DORSET Council's climate change taskforce has said it is pleased with the progress it has made in taking steps towards tackling the problem.

A climate emergency was declared by the council in May following protests outside its South Walks House offices from members of the Extinction Rebellion pressure group.

Since then, a Climate Change Executive Advisory Panel was set up, with councillors from across the political divide, to gather information and make recommendations on how the council can help fight against climate change and support communities to do the same.

The panel last met on Friday, September 13 and hosted speakers from Extinction Rebellion, who outlined the catastrophic consequences of failing to act and provided broad ideas for how Dorset can play its part.

Other topics discussed included how councillors can support town and parish councils that have declared their own climate emergencies, the Low Carbon Dorset programme and the importance of publishing the progress of the panel online.

Members of Dorset Council’s Climate Change Technical Officers group then presented a summary of their work so far, including feedback on the ideas and priorities of the panel itself.

Cllr Ray Bryan, panel chairman and Cabinet Member for Highways, Travel and Environment, said: “I’m really pleased with the progress being made by both the panel and our Technical Officers group. Despite the sheer scale of the challenge ahead of us, we’re gathering real momentum and I’m pleased that we’ll be getting some information regarding our progress on the website soon.

"I’d like to thank Extinction Rebellion for coming in to speak to us and we’re really looking forward to inviting other organisations and individuals to present their ideas and priorities to the panel to help us develop our approach. We’re especially keen to engage with local young people and are now looking at ways to get them involved in helping us draw up our climate change mitigation plans.

"Climate change will affect all of us in some way in the future. Dorset Council has an important role to play in helping fight against this existential threat and we have a responsibility to support our residents and communities to do the same.”