Nottingham City Council will only serve plant-based food and drink at internal meetings from the end of September, it has been announced.
Non-vegan food and drink will be banned because of the "high-carbon impact of meat and dairy products", the local authority said.
The decision means cow’s milk will no longer be served with tea and coffee, and biscuits made using milk, butter or chocolate will not be offered.
It follows lobbying by Plant-Based Councils, an offshoot of Animal Rising, which says councils should 'lead the way in normalising' plant-based food.
But Cllr Andrew Rule, an independent opposition councillor, said the decision had been 'steamrollered through' and councillors had not been given the chance to vote on the matter.
The Countryside Alliance criticised the move as 'the wrong approach' and renewed calls for councils to back its alternative motion, which backs farmers of all sectors.
Mo Metcalf-Fisher, director of external policy for the body, said: “Nottingham City Council should be sourcing its produce from local farmers and growers, not siding with animal rights fanatics.
“This attempt at grandstanding represents an attack on freedom of choice and the custodians of our countryside who work incredibly hard to produce sustainable food for the nation, while protecting and enhancing our countryside.
“This decision presents challenging questions for the wider Labour Party and I hope the government distances itself from this appalling move against our livestock farming community.”
Activists had claimed that failing to ban food and drink from internal meetings would make it harder for the authority to meet its target of net zero carbon emissions by 2028.
In a written question calling on the council to impose the change, Ruby Mucenieks, a supporter of Plant-Based Councils, said: “The science is clear that meat and dairy are major contributors to the climate and ecological emergencies.”
In July, Calderdale Council in West Yorkshire committed to introduce completely plant-based catering, while a council in Hertfordshire pledged to introduce vegetarian internal catering by next year.
Elsewhere, ten local authorities, including Suffolk, Cornwall, and Dorset, have voted in favour of the Countryside Alliance’s alternative motion.
This commits councils to keeping meat and dairy on the menu while supplying produce from local farmers and growers.
