Leaders in Shropshire Hills climate plan pledge to preserve 'precious landscapes'

The Shropshire Hills Area of Natural Beauty (AONB) Committee is to meet today for a number of presentation and discussion sessions.

The meeting at Norbury Village Hall in Norbury, near Bishop's Castle, will include a talk on the National Association for AONBs collaborative work, latest from Shropshire Council on the climate emergency, and a talk from South Shropshire Climate Action.

There will also be break-out workshop sessions on land, agriculture and nature-based solutions, planning (including renewable energy), tourism and transport.

Councillor Ian Nellins, Shropshire Council's portfolio holder for climate change, will be attending the meeting, giving updates on renewable energy, EV charging, land management and trees.

It is hoped a Telford & Wrekin Council representative will also be there, after the authority was recently ranked in the top 3 per cent of 409 UK councils tackling climate change.

South Shropshire Climate Action have recently appointed Nick Read and Fiona Morgan to a joint project co-ordinator role, funded by an anonymous donor, and the group says they will be "significantly ramping up" their activity.

The Shropshire committee's chairman, Alex Carson-Taylor, said: "Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONBs) are designated for the precious landscapes they enfold. As such they must make an important contribution to face climate change and its consequences.

"AONB teams and partnerships must now more than ever confirm their leading role and ambition in addressing this challenge.

"Climate change mitigation and adaptation will in part be delivered by AONB teams, but they are small and cannot do everything. AONB partnerships bring many stakeholders together and this capacity must be harnessed. These stakeholders also extend their reach and activities beyond AONB partnerships, thus multiplying this capacity and placing AONBs as catalysts and trusted partners.

"In parallel, AONB teams and partnerships must continue to support land managers and communities within AONBs to take their own action.

"Rising to this challenge means working collaboratively across the national family of AONB teams, their partners, and their communities, using the AONB designation to influence relevant stakeholders.

"This ambition will only be achieved if AONBs are supported both in terms of funding and policy changes to the levels recommended by the Landscapes Review.

"AONBs teams and partnerships are ready to act but it is also a call for more support to help them achieve their ambition."