas are contradictory.

He said: “The big issue is we need to get people out of cars, but Labour are advocating charging points for electric cars. That would require hundreds of millions of tonnes of steel, a huge amount of electricity and it would generate a massive amount of carbon dioxide. It is totally at odds with promoting public transport.

“They should be supporting our plan for an employers car parking levy, which would see every employer with more than 10 spaces contribute towards a fund to improve public transport. That’s the kind of practical policy which can achieve change.

“But Labour have decided to put down an amendment, as have the Tories and the Lib Dems, which suggests they’re not taking it as seriously as they should be.

“In Nottingham, this policy has generated £220 million since 2012 and with outside investors topping the money up, over £600 million has been raised in total.”

Cllr Cleary is adamant that favouring public transport is a socially just thing to do.

He said: “In my ward (Birkenhead and Tranmere) 54% of households do not have a car.

“Prioritising investment in public transport helps the majority of people, more economically disadvantaged people in particular. It also helps us to improve air quality and tackle obesity.

“It’s now time for Labour to walk the walk. They need to do better than planting a few trees and building a few electric car charging points.”

Labour Cllr Liz Grey, cabinet member for the environment, said: “It’s important to point out that ours is a friendly amendment to the Green motion referring to Nottingham Council.

“They made serious mistakes in their comparison and we sought to correct that and enable the motion to be successful. Without our help, it would definitely fall on technicalities.

“Now, with Labour support, hopefully it can pass and officers can report back on the best way to implement this levy if feasible.

“Even when we help them, the Greens are in full election mode and cannot be seen to thank us for our support or to congratulate us on our significant achievements so far in addressing the environment and climate emergency.”

Labour’s amendment states: “Council accepts that there are pros and cons to a workplace parking levy, but that it warrants an officer report to understand whether it may be feasible or the right answer for the Wirral.

“It cannot simply be a tax on Wirral business and should not be passed on to employees or consumers. Transport issues are better tackled at a City Region Level and the risk of Wirral unilaterally taxing its business sector could leave us at a regional disadvantage.”

Cllr Grey accused the Green Party of being unrealistic in their demands on cars. She said: “The Green objection to any realistic transition from fossil fuelled cars to active and public transport is naive and shows a total disregard for the economy or wellbeing of the public.

“We understand that even (electric vehicles) EV are not the answer in the long term but they do represent a way to enable people to shift to more active travel for shorter journeys while keeping long journeys possible and are potentially vital for elderly and disabled residents to avoid isolation.

“We are not suggesting that people buy cars unnecessarily, and we aim to encourage a car free lifestyle. We are very aware of the car ownership data and that’s why we are building the first state of the art cycle network routes in some of the most deprived areas of Wallasey and Birkenhead.

“We’ve been working closely with Merseytravel and know that they are planning to improve access to public transport which we fully support.”

Responding to Cllr Cleary’s objections to the tree planting programme, Cllr Grey said: “It will be far more than ‘a few trees’ and could see one of the most robust tree planting and protection programmes in the country.

“We aim to more than double our tree cover in the next ten years and we are working collaboratively with a number of organisations and local experts. The Tree Council are so impressed by our approach that they are holding their North of England annual conference in Birkenhead Town Hall to celebrate it.”