A leading councillor has struggled to back up a public claim made over the past year that York Central will be a net zero carbon development.

Liberal Democrat Executive Member Cllr Paula Widdowson finally attended a council scrutiny meeting yesterday, after a number of recent no-shows, to try to explain her ‘York Central net zero’ claim.

And whilst some evidence was highlighted of how the council would pursue low or no carbon options on its own 5% of land, there was little evidence provided on how the other 95% owned by other landowners would do the same.

Economy and Place Scrutiny Committee Member, Cllr Pete Kilbane said:

“When politicians make lofty claims in public it’s only right that those claims are subject to scrutiny.  What we’ve found with this particular Lib Dem claim is that it’s not worth the paper it is written on.

“Cllr Widdowson could not substantiate her ‘net-zero’ claims and demonstrated an alarming lack of understanding of the subject. She relied almost entirely on council officers to answer for her, who stated in frank terms it is not within the council’s gift to make York Central carbon zero. Not only did Cllr Widdowson have to accept that she has little control over carbon emissions on York Central, but that she had not even tried to persuade its state-run owners Homes England and Network Rail to follow the net-zero path.  

“This all contributes to the view that politicians can’t be trusted, and that’s hugely disappointing.  We need to be ambitious for our planet, but we also need to be honest. You can’t just declare that we will achieve net zero emissions and hope it will happen. York residents see straight through that and know that this kind of pledge is made up to try and win votes”.

To some surprise during the meeting, Cllr Widdowson said she couldn’t offer a view both on a proposed multi-storey car park and on plans to have a through-road join the development with the city centre, given both will contribute to the carbon footprint of York Central.  On the latter, she said she’d ‘go away and think about it’.

“I’m afraid to say Cllr Widdowson’s performance reminded me of our outgoing Prime Minister.  Say whatever you like and imagine it’s true, while all around can see that it isn’t”, added Cllr Kilbane.

“I hope the Liberal Democrats learn from this experience and understand that wild pledges they can’t substantiate will be scrutinised and called out publicly.  Our residents have a right to expect honesty and accuracy from their council”.

Cllr Widdowson has previously given a pledge of York becoming net zero by 2030, while acknowledging that the council is only responsible for 4% of the city’s emissions and that scope 3 emissions, by far the largest proportion overall, are ignored in her pledge.