Full council meeting suspended as protesters asked to leave

The meeting was dramatically suspended after two hours when Extinction Rebellion members challenged "inflammatory and misleading" remarks by Cllr Matthew Dean from Westbury.

Cllr Dean said: "I cannot support this motion. It is totally irresponsible for grown adults and often their children and siblings to be put under pressure to block this country's infrastructure, our roads and our bridges.

"People have died as a result of Extinction Rebellion and I'm afraid that blocking ambulances and stopping other emergency services vehicles from getting to destinations, damaging the economy is no way to tackle climate change."

At that point, the chairman of the meeting, Cllr Stuart Wheeler, intervened and asked the activists to leave the meeting, as they challenged Cllr Dean.

Cllr Wheeler said: "Be quiet and leave the room", and then "would the members of the public please keep quiet and leave the room", and then"I'm going to suspend the meeting".

Cllr Dean responded to the protests by saying: "Mr Chairman, when we are asked to debate these matters, we listen with respect, we listen in silence to their views when some of Extinction Rebellion tell us how to vote, tell us what to do and when we put a contrary point of view we are shouted down."

Cllr Wheeler said: "Members of the public. I am talking to you sir, you sir with the mask on. I am warning you, if you continue interrupting proceedings I will ask for you to be removed. And the same goes for the lady with the red mask. We are having a debate here and listened to you courteously earlier . You can do my members the same courtesy.

To a background of applause, he added: "I am uninterested in your views. Please sit down. Sit down. This is not a debate. This is not your chamber, you are not invited, please leave."

As the protest continued, Cllr Wheeler said: "I am suspending the meeting. Leave. I am asking that you both leave." Cllr Dean added: "Chairman, I am grateful for your words of support."

Cllr Dean said later: "Fighting climate change has never been more important but I don’t think illegal behaviour like members of XR blocking traffic by gluing themselves to roads is helpful.

"There is footage on the internet of protesters inadvertently blocking an ambulance, evidence of people being stuck in traffic unable to go to work or school and hundreds of hours of police time being wasted costing hundreds of thousands of pounds. Those sort of protests can’t be right.”

Afterwards, Cllr Jon Hubbard said he was “disgusted” the masked activists from Extinction Rebellion and the Wiltshire Climate Alliance had been asked to leave the meeting.

He said: “Disgusted that @wiltscouncil have ejected legitimate protesters who were stood silently at the back of the hall from today’s meeting.

“Democracy being silenced in Wiltshire. @WiltshireClima1 you have this councillor’s full support.”

The suspension followed a lively demonstration outside Trowbridge Civic Centre on Tuesday morning, where a 96-strong Wiltshire Council full council meeting was taking place - the first face-to-face full council meeting since the Covid-19 pandemic began.

The protesters came from a range of groups including Extinction Rebellion, the Westbury Incinerator Group and The Wiltshire Climate Alliance all demanding the Council honour their February 2019 commitment to make Wiltshire a carbon neutral county by 2030.

The event included banner drops, a samba band and people playing dead to highlight the issues.

Extinction Rebellion spokesman Nick Aslett, from Bradford on Avon, said afterwards: “Cllr Dean made some inflammatory and misleading remarks about some of protesters and was robustly challenged – quite exciting for Wiltshire Council."

He added: "We recognise the hard work and efforts of the officers in the Carbon Reduction Team, who have identified the issues and set out what needs to be done to achieve the carbon neutral target.

“However, protesters are concerned that since making the commitment, councillors have failed to provide the leadership or take the decisions required for delivering the urgent and ambitious actions necessary to achieve the goal.

“Residents are worried that rather than making the carbon neutral goal achievable, councillors’ decisions are actually making it impossible.

“For example, in June 2021 the Strategic Planning Committee of the Council approved an application to build a huge waste incinerator in Westbury.”

Dan Gmaj, of the Westbury Incinerator Group, said: “This retrograde ‘moving grate’ incinerator technology would lock Wiltshire Council taxpayers into funding the burning of plastic and other recyclables.

“It will perversely encourage the production, rather than reduction, of household and commercial waste, while emitting millions of tonnes of CO2 and life-threatening toxins over a minimum 25-year period.

“The community will pay the price with hard cash and poor health outcomes, both as individuals and as part of a global community facing a climate and ecological emergency.

“This will happen whilst private corporate interests, already in breach of existing environmental permits, maximise profits from this disastrous strategic error by Wiltshire Unitary Council. There must be No Westbury Incinerator.”

The protesters are also very concerned that Wiltshire Council is failing to adjust its planning to reflect the climate crisis.

Louise Weissel, an occupational therapist and environmental campaigner from Bradford on Avon, said: “The current Local Plan for Wiltshire will significantly urbanise many of the towns and villages of our county.

“The Plan is focused on housing and not the health and wellbeing of the community, suggesting health is not a priority for the Council. As a health professional myself I am staggered by this.”

Mel Moden, an Extinction Rebellion activist from Chippenham, said: “Council planning is disjointed and fails to integrate transport, building, public health and the impacts of the climate and ecological emergency.

“The Council is failing to provide the community with a meaningful mechanism through which to realise a sustainable future.”

Chrissie Aslett, an Extinction Rebellion activist from Bradford on Avon, said: “We are making three demands of our elected representatives:

• That Wiltshire Council scraps the plan to build a waste incinerator in Westbury

• That Wiltshire Council immediately make carbon reduction the top priority in every council policy, plan and decision, and agree, by June 2022, comprehensive carbon reduction actions with annual targets, to deliver a carbon neutral county by 2030.

• That Wiltshire Council convene a Citizen’s Assembly by March 2022 with a commitment from the Council to fully implement the Assembly’s recommendations.

She added: “We are protesting to raise awareness of our Council’s failure to live up to the promise it made to the people of this county in February 2019 of a carbon neutral county by 2030.

“It appears that our councillors believe that all they had to do was pass a motion and change would happen as if by magic.

“Since February 2019 there has been no real progress in the actions or decisions of the Council, it’s as if the promise was never made and the climate and ecological emergency doesn’t matter.”