Youth speaking truth to power: Speech to WNC Scrutiny Committee, 19 August 2025

This speech was given to a 'Call-In Hearing' of the council's Place and Resources Overview and Scrutiny committee by Pippa Knowles, aged 17.
The purpose of the meeting was to review a decision made by WNC's Cabinet to remove the council's Net Zero targets and revise existing strategies to remove references to 'climate'.
Speaking on such an occasion is daunting at any age, and we admired Pippa's courage and principles. She has kindly agreed to allow us to reproduce her speech, and we hope it will provide inspiration to all of us.

I am 17. I cannot yet vote. You propose to take the word climate out of all your documents when it’s one of the greatest problems affecting people my age and younger. As these problems will affect my future more than yours, have you consulted people like me? Not just some online survey that is hidden, but actually spoken to people of my generation and younger, from all backgrounds. This overall lack of engagement is worrying for an elected council that is meant to make decisions on behalf of all of West Northants.

The problems of a rapidly changing climate have been taught to me since I started science, and the scientific explanations of how these problems come to be has been compulsory in my education, so when the council that is meant to represent me cannot grasp these concepts, I lose faith.

I have heard arguments for this decision being that we in such a small area as West Northants do not create significant emissions in relation to a global issue such as climate change, so any change made is of little effect. This is untrue, the only way for change is to not deny the problem and act locally, all of us in this room have an impact. In fact, we as a country are ignorantly claiming to have greatly reduced emissions, when we’ve only offloaded them to the countries with a high manufacturing base and imported their goods claiming low emissions for ourselves. An example of this is China. Now I do fully understand and have seen for myself that China has its major problems and should not be idolised, but it has often been demonised for its high emissions. I have just returned from visiting my grandmother in Yulin, Guangxi, an insignificant city founded on manufacturing, and despite that, the efforts made to reverse CO2 emissions are obvious. Every car is modern and electric, and for everyday transport, electric mopeds are commonplace and convenient. Bullet trains run in all directions and are very affordable, my fare from the city Nanning to Yulin, a distance of 228km, was £9 and took an hour and a half.  Solar panels are commonplace on top of people’s houses and apartment buildings, and when taking the train I could see from the window not only endless farming and countryside but fields of solar panels as well. And when flying into Shanghai, there are rows and rows of wind turbines. And the results of these efforts can be seen in my grandma’s combined utility bills: £5 a month.

When I currently do not have the power to evoke change or support the continuation of good causes, how can I trust that this decision is in my generation’s best interest for its future, especially with the lack of due process from this council? And, for the other decisions affecting other areas of my life here, can I expect that they will receive the same lack of care?

Details of the committee agenda and attendees: https://westnorthants.moderngov.co.uk/ieListDocuments.aspx?CId=496&MId=2926&Ver=4

Recording of the meeting: https://www.youtube.com/live/AylHrhgrSnU?si=5qgZj0n-ItNHRYfj
Statements from members of the public are at the start of the meeting, with Pippa's speech about 26 minutes in.