Residents of South Kesteven will be able to have their say on the council's plan to combat the "catastrophe" of climate change.

Members of the Environment Overview and Scrutiny Committee came together for one last meeting before the upcoming May local elections to discuss their Climate Action Strategy.

Over the last few months, Conservative Councillor Mark Whittington and his team have worked on putting together what he called was the "first draft" of the document which outlined the council's proposed approach to addressing carbon emissions within the district.

It was presented by Sustainability and Climate Change Officer Serena Brown, who warned that the affects of climate change would become "a lot more obvious in the next few decades" as a large proportion of the east coast will reportedly fall below the annual flood level before 2050.

The document outlined eight different policy areas for the council to focus upon regarding the impending problem, these included built environment, power, growing the green economy, natural environment, transport, resources, communities and decision making.

Some areas in the District have seen flooding. Image credit: LDRS.

SKDC was one of the many local authorities to declare a climate emergency in 2019 and set the target to reduce carbon emissions from their operations by at least 30 per cent by 2030, and to net zero as soon as it is viable before 2050.

Alliance SK Councillor Ashley Baxter later went on to scrutinise the proposal as he said it lacked any "agreeable or measurable targets".

He said: "I welcome the eight categories, but where are our targets for how communities will be improved?

"Quite frankly, if we had three tangible targets on each category, I would be a lot happier."

His concerns were dismissed by Cllr Whittington as he reiterated that it was "a starting document" and that detailed measures would come in due course.

"Once we have the strategy in place, then we can put into place the targets that Councillor Baxter is referring to," the Tory Councillor told the chamber.

He initially expressed his interest in sending the strategy before a cabinet meeting in May following the upcoming elections before ultimately being sent to a full council meeting.