YORK AND NORTH YORKSHIRE MAYORAL ELECTION
THU 2 MAY 2024
WHAT ARE THE CANDIDATES’ ENVIRONMENTAL VIEWS?
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The new mayor of the York and North Yorkshire Combined Mayoral Authority (YNY CMA) will be elected on Thursday 2 May. For more information on the future mayor's role and the work of the CMA, see Home - Combined Authority (yorknorthyorks-ca.gov.uk).
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Five candidates are standing for election
Felicity Cunliffe-Lister (Liberal Democrats)
Keane Duncan (Conservative)
Kevin Foster (Green Party)
Paul Haslam (Independent)
David Skaith (Labour)
Keith Tordoff MBE (Independent)
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For general background information on candidates, see 2024 York and North Yorkshire mayoral election - Wikipedia.
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Community-based environmental groups in the YNY region such as Thirsk Friends of the Earth, York Friends of the Earth and North Yorkshire Climate Coalition are of course particularly interested to hear how each of the candidates would use the considerable powers available to the new mayor to drive YNY's transition to become net zero carbon by 2034 and carbon negative by 2040. This key ambition is set out on the CMA's website at Routemap to Carbon Negative - Combined Authority (yorknorthyorks-ca.gov.uk).
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The new mayor will have wide-ranging powers in areas such as transport, adult education/skills, housing and infrastructure and will drive action to implement the Routemap to Carbon Negative and the YNY Local Nature Recovery Strategy (currently being drafted).
Friends of the Earth and North Yorkshire Climate Coalition are very keen to work with and support the future mayor in these areas.
In the run-up to the election, to ensure that voters have the information they need, we want to highlight where the candidates stand on both local and wider environmental issues (e.g. energy-efficiency and energy infrastructure, rooftop solar, river and marine water quality, restoring nature, 'green economy' skills, public transport, active travel, net zero support for business) and would like to offer them an opportunity to outline their views here through our survey.
Use the drop-down menu to see the survey responses from individual candidates.
To ensure fairness, surveys will go out to all candidates at the same time. Responses will then be uploaded to our websites as soon as we receive them.
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According to a recent national opinion poll by Survation, climate and environmental issues are a top-three issue for 29% of voters. ‘Environment and Climate Change’ was the fourth most important issue that respondents said would influence how they voted in the next election. See headline results in the image below.
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