Clun Climate & Environment Group

Clun Climate and Environment Group

Report to parish meeting May 2025

Clun Town Council with Chapel Lawn made a declaration of Climate Emergency at their Council meeting in June 2019 and subsequently proposed the establishment of an advisory and support group on environmental issues relevant to the council, responding to Council requests for advice or research and holding the Council to its commitment to the Emergency. The Clun Climate and Environment Group had its inaugural meeting in August 2019. 

The CCEG has been meeting monthly, now by Zoom, since then. All are welcome to attend. We have an action plan, approved by Clun Town Council and have initiated volunteer activities from the plan. Some are practical eg verges restoration, litter picking on local roads, Himalayan Balsam eradication along the river, and provision of advice on energy efficiency. Other activities involve collection of information and provision of reports for instance an energy audit of public buildings and regular comments on planning applications and other matters of local concern such as the state of the River Clun and Shropshire’s Nature Recovery Plan.

In the past year we have also provided a draft Biodiversity Policy and Action Plan for Council in line with the statutory duty. We reviewed the Buildings Audit and established that 6 of the 10 public buildings audited have either achieved significant improvements to energy efficiency or have concrete plans or often grants to do so. We have provided support to the school’s working group for their Decarbonisation Plan.

Dissemination of information is a crucial part of the role. We achieve this in part through local press and social media and the Town Council website. An effective intervention is our participation in local events for instance Clun Show. We network with other local organisations in Clunbury and Bishop’s Castle as well as Shropshire Climate Action and more widely.

We ran a successful day event “Clun in the Future” in September 2021. We are following this with “Clun in the Future 2” on Sunday 28th September 10.30 – 4pm at Clun Memorial Hall. This event is driven by the Biodiversity Action Plan and will focus on helping individuals make a difference. There will be plenty of activities for all. Put the date in your diary!

Robert Humphreys (Chair), Chrissie Verduyn (Secretary)

May 2025

Contact details are on the website: Clun Climate and Environment Group