< Back Visit to Keele University’s smart energy network demonstrator site Mike Bourke 27 Feb 2024 A joint visits by SSCA, ZCS and Shropshire Council staff and elected members On the 27 February Mike Bourke (Stretton Climate Care/SSCA) and David Matthews (Zero Carbon Shropshire) visited Keele University together with five elected members of Shropshire Council’s Climate and Carbon Reduction Advisory Group and four council officers (the Assistant Director Commercial Services, the Climate Change Manager, the Communications Officer and the Video, Photography and Digital Content Officer). This followed a visit the previous week by Shropshire Council’s planning officers. Professor Trevor McMillan, the Vice-Chancellor, stressed the importance to the University of partnerships with local and regional industries and Councils in developing technical and community responses to the climate crisis. The Smart Energy Network Demonstrator (SEND) offers a practical model and research facility, backed by student courses and educational programmes (“from Skills Bootcamps to PhD’s”) to assist the development of policies and the training of apprentices and the existing workforce. The University is able to serve as an honest broker, independent of commercial or political agendas, to promote co-operation between interested parties and the general public and is already working with Staffordshire Council, and Rugeley and Dudley. Professor Zoe Robinson, Director of the Institute for Sustainable Futures, elaborated on these collaborations. Matt Dean, SEND Research and Innovation Manager, and Julian Read, Partnership Development Manager, described the Energy Park with its solar array, wind turbines and industrial battery, the relationship with the National Grid, and the associated Green Hydrogen production unit. The Shropshire delegation undertook to report back to their colleagues and explore opportunities. They welcomed Keele’s statement that “We have the staff, the students and the funding to help you”. Previous Next

Shropshire Climate Action: Local businesses What can you do as a local business? 1. Get advice on making your business more sustainable Businesses of all sizes have a vital role to play in climate action and becoming more sustainable. There are steps your businesses can take whether you’re just starting out or further along the road to net zero emissions. Search the Marches Growth Hub website and their Marches Net Zero Information Hub for net zero advice and support including green finance, funding and local authority support or use their Support Finder and search ‘Net Zero’ for the latest programmes. Sustainable Leaders in Business is an online sustainability award which helps you assess your business’ current environmental performance and set some goals for future improvement. The tool auto-fills some actions to enable you to achieve your sustainability goals, so you’re not faced with a blank canvas. Sustainable Leaders in Business: helps you to get started on your sustainability journey de-mystifies sustainable jargon celebrates your successes trains you and your staff to carry out all jobs in a greener way is there to support you through this journey. Visit the Sustainable Leaders in Business website for more information or email info@e4environment.co.uk to find out more. 2. Sign up to a Climate Fresk workshop Climate Fresk is a 3 hour facilitated workshop where you can get to grips with climate change in small groups in a safe, non-judgemental space, learn how to take action and enjoy some thought-provoking discussions. The workshops explore key drivers, mechanisms, and impacts of climate change, and map out where we are today and where we could be headed if we join forces. Previous participants have said: ‘I knew a fair bit about climate change but I learned so much new stuff. It was incredibly powerful sharing ideas in the group and understanding how everything is connected. We discussed next steps we could take and I left feeling focused and upbeat’. If you are a businesses or organisation and want to book a half day Climate Fresk workshop find out more via the BizEd Projects website. or email climate@bizedprojects.com 3. Get financial support to make your business premises more energy efficient The Marches Energy Grant (MEG) scheme provides SMEs from all sectors with free advice, energy assessments and grants for energy efficiency and renewable energy measures across Herefordshire, Shropshire and Telford & Wrekin. Sign up via: www.marchesgrowthhub.co.uk/marches-energy-grant 4. Install roof top solar panels on your business premises (Big Solar Coop) (see below) Big Solar Co-op installs solar panels on rooftops which are the size of a tennis court or bigger, and where the building has high electricity usage (prior to 2022 prices, at least £20k in electricity bills). See their website to find out more or submit information about your site via https://bigsolar.coop/submit-a-site/ for an assessment and response from the local coordinator.

Shropshire Climate Action: Reuse and share Reuse & share The environmental impact of our consumer society is huge. A ccording to WRAP 8% of global greenhouse gas emissions come from clothing and footwear. UK consumers buy more clothes per person than any other E uropean country, and wear new garments just 7 times on average.* By 2030 global c lothing consumption is predicted to rise by 63%. The p oster designed by Ge neration Zero Carbon Shropshire shows some of the environmental impacts of fashion ranging from excessive artificial fertiliser, pesticide and water use. Discarded clothing is also significant. In the UK we discard 1 million tonnes of clothing every year: 300,000 tonnes of clothing is thrown in the bin of which 20% goes to landfill and 80% is incinerated Much of our used clothing is dumped in countries which lack the facilities to manage our waste such as Ghana Synthetic textiles e.g. nylon, polyester and acrylics, are made from plastics derived from fossil fuels. They are used in 60% of our garments and can take up to 200 years to decompose. (*Reference Daily Mail study) Actions you can take Don't throw things away. Consider i nstea d: Arrange a Swap and Share event - to share resources in your communi ty, exchanging unwanted items for something new! Use this Toolkit. Stop buying from fast fashion brands which produce clothes at high speeds and low costs to maximise profits. Instead educate yourself on sustainable brands and share this knowledge with others. Subscribe to Ethical Consumer magazine . Buy from charity shops or second hand stores Repair or fix items and, where you can, repurpose See some of the great ideas for reusing clothes from Generation Zero Carbon Shropshire Set up a Library of Things in your community. This video shows how Library of Things operate across London as part of a circular economy. Library of Things (LOTs) Library of Things are local membership schemes which lend out things for your home, projects and activities (e.g. DIY, gardening, cooking, cleaning, camping equipment etc.). The schemes allow people to hire items on short-term loan for a small fee. Did you know that the average drill is used for only 7 minutes in its lifetime? These schemes help to cut down on clutter, waste and carbon emissions and save you money. Check out the Library of Things in our region – the Share Shack is run by the Active Wellbeing Society in Birmingham. Local examples in our area Oswestry Climate Action Hub Oswestry Climate Action Hub (OsCAH) , is based in the heart of the town centre at 36 Bailey Street with a mission to: "Make, Share, Grow, Repair". The Hub provides an inclusive space for local residents to meet and engage in events and initiatives from mends and upcycling, to skill shares, swaps. and growing your own plants. They also have a swap shop in the same street. The aim is for the people of Oswestry and nearby areas to help each other live more sustainably and build resilience against climate change. Swaps, shares and giveaways Climate Action Hub Telford holds regular pop up swap, share and giveaway events at their Sustainable Saturday events held every other month at Belmont Hall, Wellington. Other groups including Telford Repair Café , Terracycle Telford and Transition Telford also work with them. See the event listing on their website and ideas of what you could do in your community . Baby Stop is a project of The Severn Community Charitable trust who hold monthly baby product shares The With Love From project in Oswestry has created a Shropshire Shared Wardrobe of outfits for conscientious shoppers which you can also borrow from Oswestry library! Donations of party clothing, footwear and accessories are also welcome. Little Stars is a Shropshire based charity who provide pre-loved items to families in need for children of all ages. They also have pre-loved school uniform donation points in the following Tesco stores - Shrewsbury, Ellesmere, Whitchurch, and Ludlow Crafts and tools Scrappies sells end-of-line and recycled resources for craft, art and household. It is also an outlet for T ools for Self Reliance providing pre-owned and refurbished tools to help with DIY projects. Address: Scrappies, 1 Sherratt Court, Beaumont Road, Church Stretton, Shropshire, SY6 6BN. Tel: 01694 328 508. Email: info@scrappies.org Tools for Self Reliance also re-furbishes tools (including haberdashery and sewing machines) that are no longer needed and then sends them to local organisations in Africa to support rural artisans and craftworkers. Email: marchestools@gmail.com Furniture and equipment The Shed (for the people of Highley) receives donations from the community including toys and clothes (except large furniture) and provides help to local people in need. Warp It is an online tool supported by Shropshire council which assists with re-using equipment and furniture. The portal allows you to claim and exchange items you wish with other organisations. Schools may register and login for free. Click here for more information. Email: info@getwarpit.com

< Back Bishop’s Castle receives £238k for local nature projects Bernard Edwards, chair of the Going Wild in Bishop’s Castle Steering Group 27 Feb 2024 Apply for a job opportunity by Monday 11th March Going Wild in Bishop’s Castle is celebrating an award of £238k from The National Lottery Heritage Fund to hire staff as coordinators to support the community to develop and implement local wildlife and nature projects. The group has been working with community groups over the last two years with projects in and around Bishop’s Castle focused on the ecological management of local land, including building and installing swift boxes and establishing meadowlands on local properties. Going Wild in Bishop’s Castle has become known for its winter talks and summer activities series. The ‘Going Wild Kid’s Club’ also provides an extracurricular outdoor education and bushcraft club for young people in the community. The grant, secured with help from Enterprise House, will allow Going Wild in Bishop’s Castle to hire a part-time coordinator and a part-time assistant to support the development, delivery and monitoring of local biodiversity projects. Bernard Edwards, chair of the Going Wild in Bishop’s Castle Steering Group said “This will help us increase wildlife locally and share our activities with a wider audience to showcase the potential of community-level rewilding. Above all, this is about joining the people of Bishop’s Castle to learn together and celebrate our landscape through embracing nature”. Town councillor Grant Perry said “The town council is delighted to have supported and continues to support Going Wild in Bishop’s Castle. This project helps us contribute to the town’s Climate and Nature Recovery Plan.” The Project Co-ordinator role will be based out of Enterprise House. Prospective applicants are invited to review the job description on the website . Application closing date: Monday, 11 th March. Previous Next

< Back Shropshire & Telford residents go to Restore Nature Now March in London Fiona Morgan 22 Jun 2024 Coming together to call for urgent action on the Climate and Nature crises Shropshire, Telford and Wrekin were well represented at the Restore Nature Now national march on 22 June with residents from Broseley, Craven Arms, Ludlow, Much Wenlock, Oswestry, Shrewsbury and Telford among others, descending on London to make their voices heard. Over 60,000 people were noted to have taken part calling for the Government to take immediate action to address the nature and climate crises and protect and restore our UK wildlife. Among the 350 groups represented included the National Trust, RSPB, Woodland Trust, The Wildlife Trusts, Extinction Rebellion, Surfers Against Sewage, as well as indigenous people from the Global South who are in the direct line of fire from these devastating interconnected crises. Make your vote count for Climate and Nature on the 4 July. Previous Next

< Back Protest in Shrewsbury to "Say No to Rosebank" 8 Nov 2025 Calling for an end to drilling for oil and gas in the North Sea Campaigners from Extinction Rebellion Shrewsbury, the Shrewsbury Green Party, and Fossil Free Shropshire held a street stall on Pride Hill to raise awareness about the Rosebank oilfeld. 100 postcards were signed to Julia Buckley MP asking her to sign the "Stop Rosebank" pledge. Although the Labour manifesto promised no new oil and gas licenses, environmentalists are increasingly concerned the Government is set to U-turn on this. The Rosebank oilfield will do nothing to lower UK bills or ensure energy security and will create more CO2 than the combined annual emissions of the 28 poorest countries in the world. Take action here . Previous Next

< Back As world leaders meet at COP29 - Shropshire takes action Fiona Morgan 1 Nov 2024 Sign up to the Climate Action Webinar on 20th November & Nature Recovery Conference on 6th December Global leaders regrouped last month at the UN biodiversity summit ( COP16 ) in Colombia and this month, from 11 - 22 November, COP29 will take place in Baku, Azerbaijan. While we wait to see the outcomes of those global conferences, we can get more involved in taking Climate and Nature action closer to home! follow Market Drayton Climate Action's lead by sending a letter to ministers at the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero as they prepare for COP29 asking them to help set ambitious new targets for lowering carbon emissions. For details of the letter go to Market Drayton's website we are also pleased to announce two local events which you can attend to support action across Shropshire, Telford and Wrekin. Shropshire Climate Action have announced the date of the follow up webinar to the Accelerating Change conference on climate action for Shropshire, Telford and Wrekin. The webinar will take place online on Wednesday 20 November, 7pm. Join us: for an update on the progress made since the Accelerating Change conference which took place back in May to explore the next steps and opportunities to get involved in emerging projects to accelerate climate action in communities across Shropshire, Telford and Wrekin to feedback on what local groups and communities need and how they can contribute to county-wide initiatives. The webinar is open to all. Don't miss out on this opportunity to be part of the solution. You can book your tickets via this Eventbrite link . Meanwhile the Shropshire Association of Local Councils, Middle Marches Community Land Partnership and partners have also organised the Local Nature Recovery Strategy Conference on 6 December, from 9.15am in Church Stretton. You can hear from national and local experts about what town and parish councils can do, and are doing, to help restore nature and biodiversity in their areas. Speakers include: Baroness Natalie Bennett, Vice Chair, National Association of Local Councils (NALC) Lynn Parker, Shropshire, Telford and Wrekin Local Nature Recovery Strategy representatives of town and parish councils and community groups already taking action. For more information about the full programme line up please click here . To book your place please email: conference@middlemarchescommunitylandtrust.org.uk Please encourage representatives from your town and parish councils to attend and be inspired about the action they can take in their communities. Previous Next

< Back Watch Channel 4’s “The Great Climate Fight” documentary Mike Watkins 21 Nov 2023 Featuring Bishop's Castle Heat and Wind Project Channel 4’s two-part documentary “The Great Climate Fight” with Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall, Mary Portas and Kevin McCloud argues that Net Zero can be achieved, the only thing preventing this is the government. The programme demonstrates that going green is now cheaper, studies how other countries are doing it, and puts it all to UK Government ministers. You can watch Bishop's Castle Heat and Wind Project feature in Episode 1 at 14 minutes and 20 seconds . Bishop’s Castle’s Climate and Environment group, Lightfoot, have described how “Keo Films spent many days with us, earlier this year, documenting the progress and obstacles we face in getting this wind-powered heat network through the early stage of the planning process, especially as the wind turbine planned to provide most of the power for the Energy Centre (to be near the college and SpArC) is proposed to be just inside the AONB, at the Conery. Full planning application is still a year away but we have been through a lot of hurdles via pre-planning and fund-raising. A 6-month long ecology study of the wind turbine site is currently underway, together with further grant applications and a planned, full Feasibility Study.” Previous Next

< Back The Marches Real Food and Farming Conference: 15th - 16th September Jane Cullen 16 Sept 2023 Our reflections on this fantastic ground breaking local food conference The Conference held at Partridge Farm, near Bishop’s Castle, was a greatly enjoyable day and showed many exciting projects to a new audience – if you are at all interested in your food, where it comes from, how it is grown, how far it has travelled to get to you – you know all the issues - here were practical, pragmatic and possible models that deserve to be known, and adopted, much more widely. The dung beetle safari, led by Claire Whittle who is a farm veterinary surgeon specialising in conservation medicine and regenerative agriculture, demonstrated how dung beetles not only make the structure of the soil much better but rather amazingly also reduce parasite organs in livestock. Claire’s enthusiasm and knowledge lit up those on safari. Another eye opener was the Johnson-Su Reactor which Kate Gatacre opened and described. Although I could not build one in my small urban garden anyone with a bit more space could: all you need is an old pallet, some lengths of drainpipe, wire, fleece, sawdust, green waste and some space. The beautiful, crumbly, clean- smelling compost which was dug out was absolutely perfect. Having experience as a producer I went to the session on Market Linkage, which followed the path between local producers Tish Dockerty and Jan Morgan-Birtles, who trade regularly at the ‘Local to Ludlow’ Market, and a Food Hub in Birmingham, via Slow Food and the Open Food Network. It’s good to see technology making these links quick and practical - for the good of all. Lizzie and Jane Hulton-Harrop also gave an excellent presentation as they charted their move into Regenerative Farming. Pollardine Farm’s soil fertility is improving, rapidly responding to changes in their practice – the first one being a really good rest for the land. There’s much more to hear about this project and the careful research behind the changes, look out for our forthcoming video of the climate and Nature related work being done at Pollardine Farm - which will be available soon. Previous Next

< Back Shropshire residents out in force in London for “The Big One For Biodiversity” March on 22nd April Fiona Morgan 22 Apr 2023 Members of SSCA joined in the March calling on the Government to protect Nature and take action on climate. On Saturday 22 April (Earth Day) people from across Shropshire and the UK attended the “The Big One For Biodiversity” March in Westminster calling on the Government to take meaningful climate action and halt the biodiversity crisis affecting the UK’s wildlife. The event was organised by Extinction Rebellion in partnership with over 200 environmental and social justice groups including Greenpeace, Friends of the Earth, Fair Trade Foundation, Stop Ecocide, Keep Britain Tidy and faith groups. It was estimated that 65,000 people attended the March including children and their families to show their concern about the current crises, many of whom made some amazing creative art works to demonstrate their love and appreciation of nature. Previous Next

< Back New guide on Shropshire's Green Spaces to promote wellbeing Fiona Morgan and Shropshire Wildlife Trust 3 Aug 2023 Featuring SSCA's Walk Through Bridgnorth's Green Spaces New guides showcasing local green spaces have been created to encourage people to spend more time outdoors experiencing natural environments to the benefit of their physical and mental health. 9 locations have been chosen across Shropshire, Telford and Wrekin. Each location has a free downloadable route, instructions on how to get there, accessibility information, and details of what you can see and do. This is one of the outcomes from a two-year Green Social Prescribing project, run by a partnership between Energize STW (the active partnership for Shropshire, Telford and Wrekin) and Shropshire Wildlife Trust, with support from both local authorities in our County. The 9 guides are available to view on the Shropshire Wildlife Trust website at www.shropshirewildlifetrust.org.uk/local-greenspaces Our South Shropshire Climate Action Walk Through Bridgnorth's Green Spaces leaflet that we produced in partnership with Bridgnorth Library and Sustainable Bridgnorth features as one of the 9 walks. Sharon Smith, Green Social Prescribing Officer at Energize STW and Shropshire Wildlife Trust said: “ Our research has shown both social prescribers and the public were needing more information about local green spaces which are free to access and enjoy. Our focus was around what we coined the 3 Ls – low cost, low level, and local. ” Previous Next

Shropshire Climate Action: Our 15 transport asks Our '15 Asks' of Shropshire Council Our '15 Asks' In June 2023 South Shropshire Climate Action (SSCA) wrote to Shropshire Council seeking a formal response to specific proposals, called the '15 Asks'. We received a response from which gives the latest position of the Council on transport issues across the county. Click here to read i t. The '15 Asks' 1. Transform bus services to maximise the shift from car trips to buses 2. Fund the transformation of all buses so that they are zero carbon 3. Introduce a “one ticket” public transport policy covering all buses regardless of operator and all local rail (see for example, Transport for Cornwall ) 4. Design and fund a Park and Ride service for Ludlow and Bridgnorth served by electric buses 5. Design and fund cycle paths to connect schools and colleges with their catchments and promote the widespread availability and adoption of electric bikes 6. Design and fund car-share clubs/schemes 7. Establish planning policies and rules to require workplace and school travel plans with specific targets for the reduction of car trips 8. Establish planning policies and rules to require all new housing to be designed and located to maximise the opportunities for active travel and public transport 9. Establish a county-wide “Mobility as a Service” (MaaS) project 10. Fund public electric vehicle charging points 11. Adopt 20mph speed limits county-wide 12 Reduce embodied carbon associated with transport infrastructure 13 Adopt freight consolidation measures to reduce delivery vehicles and promote e-cargo bikes in market towns for collection and delivery 14 Adopt Low Traffic Neighbourhood (LTN) principles to exclude or limit vehicles on designated streets 15 Improve pedestrian facilities and infrastructure such as wider pavements and car-free streets