Teenagers launch petition asking Wealden District Council to declare climate emergency

The group have been speaking to members of the public in the Waitrose car park in Uckfield.

The car park and the centre of Uckfield were under a metre of floodwater during the 2000 floods.

Ingrid Burniston, 13, who started the petition said: “We desperately need Wealden District Council – like every council – to get fossil fuel free in ten years.

“We want to get hundreds of people who work, live or study in the Weald to demand radical action now.”

The petition asks that Wealden District Council undertakes the following action:

• Acknowledge and declare a climate and ecological emergency.

• Pledge to make Wealden District Council carbon neutral by 2030.

• Call on East Sussex County Council and the UK Government to provide the powers and resources to make the 2030 target possible.

• Call on East Sussex County Council and the UK Government and governments internationally to determine and implement best practice methods to limit global heating to 1.5 o C.

• Convene a Citizen’s Assembly to advise on potential approaches and solutions based on independent scientific evidence.

Nina Ovenden, 14, one of the student organisers said: “The time for promises and empty words is over. Change is needed at every level.

“Even though Wealden is small, everything counts in the race to decarbonise Britain. This is not a problem for tomorrow let alone 2050.”

In the coming weeks, the group will be seeking signatures in towns and villages across Wealden district and asking shops to have the petitions at their tills.

Wealden District Council has been approached for a comment.

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