WAVERLEY Borough Council’s new Green Party representatives have wasted no time in making their presence felt – calling for a ‘climate emergency’ to be declared in the borough just minutes after their election last Friday.

History was made on May 3 as Waverley’s ruling Conservative group lost its majority in spectacular fashion – losing 30 of the 53 seats won by Tory candidates at the 2015 election to a rainbow coalition of parties, residents and independents.

Farnham Residents led the charge, taking 15 seats (up 12 from its 2015 tally), followed closely by a ‘Progressive Alliance’ of Lib Dems (14 seats), Labour and Green (two each). Neither the Lib Dems, Labour nor Green Party won a single seat in 2015.

And while potential alliances are busy being thrashed out in the build-up to the all-important annual council meeting on May 21, Waverley’s first-ever Green Party councillor, Steve Williams, has already submitted the party’s first motion.

The Godalming Charterhouse councillor’s ‘Proposed Climate Emergency Motion’, handed to the Herald just minutes after his election last Friday, proposes Waverley pledges to make the council carbon-neutral by 2030, calls on the government to provide the powers and resources to facilitate achieving the 2030 target, and requires officers to provide, within six months, a report on the actions the council will take.

His motion also states “all levels of government have a duty to limit the negative impacts of climate breakdown”, and advocates the economic benefits of such a move.