RYEDALE District Council has held its last full meeting before May’s elections - with recycling and climate change at the top of the agenda.

Measures around new recycling boxes for every district household, a new recycling truck and a raft of new measures to reduce carbon emissions had already been approved at committee stage, but had to be ratified at the full council meeting at Ryedale House on Thursday night.

On the new recycling measures, which also include refurbishing all the community collection points in the district, Cllr Luke Ives said: “Overall this is a positive set of recommendations. We are improving health and safety for our workers and offering a better way for residents to recycle.”

Cllr John Clark and the Liberal party pushed for the council to step back from leasing a new diesel collection vehicle, and instead ask officers to explore options for a potential electric recycling truck.

He said: “We should be looking into everything from a climate change angle.”

But Cllr Ives said that there appeared to be only one such vehicle in the country and the council’s need was too immediate to look into it.

“Electric is absolutely the future and I don’t think anyone denies that,” he said. “But all they’re doing by requesting this report is delay, delay, delay.”

The recycling measures were approved - and so were the climate change measures which had been developed by officers working with the overview and scrutiny committee.

Cllr Clark said that the climate change recommendations came after years of insufficient action. “There have been improvements and there are things that are better,” he said. “But I wouldn’t like to say in any way that we’ve done what we should have done.”

Cllr Mike Potter added: “This review’s based on a report by genuine world experts on climate change, the IPCC. The consensus is so overwhelmingly serious. We need to do whatever we can, right now.”

Towards the end of the meeting, a motion of thanks for all the leaving members was unanimously passed.

Cllr Caroline Goodrick said: “There are a lot of members who are not returning to this council, having served this council loyally over a number of years.

“To those members who are not choosing to return, can I say thank you for representing the electorate so well.”

Cllr Michael Cleary, chairman of the council, said he wanted to thank all the members who are standing down: Cllr Geoff Acomb, Cllr Val Arnold, Cllr Luke Ives, Cllr Tharik Jainu-Deen, Cllr Ed Jowitt, Cllr Brian Maud, Cllr Janet Sanderson, Cllr Tim Thornton and Cllr Robert Wainwright.

“I’ve learned a lot from them in the four years I’ve been a newbie,” he said. “And as chairman I thank them for their immense service.”