Rural campaign group the Countryside Alliance has urged Bath and North East Somerset Council not to go vegan after it was urged to go “plant-based” to tackle climate change.

The council was asked last month to serve only plant-based food at council events. Addressing a full meeting of the council as a member of the public, former Green candidate for Peasedown, Matt Cooper, said: “This council has the opportunity and I think the duty to simply prioritise plant-based food options wherever they can, treating the climate emergency with the urgency it requires.”

Council leader Kevin Guy invited Mr Cooper to meet with him to discuss the idea, but the Countryside Alliance has called the proposal “an attack on freedom of choice” and a “threat to the countryside,” urging the council to focus on local seasonable produce, including meat and dairy, instead.

Countryside Alliance spokesperson Mo Metcalf-Fisher said: “There is nothing wrong with wanting a local authority to offer up a range of sustainable produce, including plant-based, but that must not come at the expense of providing equally sustainable meat and dairy products.

“Red meat produced in Britain is among the most sustainable in the world and unlike some plant-based products, very little meat consumed in the UK comes from systems that deplete rainforests and generate large amounts of emissions. Bath and North East Somerset Council should be using their platform to reinforce the value of sourcing sustainable, local produce and championing hardworking farmers, rather than advocating for any one dietary choice”.

When he addressed the council in September, Mr Cooper said: “Genuinely supporting farmers means looking honestly at the future and recognising where change is necessary. Simply continuing with the status quo is unnecessary.”

He added that both the national food strategy and committee on climate change said that a substantial reduction in meat and dairy was needed in order to meet the UK’s Paris Agreement obligations.

But Mr Metcalf-Fisher said: “Knowing where your food comes from and how it is produced is far more important than whether it is animal or plant-based. Challenging assumptions about the benefits of some plant-based products and the casual denigration of livestock farming matters because if they are allowed to go unchallenged, they threaten the viability of both the planet and the countryside.”

Although the council leader invited Mr Cooper to speak with him, no official move has been made yet by the council towards adopting a plant-based diet.

LDRS, John Wimperis