Nottinghamshire County Council

Climate · drafted 2026-07-01 · accepted · 11 finding(s)

← council-level findings on this theme

At a full Council meeting after Reform took control, an opposition motion moved by Councillor Helen Faccio and seconded by Councillor Penny Gowland asking the Council to recommit to becoming carbon neutral by 2030 (through the Carbon Reduction Plan 2022-2032) was defeated on a recorded vote of 20 For to 37 Against, and the Chairman declared the motion had fallen — the ruling group declining to re-endorse the 2030 carbon-neutral target. [1][2][3]

Notwithstanding that, the Council's 2030 carbon neutrality target still stands: an Overview Committee report on the Council's climate change activities and climate emergency response (climate emergency declared May 2021) resolved to note the prioritisation of activities and next steps in addressing the Council's challenges in achieving the 2030 Carbon neutrality target — routine progress reporting, with no decision to scrap, defer or downgrade the target. [4][5]

At the new Reform administration's council meeting, in response to a question about Nigel Farage's suggestion that Reform councils could refuse solar farms, the Cabinet Member for Transport and Environment, Councillor Bert Bingham, declined to adopt any position opposing them, saying he would keep an open mind before coming to a public position; the only solar-farm resolution on record is a prior (Conservative-administration) resolution to make statutory-consultee representations on the environmental and infrastructure impacts, not a refusal or restriction. The council has taken no formal step to oppose, refuse or restrict solar farms or battery storage on farmland. [6][7][8]

At Full Council (2025), Councillor Penny Gowland moved (seconded by Councillor Liz Clunie) 'MOTION TWO – REDUCING SPEED LIMITS' resolving that the Council support the implementation of 20mph speed limits on residential roads where residents request them; following a debate the Chairman put the motion to a show of hands and declared it had fallen, so the Reform-led council rejected the 20mph rollout motion. [9][10][11]

A Place Select Committee scrutiny review of road safety recorded a qualified/critical stance on 20mph limits, reporting that all requests were considered but that 20mph limits were generally only effective when introduced with traffic calming such as speed bumps that residents did not always want; the recommendations were endorsed and referred to Cabinet. [12]

Under the Reform-led administration, Nottinghamshire County Council continued to progress its statutory Local Nature Recovery Strategy rather than delay or scale it back: following a 6-week public consultation (May-June 2025), the Cabinet (Cabinet Member for Transport and Environment, Councillor Bert Bingham) resolved on 18 September 2025 (RESOLVED 2025/020) to amend the draft LNRS to reflect consultation issues, circulate it to the Supporting Authorities for the required 28-day period from 22 September 2025, and notify the final version to the Secretary of State in November 2025 for publication. No delay, deprioritisation, under-resourcing or reduction to bare-minimum compliance of the LNRS or biodiversity duty is recorded in the minutes. [13][14]

The Nottinghamshire Pension Fund Committee (administering authority for the Nottinghamshire Pension Fund) discussed continuing or withdrawing its membership of the Local Authority Pension Fund Forum (LAPFF) -- a responsible-investment/shareholder-engagement body -- weighing cost, reputational risk of withdrawal, and its influence on engagement priorities, but did not vote to withdraw: the item was deferred to a future meeting for further discussion with officers. [15][16][17]

In the same period the Committee endorsed the Fund's Climate Action Plan progress and resolved to continue monitoring the Fund's exposure to climate-related financial risk, indicating no reduction of its climate-risk/responsible-investment commitments. [18][19]

At Nottinghamshire County Council Full Council (Reform-majority administration; 'Main Minority Group' / 'Business Manager' terminology confirms post-May-2025 Reform control), opposition councillor Helen Faccio moved (seconded by Penny Gowland) a motion to recommit the council to becoming carbon neutral by 2030 via its existing Carbon Reduction Plan 2022-2032, including exploring renewable energy generation on the council estate and natural flood mitigation; the motion was defeated by a recorded vote of 20 for to 37 against (0 abstentions), with the larger 'Against' bloc consistent with the Reform majority group seen rejecting other opposition motions at the same meeting. [20][21][22][23]

Overview Committee scrutiny of the Council's carbon-neutrality progress recorded that new EV charging points had been installed (for fleet vehicles and some wider public use) with usage data not yet available — the corpus shows Nottinghamshire proceeding with EV charging infrastructure in this period, with no minute recording a pause, cancellation, decline or hand-back of EV charging grant funding (LEVI/ORCS/OZEV not mentioned in any surfaced document). [24]

The only wind-related record found in Nottinghamshire's published minutes is a Notice of Motion (moved by Cllr Helen Faccio, seconded by Cllr Penny Gowland, 2025) recommitting to carbon-neutral-by-2030 and urging exploration of renewable-energy generation on the council Estate via solar panels, wind turbines and water turbines — this is a climate-positive proposal, not a wind-farm restriction. The motion FELL on a recorded vote (20 For, 37 Against, 0 Abstain), with the Reform group majority voting against it. No mention of 'onshore wind', 'wind farm', or any planning objection/restriction targeting third-party wind farms or turbines appears anywhere in the corpus. [25][26]

References (26)
  1. Document “1) Recommits to becoming carbon neutral by 2030 through actions detailed in its Carbon Reduction Plan 2022-2032.”
  2. Document “The following 37 members voted ‘Against’ the motion”
  3. Document “The Chairman declared that the motion had fallen.”
  4. Document “next steps in addressing the Council’s challenges in achieving the 2030 Carbon neutrality target be noted.”
  5. Document “in response to the climate change emergency declaration in May 2021.”
  6. Document “The Council resolved that when acting as a statutory consultee on solar farm applications, it would make representations clearly setting out the environmental and infrastructure impacts of any such applications.”
  7. Document “Since the local elections, Nigel Farage has stated that Reform councils have the choice to say “no” to proposed solar farms.”
  8. Document “I will keep an open mind and I need to get to grips with it to understand what is a complex situation before coming to a public position.”
  9. Document “MOTION TWO – REDUCING SPPED LIMITS A motion as set out below was moved by Councillor Penny Gowland and seconded by Councillor Liz Clunie”
  10. Document “This Council resolves to support the implementation of 20mph speed limits on residential roads (excluding A roads), in areas where local residents request and generally support them.”
  11. Document “the Chairman put the motion to the meeting a nd after a show of hands the Chairman declared it had fallen”
  12. Document “All requests for 20mph speed limits were considered, but 20mph speed limits were generally only effective when they were introduced along with traffic calming measures such as speed bumps, which residents did not always want.”
  13. Document “That the draft LNRS be amended to reflect the issues raised through the consultation process”
  14. Document “the final version of the LNRS be notified to the Secretary of State in November 2025 and subsequently published”
  15. Document “The financial impact of continuing or withdrawing from membership.”
  16. Document “Reputational risk introduced by withdrawal from membership.”
  17. Document “RESOLVED 2026/017 That the item be deferred to a future meeting.”
  18. Document “RESOLVED 2025/48 To endorse the work that had been undertaken and to note the progress made against the Climate Action Plan, which going forward would be part of business as usual.”
  19. Document “RESOLVED 2025/51 That members would continue monitoring the Fund’s exposure to financially material climate related risks, taking appropriate action to mitigate these risks if required.”
  20. Document “This Council: 1) Recommits to becoming carbon neutral by 2030 through actions detailed in its Carbon Reduction Plan 2022-2032.”
  21. Document “the following 20 members voted ‘For’ the motion”
  22. Document “The following 37 members voted ‘Against’ the motion”
  23. Document “The Chairman declared that the motion had fallen.”
  24. Document “In relation to EV charging points, members were advised that new points had been put in for fleet vehicle s only, plus some for wider use, as they were newly installed there was not any data on usage yet.”
  25. Document “Strongly urges the Cabinet Member for Transport and Environment to explore how the Estate can be used to generate renewable energy as far as possible, through the appropriate use of technologies such as of solar panels, wind turbines, and water turbines.”
  26. Document “The Chairman declared that the motion had fallen.”