A motion to embed the rights of nature into every decision a council makes has been proposed by a newly appointed Green Party cabinet member.

Cllr Rachel Rodwell took up the post of cabinet member for climate transition and nature recovery at Maidstone just days before the full borough council meeting on Monday.

Cllr Rodwell said: “This motion is not about seeking legal personhood for any natural identity. That is something which we do not have the legal power to do.

“But unlike KCC, we have not rescinded our declaration of climate emergency and biodiversity collapse.

“In 2021 [when the emergency was declared], this council came together to ensure that we continue to work towards long-term future resilience - safeguarding all our communities as we face climate change and the alarming decline of species in the UK.

“This is the first practical step towards that.

“We can recognise that nature has rights and consider more specifically what we have to do to ensure that they are upheld.”

Cllr Rodwell suggested one route might be to appoint an advocate or guardian within the council to ensure that the environmental impact of every council decision was considered, and who could also seek to “engage our communities in a more meaningful way”.

Or, she said, the council could work towards pursuing a supplementary planning document (SPD) for nature, setting out how the council would address the issues.

Cllr Rodwell said: “The objectives of the motion are deliberately vague so as to allow council staff the flexibility to take this concept forward and propose solutions that those delivering it believe would be most impactful.”

Her motion - that the council explore measures to embed the rights of nature in policy and practice, where it was possible and practical to do - was seconded by Cllr Brian Clark (Lib Dem).

But she was criticised by Cllr Claudine Russell, leader of the Conservative group, who argued that since there was a Green/Lib Dem administration running the council, there was no need for such a motion.

She said: “This is yet another motion from yourselves [the administration] to yourselves.

“I urge you to stop doing this. It’s a cabinet-led council. You have the power to do this without this motion. It’s just another word salad.”

She added: “I don’t actually know what this motion is asking me to support. I don’t think this council goes around not having regard to nature. We are doing this anyway.”

But Cllr Paul Harper (Fant and Oakwood Independents) thought it was a good idea. He said: “We need to push forward with this. Particularly in the urban area, where people may not think of nature so much.

Cllr Clive English (Lib Dem) said: “When a similar motion to this was discussed previously, the Lib Dems voted against it. But that was trying to give personhood and legal rights to nature.”

“Today’s motion is not difficult to understand. Our Local Plan is a bit flawed in protecting nature and the rural landscape of the borough. We need a full suite of policies to protect nature and inform what we do.

Cllr Harwood (Lib Dems) said: “I am concerned about having lots of declarations on things. But nature still isn’t recovering. It is in catastrophic decline even on protected sites where there is no obvious reason.”

Cllr Harwood said he remembered the days of being able to walk into a field full of butterflies, and the days when every garden had a hedgehog. He said: “Those days have gone, and our young people have never experienced that.”

Cllr Clark had his own anecdotal measure of the decline in nature.

He recalled car journeys as a child to visit his nan, where the windscreen would be covered in bugs by the end of the trip. Nowadays, he said, it was rare to see even one or two splattered insects on the glass.

Cllr Steve Povey was one of three newly elected Reform UK councillors, attending a full council meeting for the first time.

He said: “I fully understand the call to support nature. We’ve all got a responsibility to see this green and beautiful planet handed on to our children and grandchildren, and I’m sure everybody in the room appreciates that.

“There is a barn close to my property that was disused for decades. I used to see badgers, bats and owls coming out of it all the time.

“My concern is over the vagueness of the proposal and whether this is just an addition of more red tape.

“The council has enough red tape to deal with. I struggle to see the benefits of this.”

“When I was elected as a councillor, I decided to adopt a very simple philosophy. If there is a proposal on the table; do we understand the costs, and do we understand the impact? Are we just writing an open cheque? Will our residents appreciate the impact of the proposal?

“I’m afraid this motion is so vague, I can’t support it.”

The Mayor, Cllr Martin Round, referred the motion to a meeting of the Climate Transition, Corporate and Environmental Services Policy Advisory Committee for further discussion.

In September, the new Reform UK administration at Kent County Council voted to rescind its former declaration of a climate emergency.