< Back Another successful year for CPRE Shropshire's Hedgerow Heros project Sarah Jameson 2 Apr 2025 6 kilometres of new hedgerow planted across Shropshire CPRE Shropshire’s Hedgerow Heroes project is coming to the end of its fourth year. This winter we have successfully planted over 6km of new native hedgerow in the Shropshire countryside on a mix of sites from working farms and smallholdings to community Scout camps and primary schools. We would like to thank all the wonderful volunteers – nearly 300 of them! – who have come out to help us in rain and shine to plant – we really could not have done it without their help, support and continued enthusiasm. There are two outlier events to go: on 21 May we have our final art workshop at Wheathill near Ludlow: a cyanotype session (printmaking with plants and the sun), led by Shrewsbury artist Andrew Howe. In September there will be a talk and walk all about the field names of the upper Clun at Newcastle Community Centre. To book on either of these events, email Sarah or keep an eye on our website . Previous Next

< Back Green Shropshire Xchange Chris Deaves 31 Mar 2025 A decade of achievement GSX has now merged with Shropshire Climate Action: we reflect here on the achievements and legacy over more than a decade. A Big Green Gathering was held in Church Stretton in 2012 to launch the new Environmental network, Green Shropshire Xchange (GSX). The main aims were to support actions on Climate change and other issues to protect the environment. GSX joined the board of the Voluntary Community Sector Assembly) as the Environmental Forum and with lottery funds was able to give seed-corn grants to small local projects. Big Green Gatherings were regular events to help campaigners to network GSX contributed to local action on Energy, Transport and Local Food, including setting up an Energy subgroup which worked with the Marches LEP Energy Strategy team, Marches Energy Agency and council climate teams. In 2017 a further lottery fund allowed more grants for projects and also a new website. Big Green Gatherings in the late 20teens resulted in GSX helping to set up Shropshire Against Pointless Plastics. GSX produced a Climate Action Guide to help local people make changes. In 2024 Zero Carbon Shropshire held a Climate Conference and agreed to set up Shropshire Climate Action (SCA) to replace ZCS and SSCA. GSX steering group reviewed their role and agreed to merge with SCA. Thanks to all those who were involved with GSX, especially the chairs over the years: David Currant, Tony Green and Rob Saunders. Previous Next

< Back SSCA at Bridgnorth Green Festival Fiona Morgan 9 Sept 2023 Sharing climate action information, swapping and sharing resources and providing energy efficiency advice We had a great time at the second Bridgnorth Green Festival on Saturday 9th September. The event was really well organised by Sustainable Bridgnorth and held on a blazing hot day. We talked to lots of people about what we and other group in our network do on climate and Nature action. We also had a swap stand and people enjoyed the opportunity to reuse and swap items as part of #secondhandseptember . We rehomed lots of gardening gloves, baking equipment, picture frames, clothes, books and a dog bowl among other items! Thank you everyone for your support and donations! Our volunteers were also running the retrofit exhibition stand, providing advice and information to people on how to make their homes more energy efficient and reduce carbon and heating bills in the process. Previous Next

< Back Get ready for the county-wide Green Open Homes event this November Heather Kieniewicz 17 Oct 2025 Book your viewing of energy efficient homes across Shropshire, Telford and Wrekin and beyond Local charity Marches Energy Agency is running Green Open Homes this year across weekends in November. Homeowners across Shropshire, Herefordshire and Telford & Wrekin will be opening their doors to visitors, for free, to show and explain how they’ve made their homes more energy efficient. It’s a unique opportunity for visitors to experience first-hand things like heat pumps, triple glazing, underfloor heating and solar panels, to ask ‘daft’ questions without being made to feel daft, and without any sales pressure. What does underfloor heating actually feel like? How loud is a heap pump really? How much do you save if you have solar panels and a battery? These questions and many more answered! The properties can be found using the postcode search at https://www.greenopenhomes.net/ So start planning your visits! It’s a wonderful opportunity to learn, and to visit some corners of the Marches region you possibly don’t know. In addition to this fantastic event, Marches Energy Agency also offers: surveys and advice for homeowners to support your own home retrofit; a pathway to reach EPC band C if you’re a landlord; and free training and workshops if you’re a builder wanting to expand your retrofit knowledge and grow your business. Check out https://futurereadyhomes.org.uk/ for more information. Previous Next

< Back What is Going Wild in Bishop’s Castle? Dan Hodgkiss 1 Aug 2024 How the project is developing to support local wildlife Going Wild in BC, often known simply as Going Wild, is about improving green spaces around the town and parish of Bishop’s Castle for the benefit of people and wildlife. It’s an integral part of Bishop's Castle’s Town Council Biodiversity Action plan, our local response to the Biodiversity crisis - the current sorry state of our wildlife. We’ll be surveying at least 20 sites across the parish, creating a picture of the town’s wildlife and habitat management plans to help them flourish. We’re also recruiting, supporting and training volunteers to help look after these spaces, ensuring their survival beyond the lifetime of the project. People won’t protect what they don’t know, so a big part of this project is engaging local people with nature on their doorstep through joining in local events and running regular kids' clubs. Our goal is to produce a ‘how-to’ toolkit, to allow local councils across Shropshire and the wider UK to replicate our plan. Actions as simple as planting an acorn or complex as creating a pond from scratch both have value. It’s not rocket science: together we can make a world where we thrive alongside the rest of nature. Get in touch with Dan at goingwild@lightfootenterprises.org Previous Next

< Back SSCA Four years on: Our next steps Jane Cullen 3 Oct 2023 Looking ahead for 2023 and beyond SSCA is now four years old and we are halfway through our benefactor’s very generous donation. The coordinators have enabled SSCA to continue to strengthen networks across Shropshire, building closer links with local climate and environment groups and wider voluntary and local government organisations, to support the county’s transition towards net zero. This in turn benefits peoples’ health, wellbeing and finances. This work has culminated in the development of our new website which showcases the fantastic work that is already happening across Shropshire to help inspire individuals, communities, and organisations to take climate and environmental action. We will notify you of the launch of the new website very soon.SSCA is now entering a decisive phase which requires us to make moves towards acquiring future funding to sustain our work. This is more vital than ever. Any support, advice, or experience that readers can offer would be very welcome. This could take the form of a small monthly donation from as many supporters as possible. If you are willing and able to do this please set up a BACS transfer to the following bank account: Marches Energy Agency; Sort Code: 08-92-99; Account Number: 65044713; Reference: DONATION SSCA-NCZ. We need volunteers to support our many initiatives including the retrofit exhibition, producing and sharing user friendly toolkits and videos to support and inspire people to take local climate and Nature action, updating our new website, writing articles for the newsletter and representing us at events and talks. Please contact us by email on SSCA@mea.org.uk you will be very warmly received. Our next steps: Action Learning Project The major focus of our time and energy over the next 12 months will be on an Action Learning Research project. We have received a grant from Shropshire Council’s Climate Change Taskforce to undertake an exploration of 3 or 4 communities in South Shropshire and how they can adapt and develop resilience in the face of the Climate and Nature crises as they transition towards net zero. The purpose of the project is to learn from their experience, to find out what is successful, what is not and as far as possible the reasons. One aspect to emphasize is that these projects have to be driven by the community itself, it is not being done to or for them!We are working on developing some project possibilities covering a number of types of community including: a primary school (how to decarbonise a school); a town at the beginning of the climate action process (how to decarbonise a community); a very rural parish (how to decarbonise a remote community); an organisation with county wide membership (how to use an existing network to effect change across communities); and finally an old community building (how to decarbonise a building and use it as a wider community resource to effect behaviour change). I hope you find our future exciting and that you will enthusiastically support this refocusing of direction. Previous Next

< Back Have Your Say: Help shape the future of EV charging in Telford and Wrekin Sam Paul 24 Oct 2025 Survey now open Telford & Wrekin Council is inviting residents, businesses, and community groups to take part in a new series of public surveys aimed at improving electric vehicle (EV) charging across the borough. The survey is now and will be open for four weeks. It’s quick to complete, mobile-friendly, and tailored to different groups so you’ll be asked questions that are relevant to you. Your feedback will help guide future investment and planning, making sure EV infrastructure works for everyone, from daily commuters to visitors and local businesses. For more information: Have Your Say: Help shape the future of EV charging in Telford and Wrekin | Newsroom To complete the survey: https://online1.snapsurveys.com/j4gd16 Previous Next

< Back Shaping careers and growing the economy. Oh! And tackling climate change! Kev Oubridge interviews Mollie Roberts 1 Sept 2025 A young climate activist's perspective With Climate change, Nature loss and corporate responsibility now global priorities, the net zero sector is growing rapidly. As a young person, whether you want to work with nature, retrofit homes or build wind turbines, opportunities are opening up. A survey by the Confederation of British Industry (CBI), found the net zero sector is growing three times faster than the overall UK economy, providing high-wage jobs across the country while cutting greenhouse gas emissions and increasing energy security. The net zero economy grew by 10% in 2024, generating £83bn in gross value added (GVA).Notably, the West Midlands was a growth hotspot, along with Yorkshire and the Humber, and south-west of England, bucking the trend of economic growth being confined to London and the south-east. As we all know though, getting jobs and moving into a career as a young person starting out is no easy task: you might not have the right qualifications, competition is fierce and it’s difficult to know exactly what a role entails from a job ad. There’s also the catch-22 of employers looking for people with experience when that’s the one thing young people tend to lack. Despite these challenges, twenty-year old Mollie Roberts is optimistic about her future, but has had to work hard to get where she is. Home schooled, Mollie says she enjoyed the freedom it gave her to study topics in depth and she remembers lots of interesting field trips, including a visit to a chilli factory, and going out on the boat with local fishermen in Devon. She took humanities A-levels before realising later that she wanted to take a more science and environment-related career direction. So she took a part-time Open University Certificate in Higher Education, Environment: Journeys Through a Changing World, while at the same time working full-time as a barista in a local coffee bar. Mollie is now applying to University of Exeter to do a four-year degree, which would include a year-long research placement. Confessing to enjoying research, Mollie says she could go on to do a Masters, although her preferred option is a research job or apprenticeship, ideally on a ship in the arctic. This would involve perhaps studying solar power or changes to the ocean or glaciers. Accepting that her arctic ambitions might take a while to come to fruition, she says she would also like to work overseas in a council or government role working within the community, where she could have a tangible impact on Climate change. Mollie will be supported in doing this by an impressive CV, which includes a number of paid for and volunteering roles – she currently works as a Ranger for the National Trust at Carding Mill Valley, as well as a day a week at Stokesay Castle for English Heritage. As a closing question I asked Mollie how she felt about Climate change. Her immediate response was ‘Worried! Big time’. She went on to say that this made it difficult for her to talk about future jobs and her career, not knowing what the future holds for her and for her children, should she have any. This was a salutary reminder to me that Climate anxiety is a thing and I might have been better asking the question up front. A recent Woodland Trust study found that 70% of 16-24 year-olds are worried about Climate change, and the majority of people from older age groups are similarly concerned. Perhaps a way to cope with anxiety is to talk about Climate change with others and share your concerns. You could join a climate or nature focused group or sign up for their newsletter. Read about or take a free online course or consider attending a Climate Fresk workshop to learn more about Climate change, why it’s happening and what we can do about it. You could even follow Mollie’s example and pursue a career in the net zero sector. It’s growing rapidly and there are all sorts of opportunities for those with drive and determination. Previous Next

Shropshire Climate Action: Trains & Planes Trains & planes The climate impact of flying Air travel can offer unparalleled speed and global connectivity, but comes with a hefty carbon cost. According to Flight Free UK aviation is responsible for 7% of the UK’s greenhouse gas emissions. Even a short flight can emit hundreds of kilograms of CO2 per passenger. You can assess a flight's carbon emissions using My Climate's online CO2 flight calculator which will help you to work out how to offset the emissions. The aviation industry is making the problem worse by promoting frequent flyer incentives, airport expansion and increasing private jets. National campaigns are encouraging individuals to explore eco-friendly alternatives to flying. Possible’s campaign calls for UK flights to be cut by a third to help reduce carbon emissions and reach our climate targets. Graph credit: Flightfree.co.uk Take to the rails instead... Trains offer a great alternative to flying and driving. They are more energy-efficient: producing far fewer carbon emissions with each mile travelled. International travel by train Travelling abroad by train has never been easier! Th e Man in Seat 61 offers lots of information about using trains abroad. It provides travellers with: up-to-date information on train routes journey planners practical tips for a smooth journey. Train travel in the UK The UK rail industry is actively working towards more sustainable practices. Transport for Wales is investing in energy-efficient technologies and infrastructure upgrades to red uce carbon emissions. Using train apps to measure carbon savings Apps such as th e Trainline app and Train Pal app offer user-friendly platforms which makes it easier to plan journeys across the UK by train and bus to reduce your carbon footprint. When booking tickets, users receive information on the carbon impact and carbon savings of their journeys (see image on the right). Supporting greener business travel Trainline Business sells tickets from 270 carriers across 45 countries, covering 80% of all routes in Europe and provides businesses with cost efficiencies and controls over their travel spend. Read more here Actions you can take... Use a carbon footprint calculator to find out how much the types of transport you use contribute towards your carbon footprint. Sign up to Flight Free UK’s flight free challenge and check out their website for tips on alternative ways to travel abroad. Ask your employer to sign up to Climate Perks, a new employee benefit scheme where employers help staff to choose slower, cleaner, travel by giving them paid ‘journey days’ on top of their annual leave entitlement. Support Possible’s frequent flyer levy campaign : the more someone flies in any given year, the more tax they pay on their flights. Keep up to date with local initiatives that prioritise sustainability. See Shropshire Council’s website .

Shropshire Climate Action: Buses Buses South Shropshire Climate Action (SSCA) sent Shropshire Council "15 Transport Asks" . These are the four relating to public transport. 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 best practice Park and Ride service for Ludlow and Bridgnorth served by electric buses. SSCA received a response from Shropshire Council. Click here to read their answers Every village, every hour campaign CPRE's "Every v illage, every hour" report (2021) sets out what a comprehensive bus network for England would look like, with services to every village every hour, and the scale of investment required. It would provide a bus service fit for the climate emergency and address the inequality and social exclusion caused by the dominance of cars in rural life. Shropshire-based campaign group BeST: Better Shrewsbury Transport BeST (Better Shrewsbury Transport) comprises a group of organisatio ns and individuals keen to engage positively with the council to promote active and sustainable solutions to the town’s transport challen ges. It is campaigning for urgent action to promote active and sustainable modes of transport.

Shropshire Climate Action: Land & Biodiversity Land & biodiversity Farmers are the wardens of our land. In their hands lies both great potential and great challenges – feeding a growing population whilst also restoring ecological health. Land use is crucial to achieve a net zero carbon future as the land represents a significant sink in which to store carbon. Many Shropshire farmers are pioneering new methods of agricultural production and the industry as a whole has committed to achieve a net zero carbon future. The climate crisis will test our food supply chains and there will be a need to build local food resilience and local food networks. SCA wants to lend support, share best practice and be an advocate for positive change. To join Shropshire Climate Action's Land and Biodiversity Working Group which meets regularly please email: contact@shropshireclimateaction.org We also do this in collaborative partnerships, as active members of: The Marches Nature Partnership The Shropshire Hills National Landscape Team (the new name for this designated Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty) Partnership Board, and its Climate Group Shropshire Good Food Partnership South Shropshire Climate Action's Next Steps report identified a menu of opportunities for positive land use and a toolkit for change. Implementation of this menu rests with a range of collaborative partners and local initiatives. Land management Nature & biodiversity Food Water Gardening Nature walks

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