THE senior councillor heading Dorset’s climate emergency panel says he would not rule out any form of sustainable power generation for the county.

Responding to a question about the Navitus wind farm off the Dorset coast, which was turned down in September 2015, Cllr Ray Bryan said, in his opinion, the council should consider all sources of power generation into the future. But he added he expected if Navitus was to be attempted again that decision was also likely to be made by the government because of its national importance.

He acknowledged that the wind farm alone would have produced enough electricity for the whole of the county.

He told Tuesday’s cabinet meeting that work on climate change was progressing and that more than 30 items for discussion had been looked at.

“Behind the scenes there is a lot of work going on. We, as a council, are taking this very seriously,” he said.

Climate Extinction campaigners will meet with Dorset Council in the coming week to again press the case for urgent action.

Cllr Ray Bryan says he has welcomed the group’s input and the view of Friends of the Earth and others to the debate about what can be done in the county.

Two Dorset mayor spoke at the meeting, their respective town councils having now also declared a climate emergency.

Wimborne councillor and town mayor Shane Bartlett said he was concerned about pressure being put on councillors to agree for authorities to be carbon neutral by 2030. He said that while it was the right direction of travel it had to be properly costed and he was unable to commit his town council to such a promise without the full facts.

Sherborne mayor Jon Andrews said he shared the concern. He said that the Government ought to be giving a lead in planning for climate change. He said that while local councils might want to see every new house with photovoltaic cells, water butts and heat source pumps there was nothing in planning law which could make developers follow that route.

Planning brief holder on the cabinet David Walsh promised to raise the issue with MPs and to attempt to get the points into the next round of discussions on the cross-Dorset local plan.