Oswestry Town Council Backs New Climate Bill
Oswestry Town Council has become the latest Shropshire authority to join the growing list of councils supporting the Climate & Ecology Bill in Parliament.
A motion to support the cross-party Bill was passed unanimously at Oswestry Town Council on Wednesday night.
Councillor Mike Isherwood who proposed the motion says: "The recent IPCC warning that we are almost out of time to achieve the 1.5 degree target shows that we must do more to reduce CO2 emissions immediately – leaving it any longer is not an option if we want to avoid a climate catastrophe.
"Shropshire is a rural county in the most nature-depleted country in Europe. It is therefore essential that the loss of biodiversity is not just halted but reversed if we want our county – our home – to be healthy and support our way of life into the future".
The Climate & Ecology Bill has been written by scientists, experts and campaigners and was first introduced into Parliament in September 2020. It will create a new UK law to address the full extent of the climate and nature crisis in line with the most up-to-date science. The Bill will ensure the UK does its bit to help keep global heating down to 1.5C, while also committing to reversing the destruction of nature by 2030.
The Climate & Ecology Bill now has the backing of over 150 Parliamentarians from all the major political parties, as well as 219 councils across the UK.
In Shropshire, multiple unitary, town, and parish councils have signed up to support it: Shropshire Council; Bishop’s Castle, Ludlow, Oswestry, and Whitchurch town councils; and Ryton & Grindle and Weston Under Redcastle parish councils.
Several more councils are expected to table motions imminently, with Shrewsbury Town Council debating it this coming Monday.
Jamie Russell from Zero Hour Shropshire says: "Earlier this week UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres warned that the planet is ‘nearing the point of no return’. We are seeing a huge groundswell of support for the Climate & Ecology Bill across Shropshire right now because people know we're in the fight of our lives.
"To date the only Shropshire MP supporting the Bill is Helen Morgan for North Shropshire. We hope that other MPs in the county will listen to their constituents and back the Bill as it continues its progress through Parliament. It's our last, best hope of stopping climate and ecological breakdown."
