In May 2019, the council unanimously passed a motion made by then-mayor K Gurunathan to declare a climate emergency. Current mayor Janet Holborow, who seconded the emergency declaration, is the remaining councillor who voted on the declaration that is still in elected office.

Only councillor Bede Laracy voted for his own motion on Thursday that would have asked officials to produce a report at the next council meeting to lay out “the operational and policy effects the declaration has had” on the council since adoption, any identifiable expenditures “that is attributable to the declaration” and “identifiable effects of the declaration on the community”.

The report also asked for an analysis “setting out the advantages and disadvantages” of revoking, amending or reaffirming the declaration; as well as “the basis on which the emergency was declared”.

Laracy said his motion was not to deny climate change and the human role in it.

The declaration went through three elections without being reviewed and it raised questions about “have we got the settings right for that”, he said.

The declaration wasn’t part of the council’s policy work programme, and it wasn’t reviewed regularly every three years, Laracy said.

“I think it’s part of good governance to ask ourselves these questions about the principles we uphold. It’s important to think about the principles as we go along.”

In response to councillors’ questions, council chief executive Darren Edwards said a review would take time, and officials could at best outline what the review would look like at the meeting in July.

Councillor Rob McCann called the motion a “dog whistle” for those who did not believe in climate change to rally behind.

Holborow said in the years since the Kāpiti Coast council’s climate emergency declaration, other councils in the country had made similar declarations and none felt it was necessary to “waste council time” rescinding a symbolic statement on the importance of focusing on climate change.

“Any challenge to that sends a message to our community, to our country ... that we don’t care about climate change,” she said, adding the amount of effort required to fulfil the motion would distract the council from other policy work.

“I can understand the concern brought it up in the first place that we made a declaration without a report behind it ... but unfortunately the message that it’s sending is maybe unintended, but really unfortunate.”

During the meeting’s public speaking session, Jenny Rowan, the Kāpiti Coast mayor between 2007 and 2013, said the motion should be withdrawn and councillors should get on with the “urgent” matters related to climate change.

She asked councillors to consider what the news headlines would be if they passed the motion, about “how embarrassing it is for this district that once led New Zealand with its sustainable environmental policies”.