ENVIRONMENTAL protest group Extinction Rebellion claimed Bradford was “fiddling while the planet burns” during a protest at a Council meeting.

Bradford Council’s Regeneration and Environment Scrutiny Committee received a report on what measures the authority was taking to deal with the climate emergency in Bradford on Wednesday evening.

A few minutes into the discussion, recorded violin music began playing in the meeting room. Two people stood and held up signs saying “Bradford fiddles while the planet burns.” They said the report was “chicken feed” and another, holding an open umbrella, shouted “Act now, reject this report, it’s pathetic.”

A security guard was called to escort them from the building.

The meeting re-started, but shortly after another two members of Extinction Rebellion stood and began reciting the group’s aims and criticising the report.

Council 'needs to create environment where people feel they can ditch cars'

They too were removed, and Chair Rizwana Jamil (Lab, Bowling and Barkerend) said if anyone else was planning to disrupt the meeting it would have to continue in a private session. She added: “We don’t want to do that as there are other people here wanting to make valuable contributions.”

Extinction Rebellion has held a number of local protests, including one in Shipley last month, but this is the first time they have taken such action at a meeting of Bradford Council.

In January Bradford became the biggest Council in the UK to declare a “climate emergency,” with Councillors voting to take more “ambitious” measures to tackle climate change.

But many Councillors, including the local Green Party, had raised concerns that work was not being done fast enough.

At Wednesday’s meeting Councillors received an update on what was being done to reduce carbon emissions.

Neill Morrison, Energy and Low Carbon Project Manager at the Council, said the authority was working on a number of schemes, including a £45 million project to replace every street light in the district with LED lighting, an £11.5 million “district heat network” that will create a low carbon heating system for a number of city centre buildings and creating more electric vehicle charging points.

Members heard that 20 charging points for taxi drivers will be installed in the coming months, with the first being on Vicar Lane.

He told members there was an “astounding” amount of work to be done to tackle the issue, adding: “I don’t think anyone realised how much work was required until we started looking at everything. It might take some time to create a full policy. It is not something we can do by ourselves.”

He said organisations like West Yorkshire Combined Authority and Central Government were needed to progress with some of the more costly projects.

Cllr Jamil said: “We welcome you being so honest and realistic about what can be done.”

Councillor Martin Love (Green, Shipley) pointed out that the emergency was declared in January, and argued that Bradford should pick up the pace. He said: “The Council says this is an emergency, West Yorkshire Combined Authority says it’s an emergency, the government says it is an emergency.”

Councillor Nussrat Mohammed (Lab, Heaton) said: “I represent people in Heaton and Frizinghall who are living on the breadline. Climate change is not high on their agenda. It should be, but it isn’t and that is something we need to address.”

Councillor Ralph Berry (Lab, Wibsey) suggested the Council broaden its scope, including working closer with entrepreneurs who wanted to install charging points or green technology, and getting tougher with developers who don’t install charging points.

Members of Baildon Friends of the Earth also spoke at the meeting, saying future generations “would not be able to forgive” today’s politicians if they did not act.

The committee will hear regular updates on the Council’s policies to tackle climate change.