DORSET Council leader Nick Ireland has defended the authority’s commitment to tackling climate change.

It comes after comments that council policymakers were ‘in short supply’ at a major county-wide event held in Bournemouth, the second Dorset COP, attended by over 300 organisations and individuals.

Lyme Regis and Charmouth Green Party councillor Belinda Bawden said the event, organised jointly by Zero Carbon Dorset, Sustainable Dorset and the Dorset Climate Action Network –  had been widely praised.

Said Cllr Bawden in a question to the Dorset Council Cabinet meeting: “While it was encouraging to see officers from the Sustainability and Electoral Services teams attending the COP, and the Low Carbon Dorset displays, "policymakers" from Dorset Council were in really short supply, even fewer than last year…. Given the clear, concerning and continuing disconnection between what Dorset Council is actually achieving and what some of the most engaged people in the county think we are doing, would it be possible for Dorset Council to undertake now to support next year’s Dorset COP in Sturminster Newton with collaboration, communication and, crucially, participation?”

Council leader Nick Ireland, who also holds the climate change portfolio, said other diary commitments had prevented him from attending this November’s event, but said he hoped to be at the next Dorset COP, on November 1st 2025 in Sturminster Newton.

He said he was pleased that council officers had been at the Bournemouth event and said the authority continued to act on climate change – including core policies in the Council Plan, taking on an additional staff member to improve external engagement on the subject, launching a newsletter and working closely with schools and other organisations.

“The seriousness of our commitment to act on climate change is clear, both my me taking on this portfolio myself and by its centrality to the Council Plan,” he said.