Climate & Nature Action

Rodington Parish Council is supported in its aims for a greener Rodington parish by the Rodington Parish Climate & Nature Steering Group which was formed in 2022 by the parish council.

In the spring 2022 edition of Village Voice, we put out a call to all residents in the parish to give us your ideas for how we can make Rodington, Longdon upon Tern and the spaces in between and around them better for the environment and the species and people that use them. This followed the parish council’s declaration of a climate and nature emergency in December 2021 as we acknowledged the emergencies facing the world related to these issues. We were delighted with the range of ideas you provided us with.

These covered a full spectrum of environmental concerns, and a working group of parish residents have grouped them in this vision under 4 themes: Wildlife & Habitats, Energy & Carbon, Waste & Recycling and finally Access & Travel. Whether it’s creating habitat for much-loved species such as hedgehogs, promoting renewable energy, increasing recycling or encouraging active travel, everything represented in this vision comes from you, our community,and it is therefore truly your plan.

Below you can find the terms of reference for our Steering Group and the publication of "A greener Rodington parish" which sets out our vision in Rodington parish.

The Publication Version of Telford and Wrekin Local Plan was discussed at the
last meeting of the Rodington Parish Council Climate and Nature Steering Group.

(https://apps.telford.gov.uk/localplan/A-publication_version_telford_and_wrekin_local_plan.pdf)

The Group was set up in 2022 following Rodington Parish Council’s declaration of a climate and nature emergency. The Group has been looking at what we can do locally to address the emergency.
The group was disappointed that the Plan does not include measures that would specifically address some of our concerns:

Land Use and Farming
Although most of the population in Telford and Wrekin live in urban settlements almost half of the land area overseen by the council is in a rural area and the plan completely ignores this. In the document there is only one mention of farming (p177) and that is in relation to mineral development.
There are no plans to implement infill or new planting of hedgerows in the district. The mention of hedgerows is solely in relation to new developments and removal and reinstatement of hedgerows following building work. The plan has various policies to improve  biodiversity, but this is just in relation to new development there are no policies aimed at improving biodiversity in the
countryside. There is a planning requirement that developments improve biodiversity using approved Biodiversity Net Gain tools. The requirement is for a 10% net gain, but this is a very simple measure and my understanding is that by just having a patch of grass and border around a new development, this would be achieved.
The plan has an aspiration to achieve a Biodiversity Net Gain of 20% in developments. The group has discussed this with a person closely involved in using Biodiversity Net Gain tools and a 20% increase would be a significant improvement in either on-site or off-site wildlife, nature and biodiversity but there are no time scales to achieve this. Surely Telford and Wrekin should set a date for implementation of this and be proud to take the lead in improving biodiversity and mitigating the effects of new development on wildlife and habitats.
Intensive, industrial farming has a deleterious effect on wildlife and habitats, biodiversity and river quality. There is no policy in the plan with regards to applications for industrial farming developments e.g. intensive chicken production facilities. The end result is that these damaging farming developments go ahead with no thought of monitoring their impact. Does Telford and Wrekin have a plan to develop a local farming development plan?
The group is particularly concerned with the sudden removal of the Sustainable Funding Initiative. This was a subsidy of farming using ‘public funds’ paid to farmers for ‘public good’. Farmers need financial and legislative stability to deliver on ‘public good’. There is nothing in the plan about helping ecologically based farming. Has Telford and Council considered lobbying central government
about this?
There is nothing in the plan about improving river quality. There are some policies to ensure that developments do not have a significant adverse impact on water quality, but nothing about monitoring or improving the quality of existing rivers and water courses. From discussions with a person who is knowledgeable, we understand that the quality of water courses is randomly assessed, data is available but that it is difficult to find and interpret. There is nothing in the plan about making monitoring water course quality systematic, improving the public availability of this data, making it easier to access the data and more transparent.
Housing
The group is pleased that the mass housing development in Rodington is not going ahead but we are concerned at the slow progress and lack of ambition the Council has in reducing the carbon foot print of new homes. In the plan, Nuplaces Woodland Walk site in Muxton is showcased where 18 of its 66 homes are built to Future Homes Standard (p99). This new Building Regulations standard comes into force this year and requires new homes to deliver a 75-80% reduction in carbon emissions. There is nothing in the plan about retrofitting existing homes to increase their energy efficiency and reduce their carbon footprint. In the plan you require homes to achieve a minimum Energy Performance Certificate rating of B – why are you not setting the minimum rating of A? This is surely a clear
sign of lack of ambition to tackle improving the energy efficiency of new homes?
Travel
The plan widely mentions active travel plans and investing in services to help people move away from car use. As in much of the plan it is seen through the lens of new housing developments. There is nothing about reviewing current provision. In Rodington, there is an hourly bus between 8am and 7pm that goes to and from Newport. In Rodington the bus is frequently empty, is too large to negotiate narrow country lanes causing danger to pedestrians, cyclists, horse riders, cars and other large vehicles and does not go where people might want to go. I cannot see anything in the plan about extending cycle routes. Surely reviewing existing travel arrangements should have been in the plan?