14 May 2022
Our five Green Councillors defended the right to peaceful protest at Dorset Council’s Annual Meeting (12th May 2022) and repeated their disappointment at the stifling of debate over a Conservative motion promoting fossil fuels. They supported a Liberal Democrat motion which regretted a protest at the last full Council meeting by two women – Grannies for the Future – frustrated at the lack of progress on Dorset Council’s declaration of a climate emergency.
Outside the Annual Meeting groups from all over Dorset expressed their disappointment at the three years that have passed since the declaration, highlighting Dorset Council’s continued investment in fossil fuels via its pension fund.
The Tories proposed a motion condemning the Grannies’ protest – voting en bloc to defeat any opposition and were unapologetic about allowing a vote to be taken behind closed doors with no speakers allowed other than their own party members.
Green group leader Councillor Clare Sutton said: “Many of you were upset that two women protested against the rejection of my motion in the way they did. And many of us were angry about what followed when the meeting reconvened. But, rather than calming down and refocussing on the interests of residents who are struggling to find the right school placement for their child or the right care for their elderly parent, here we are, debating whether to ‘condemn’ the behaviour of those two women and, in the process, reigniting all that bad feeling”.
Councillor Kelvin Clayton said it had been a “flagrant erosion of democracy”; Cllr Brian Heatley compared the women’s action with the Suffragettes – saying they were protesting on behalf of the voiceless future generations.
Conservative councillors repeatedly downplayed the importance of the climate emergency, saying it wasn't an issue on the doorstep . Cllr Orrell spoke to say that it was the single most vital thing for the survival of life on the planet and us with it. He said " We will be judged by our grandchildren on our actions today. Do we vote for oil and fracking or wind and tidal turbines?"
Belinda Bawden, newly elected Councillor for Lyme Regis and Charmouth made her first speech at the meeting. She said: “When elected representatives fail to listen to public opinion, to young people, to scientific and expert opinion, to the government and all its expert advisers, to the IPCC and to the voters in Lyme Regis and Charmouth less than a week earlier, the democratic process is failing”.
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