Extinction Rebellion Shrewsbury holds ‘Funeral for the Future’ protest

Around 60 people watched as pallbearers dressed in black carried a child-sized coffin to the The Guildhall building to highlight the administration’s decision to kill off its landmark climate emergency declaration in May 2019, which led to it pledging to be net zero by 2030.

In a piece of street theatre, two people representing councillors tore up the council’s climate emergency plan and tossed shreds into the open coffin. Then to the sound of a solemn drumbeat, people silently placed children’s clothes and toys into the coffin. The crowd marked the moment with a minute of silence.

Hannah Peters, an artist from Oswestry who joined the protest, says:

‘Shropshire Council is failing us. It’s no good saying “What about China?” when our own county council can’t even make relatively small emissions cuts to ensure we are tackling this crisis in line with the science. By greenlighting the North West Relief Road and abandoning the promise made to residents back in 2019, Shropshire Tories are proving they do not care about us, our children, or their future. They should simply rip up their climate emergency declaration and tell residents they’ve given up.’

The protest comes after the council has failed to make significant progress to achieve its net zero pledge. In fact, the council has been going in reverse.

Last July the council admitted that its emissions were actually growing by 6% a year. Meanwhile the council’s £2b pension pot remains invested in damaging fossil fuel companies like BP and Shell who are abandoning any pretense at climate action.

However the council’s decision to build the controversial, climate-wrecking North West Relief Road in Shrewsbury has forced the administration to confess that it now won’t be able to meet its net zero 2030 pledge until at least 2050, which is two decades later than promised.

Chrissy Bridge, a retired science teacher from Shrewsbury, says:

‘This morning I joined together with at least 60 other local people to tell the Council how betrayed we feel that they have torn up their climate pledges and kicked them down the road for another 20 years. And they are doing this at a time when the consequences of climate breakdown are becoming more obvious – my neighbours in Shrewsbury have had the worst flooding in 40 years and elsewhere in Shropshire, repeated floods have devastated people's homes, businesses and farms. How can we trust the council to act in our best interests?'