Newark and Sherwood District Council’s Cabinet defer latest plans for Motion for the Ocean

Plans to spend £55,000 educating the public about the dangers the oceans face have been deferred as “the money could be better spent elsewhere”.

At Newark and Sherwood District Council’s Cabinet meeting on Tuesday (January 21), members heard an update on the council’s Motion for the Ocean commitments, activities to date, and future plans.

Motion for the Ocean was created to enable local authorities to play their part in realising a clean, healthy and productive ocean, developed by leading ocean experts Emily Cunningham, Dr. Pamela Buchan, and Nicola Bridge, together with councillors and officers from across the country.

Councillors unanimously voted to support a Motion for the Ocean put forward by Emma Oldham at a Full Council meeting in October 2023, the first Midlands authority to formally vow to act to protect our waterways and ocean in the fight against climate change and pollution, with a Motion for the Ocean Officer Group created in January 2024.

The Plastic Ocean Show’s 18-metre-long replica whale visited Newark last year to align with the Motion for the Ocean.

These efforts were praised by Emily Cunningham MBE, who said that NSDC should be “incredibly proud of all they have achieved since becoming the first Council in the Midlands to pass a Motion for the Ocean” and their “trailblazing action is paving the way for other councils”.

Initial plans for the Motion to allow all children to experience the ocean included transporting all primary-aged children to the seaside — which was found to cost an estimated £289,500 in coach transport alone for the 10,327 children in the district, and pond dipping sessions for all children would also see the same logistic and financial implications.

Another idea was taking the Plastic Ocean Show to each primary school, which was also decided against as initial estimates show that this would cost approximately £84,490.00 to hire the whale alone.

At Tuesday’s meeting, the members were asked to consider the recommendation of a transfer of £10,000 from the Cleaner, Safer, Greener reserve to Environmental Services for day-to-day activities around the commitment to grow ocean literacy.

The members were also asked for the recommendation of an additional £45,000 to pay for a touring theatre company to visit all 45 primary schools to ensure all primary school-aged children have a first-hand experience of the ocean.

But at Tuesday’s meeting, the Cabinet members agreed to defer the decisions to a later date.

Paul Taylor thanked the officers for their hard work on the Motion, but argued that with the recent flooding, this fund would be better spent on flood defences.

“I’m concerned about the application of £45,000 and ask to defer that consideration until after the review of the community plan,” he said, “I believe we have a pressing issue around flooding and we all know we seem to talk every time about flooding and Newark Town Council doesn’t have a flood warden, and they will be asking us for more money and we need to put people and property first.”

Johno Lee agreed that the council should be grateful to Emma Oldham for her efforts, and that if it wasn’t for her enthusiasm for green matters then the Motion wouldn’t be here today.

“[Paul Taylor] is right, we need more money for flooding — maybe if we scrap the Kiddey Stones and make sure that money goes into the right location?” he said.

“We need to make sure the money is spent in the right way.”

Jack Kellas added that he’s “not sure that’s where we should be putting £45,000, when experts say we’re doing a good job”:

“I’m against the £45,000 as I don’t think it shows value for money and goes against the comments that we’re doing well and it will be better for us to provide links and copies [to learning resources] to schools and community groups so that they can access them on their own time as often as they want.”

Chairman Paul Peacock agreed to defer both recommendations.

“I’m minded to suggest we defer the recommendation, we will be refocusing priorities in February and we can better review where we are.”

Emma Oldham said in a statement after the meeting that she was disappointed with the cabinet’s decision and that it was “deeply unsettling to see this work paused”:

“In October 2023, Newark and Sherwood became the first Midlands council to declare its commitment to the ocean—a bold, inspiring step forward. Today they showed a risk of dropping this commitment,” she said.

“While it is reasonable to defer this decision until the corporate peer review and community plan are published, we cannot ignore the commitments unanimously agreed upon by the full Council in October 2023. It is our duty as a council to now act on them.

“Flooding is undoubtedly a top priority for our residents—and that’s precisely why we must not fail in delivering this motion. Flood resilience and river health are intrinsically linked.

“Recent flooding underscores the urgent need for healthy rivers that can bolster our resilience against the increasing frequency and severity of such events. In the inevitable case of future floods, we must also ensure that floodwaters carry as little pollution as possible to safeguard residents’ health. Flooding and river health are not separate or competing priorities—they are two sides of the same coin. Addressing one means addressing both.

“To all the staff, community groups and residents who have poured their energy into this initiative, thank you. Your efforts have not gone unnoticed, and your passion will not be forgotten.”