A decision to make a plant-pot-in-a-bench the symbol of Southwark’s efforts against the Climate Emergency has provoked ridicule and brought to a head the disintegration of the Council’s public policy engagement on the issue. Groups including Extinction Rebellion (XR) Southwark, Fossil Free Southwark and Nunhead Knocks Mutual Aid Group have all threatened to pull out of Southwark Council’s Climate Strategy Partnership Steering Group, launched earlier this year as a key component of the council’s efforts to adopt a Climate Strategy, over concerns that engagement with the Council and their consultation with the public has so far been piecemeal and unserious.

In a critical open letter to Cllr Johnson Situ, Cabinet Member for the Climate Emergency, Planning and Transport, XR Southwark slated the Council’s widely ridiculed decision to celebrate climate action week through its ‘Parklet’ announcement, describing it as using a “plant pot in a bench as its flagship measure to better address the climate emergency’”, saying the decision “demonstrated a lack of ambition and understanding”.

Noting the threat of rising sea levels to much of the borough, Southwark Council declared a climate emergency in March 2019, committing to “do all it can to make the borough carbon neutral by 2030.” However a range of independent bodies, including the Planning Inspectorate and Transport for London, have raised concerns about the borough’s lack of coherent strategies.

The environmental campaign group now says it cannot continue to engage in “good faith” unless the council, by 8th December, commits to a process of independent expert review of a number of key strategies. These include the Climate Strategy, New Southwark Plan (which dictates the direction for development in the borough), and Movement Plan so as to ensure they are fully compliant with the climate change target.

Eloise Waldon-Day of Extinction Rebellion Southwark said:
“We are really keen to engage positively with the council, but we are concerned that our engagement within the Partnership Steering Group is being used as ‘greenwashing’. We have repeatedly asked for transparency and accountability, and for the council to drastically upscale their ambition and respond comprehensively to the comments and concerns that have been raised by Steering Group members, but we have consistently been let down.”

Just minutes after publishing their open letter on Twitter, other groups from the Council’s Climate Strategy Partnership Steering Group including Fossil Free Southwark, and Nunhead Knocks Mutual Aid Group, have followed suit, giving their full backing to XR Southwark, stating that they will refuse to engage further in the process until the Council commits to the demands of the letter.

Karrim Jalali of Fossil Free Southwark said:
“I think the letter hits the nail on the head. The council’s initial plans for community engagement were terrible, and when Partnership Steering Group members tried to address this with the Council, they criticised us for delaying the strategy when it was the council who waited almost a year after declaring a climate emergency to do anything meaningful. We’ve invested a lot of personal time to read through hundreds of pages of documents, raise numerous concerns and comments, but the response so far from the council leaves us with no confidence that this level of effort is worth continuing.”

Amardeep Singh Dhillon of Nunhead Knocks said:
“I think the demands of the letter are realistic and fair. It is the least the council should do, given what they committed to last year. The lack of concerted effort to engage Southwark residents on fighting climate breakdown only feeds fears that despite its declaration last year, the council doesn’t see this strategy as an important vehicle for action.”

The letter serves as an early test for new Council Leader, Cllr Kieron Williams, who has promised that “tackling the climate emergency… would run through every facet of the council’s work, today, tomorrow and through the decade to come”.