Scarborough town councillors have rowed over climate change references in a new motion demanding cleaner seas and action on coastal pollution.
A motion calling for better water quality has been passed by Scarborough town councillors, while references to climate change were removed in a row over “focus and delivery”.
Issues with Scarborough’s bathing water quality have continued to persist and last year’s ratings saw the South Bay still classed as ‘poor’ and the North Bay’s bathing water quality classed as ‘sufficient’.
At a full meeting of Scarborough Town Council on Wednesday, members clashed over how to approach the issue.
A motion proposed by Cllr Rich Maw, Independent, proposed that the town council “recognises that scientific evidence demonstrates climate change impacts coastal water quality and marine ecosystems, and that residents and regular beach users are increasingly concerned about bathing water quality in both bays”.
It called for the council to also recognise “its powers do not extend to regulating water quality, which remains the responsibility of the Environment Agency”.
However, an amendment by Reform’s Cllr William Stuart saw a “focussed” motion tabled after he raised concerns about high workloads that the original proposal would have entailed for council staff.
Cllr Stuart’s motion, which was approved by the Reform-led authority, recognised “the importance of bathing water quality in South Bay and North Bay to residents, visitors, and the local economy”.
Both motions set out to engage with Yorkshire Water and the Environment Agency to seek “clear information on causes of water quality issues affecting Scarborough’s beaches”.
The amended motion also requested “periodic written updates to be presented to the council, subject to available officer capacity”.
Speaking at the meeting, Cllr William Stuart said:
“I agree that the coastline is one of our greatest assets and water quality is important to our residents and they do deserve us to speak on their behalf.”
“Regarding climate change and anthropogenic climate change, no one would argue we have climate change.”
The amended motion, which was approved with the support of Reform councillors while Independent and Labour councillors voted against it, concluded:
“Prioritise engagement activities to ensure they are proportionate to council resources, and that officer time is used efficiently and effectively.”
Cllr Maw said:
“It’s an inescapable fact that climate change is linked to this, and there’s absolutely no way that we can talk about a subject such as combined sewer outlets, surface water mixing in combined sewers, without understanding why we’re in this position.”
“To amend this motion without understanding that would be a failure for us to recognise the importance of understanding climate science. So it’s not abstract, and it’s not theoretical because it’s actually already affecting our coastline.”
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