Exeter has received a number of accolades in recent years for its environmental credentials, including being crowned the “greenest” city centre in Britain in 2022. On Tuesday 8 April I hosted a roundtable event with local organisations working to protect and country climate change, along with Nature Minister Mary Creagh MP.
The discussion, which took place in Belmont Park on 8th April, included representatives from Exeter University, Newtown Community Garden, Friends of the River Exe, FLOW River Orchard, Exeter Cycling Campaign and Exeter Science Centre.
Also present were representatives of the academic and research community – of the top 21 climate scientists in the world, 5 of those are in the UK and all of those are based in Exeter. Climate change and biodiversity loss are two of the biggest strategic challenges that the UK – and the world – faces. Exeter is a centre for climate science and for climate action at a community level.
We were joined by MP for Coventry East, and Labour’s Nature Minister, Mary Creagh MP, to find out about the work grassroots organisations are doing to protect Exeter’s natural environment and the groundbreaking science being spearheaded by academics in the city.
At the end of February, the Government announced the first licensed wild release of beavers in England, having been hunted to extinction in the 16th century. Devon Wildlife Trust played a crucial evidence-gathering role through the River Otter Beaver Trial and Exeter University helped to develop the cutting-edge tools that are making it possible to understand the impact beavers have on humans and their environment.
During the event, this announcement was discussed alongside ideas for future plant and animal species reintroductions, and several of the groups explained how they are reestablishing important and often rare plants to green spaces in the city, which in turn bring insect and bird life as well as, in some cases, providing sustainable food sources for local communities.
The group also heard about the establishment of the Centre for Resilience in Environment, Water and Waste at the University and the Citizen Phage Library which, working with local schools, has found and named huge numbers of bacteriophages that are new to science and could potentially lead to lifesaving treatments – including the ExeQuayColi which acts against E. coli.
Dr Natalie Whitehead and Dr Alice Mills of Exeter Science Centre said: “We really enjoyed taking part in this roundtable with Steve, Mary and representatives from some of our fellow community organisations. It was a wide-ranging discussion, from waste to bee-friendly community gardens and the need to recognise the value of nature – with a nerdy diversion about phages (the viruses of bacteria that starred in our citizen science project with the amazing Citizen Phage Library at the University of Exeter)!
“We were glad for the opportunity to share some of our projects, and our vision to create a network of hands-on science centres across the region. We’re passionate about connecting people meaningfully with the science of global issues, and believe we urgently need to work together more – across communities, research, industry and government – to tackle them. This event really highlighted the value and potential of government engaging directly with grassroots organisations: to bring in those voices, learn from their on-the-ground experience, and better support their crucial work.”
Mary Creagh MP said: “It was fantastic to visit Exeter where I saw the flood defences that will be upgraded with more than £2million of investment from the Labour government. I met people from Exeter working on everything from rewilding small green spaces in the city to world-leading climate science. I also heard about how Exeter’s Labour council is maximising renewable energy, retrofitting 800 council houses with solar panels and providing access to emissions calculators, funding and grants for local businesses. Keir Starmer’s Plan for Change is re-establishing the UK as an international leader on environmental issues and improving access to nature for all”
Investing in a sustainable future
While the previous government wanted to play politics with the environment, I’m pleased that this Labour Government is quietly getting on with the job of investing in technologies that will help us to grow the economy, creating new jobs in a sustainable way that will help to slow climate change and mitigate its effects.
We’ve also begun work to reverse the damage of biodiversity loss, including through the creation of the first of three new national forests in 30 years – the Western Forest, here in the South West, which will be created by planting 20m new trees.
In addition, we have introduced a new GCSE in natural history, we’re delivering the Deposit Return Scheme that the previous Government promised and stalled, we have lifted the ban on on-shore wind and we’re investing significantly in offshore wind, and introduced the Water (Special Measures) Bill to force water companies to clean up our rivers and seas. Exeter recently received £3m so that our hospital can invest in new solar panels to generate clean electricity and bring down energy costs.
