Today, Dr Ellie Chowns, the new Green Party MEP for the West Midlands, met Staffordshire County Council Leader Philip Atkins and Chief Executive John Henderson. Ellie is spending the month of August travelling around the region meeting residents and local organisations, and has requested meetings with all the main local authorities to discuss the key issue of how to tackle the climate crisis.

Ellie said, “People from all parties are waking up to the urgency of the climate crisis. The science is clear – we need to shift to zero carbon as soon as possible, and that requires urgent cross-party action at all levels of government – local, national and international.”

“We have a real opportunity to transform our quality of life by investing in clean energy and new technologies, creating great public transport systems, and ensuring every home is warm and well-insulated, with more affordable energy bills. A ‘Green New Deal’ would create tens of thousands of well-paid, secure and sustainable jobs, upgrade our crumbling infrastructure, and make our economy more resilient in the face of increasingly frequent, damaging climate events, protecting people’s homes and livelihoods.”

“While I’m pleased that Staffordshire County Council has joined over 200 other local authorities in declaring a climate emergency, Cllr Atkins and his Conservative colleagues must now deliver on the commitments they have signed up for. Today, I asked Cllr Atkins for details of the Council’s plans for transitioning to zero carbon and underlined that warm words need to be translated into concrete action.”

“I also congratulate Staffordshire’s Green Party local authority Councillors in Cannock, South Staffs and Stafford on their continued good work in pushing to secure climate crisis motions locally.”