The environmental expert asked to brief Swindon councillors on the dangers of climate change is calling for action rather than words from the local authority.

In August, Dave King welcomed the setting up of five working groups by Swindon Borough Council in its bid to tackle the issue.

But Mr King, who runs the One Planet consultancy in Royal Wootton Bassett, has been frustrated since in trying to find out how to get involved.

He said: “I’ve been trying to get in contact with the council leader David Renard and the cabinet member Keith Williams but I’ve got nowhere.”

In an email to Coun Renard, Mr Knight made reference to the council suggesting Extinction Rebellion protesters who defaced the borough council’s signs in October should join the working groups.

It said: “I have had limited feedback, heard rumours and seen newspaper articles asking protesters to ‘join a working group’ rather than protest.

“After repeated requests, and some meetings, I am yet to see or be sent any coherent information on the working groups that have been set up, a list of people who have been invited to join them, how people can get involved or be considered for membership what the mandate and objective of each group is, and how success will be measured.”

Coun Williams, the cabinet member for corporate services and organisation excellence, said Mr Knight has been invited to a meeting in the new year.

He said: “All the groups are set up and three of the five – transport; environment and air quality, and buildings, industry, economy and planning – have already met .

The main group met recently where we went through the matrix produced by Friends of the Earth on ‘31 climate actions that councils can take and their co-benefits’ and discussed how to strengthen the council’s commitment to the climate agenda.”

Coun Williams added that the authority’s website will highlight work on climate change at Euclid Street so people can more easily find further information.

He said: “We will be putting additional resources in place to support the working groups and a new ‘Climate’ section on the website will help to inform the public about what we are doing.”

He said: “There will be a big meeting in January where we hope to invite everyone who has indicated an interest in the subject and in helping SBC to achieve its goals.

“Mr Knight will receive an invitation and is welcome to come along and hear what we have been doing and hopefully work with us to influence what the forward plans will be.”

Mr Knight said: “It’s not only me who’s interested, there’s a lot of people who have a great interest in this and want to be involved and support their local council in doing something about climate change.

“It’s something that needs concerted action now, not just party political waffle.”