A six-week consultation runs from Tuesday 9 April to Monday 20 May 2024.

Shropshire Council is proposing to introduce an annual subscription fee of £52 – the equivalent of £1 a week – to collect garden waste from properties in the Shropshire Council area.

The consultation asks people if they would be willing to pay more than £52 a year if the additional money was used to keep all five HRCs open, and for views on whether the opening times of some recycling centres could be reduced.

The consultation also asks for people’s thoughts about a new permit/booking system for people visiting a recycling centre, to help ensure that they are only used by people from Shropshire.

The proposals are being made as Shropshire Council must make £62m of savings in 2024/25 to keep a balanced budget.

Charging for garden waste collections, and closing two of the council’s five Household Recycling Centres, are among proposals approved by councillors as part of Shropshire Council’s budget cuts for 2024/25.

While garden waste collections in Shropshire are currently free, 80% of English councils already charge for this service, and many have been doing so for several years. The average annual fee across the country is £55 a year.

Ian Nellins, Shropshire Council’s Cabinet member with responsibility for waste management, said: “All householders in the area use our waste services and I want to encourage as many people as possible to take part in this consultation.

“Like councils all over the country, Shropshire Council is facing unprecedented financial pressure, mainly due to growing demand for social care and rising costs. Social care now accounts for almost £4 in every £5 of the council’s budget.

“We must make £62m of savings in 2024/25 to keep a balanced budget and our plans include many very difficult decisions, and some that we have never wanted to make. We must look at other ways of creating income so that we can protect essential frontline services for those residents most in need.

“The collection of garden waste is not a service we must provide by law, but is one that we – and we’re sure most residents – would prefer to continue. It’s one that most other council already charge their residents for.

“By charging for garden waste collections, we could continue to provide this service and used the income raised to help support other key services.

“We’re also facing some difficult decisions about the future of our five Household Recycling Centres, and ask that people tell us their thoughts as part of this consultation and how we can reduce the costs of running these.”

To take part in the consultation and find out more go to www.shropshire.gov.uk/gardenwastebudget2024.

The survey will also be available at Oswestry Library.

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Babbinswood Farm is a small mixed organic farm which has been in the same family since the 1890s and it was converted to organic in 2000. With the help of lots of volunteers, the farm has thrived along with its cows, sheep and pigs, producing organic meat, organic raw milk and yogurt and selling organic fruit and vegetables in the farm shop.

The farm is home to a holistic veterinary practice and other businesses have found a home there including Blossom and Bee Kitchen’s wonderful cakes.

Charlotte Hollins is helping Babbinswood Farm – in 2006 she and her brother faced a similar situation saving their father’s organic farm. Fordhall Farm is now a Community Land Initiative with 8000 landlords – all of whom bought shares in the farm – and saved it from becoming a housing estate.

Like Fordhall Farm, Babbinswood practises regenerative agriculture cultivating healthy soil, producing healthy animals and vegetables, feeding healthy people – and supporting a healthy planet.

Since Charlotte’s father, Arthur, started organic farming in the 1950’s, food production has changed along with buying habits. People rarely buy vegetables unpackaged from local shops and farms – farms have become isolated and many young people buying food in supermarkets have no idea where their food comes from or how it is produced.

In an effort to reconnect people to the landscape and to farming, Babbinswood Farm offers group visits with tours of the farm; they host courses in holistic land management, and permaculture, and their volunteers all learn how to grow food organically.

All the cattle and sheep are pasture fed and calves are left with their mothers so cows are only milked once a day. Part of the land is woodland and wetland which could become a nature reserve and there are already walking paths across the farm.

The farm was valued last year at £2.6 million. The outstanding debt is currently £1.42 million, the bank agreed a three month bridging loan to give the family time to find ways to pay off the loan – but this ends in January, 2024 so the family called a meeting on 3rd December to ask for help. A JustGiving page has raised nearly £30,000, the meeting attracted over 30 people – one of whom donated one of the bridging loan interest payments – and a steering group is being organised.

If you have any ideas, would like to help, or buy a share in the farm, you can find out more at www.babbinswoodfarm.co.uk where there’s also a link to their online shop of organic produce and vegetable boxes.

Thanks to Barbara Rainford for this article.

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The ribbon on the new section was cut from a steam tug carrying VIP passengers including Helen Morgan MP and Shropshire Council leader Lezley Picton. A specially written song about Crickheath Wharf was sung by the Shropshire Boatmen as the ribbon was cut.

The Montgomery Canal closed in the 1930s following a serious breach near Frankton Locks in Shropshire. At a time of dwindling freight traffic, rather than repairing the canal it was officially closed in 1944.

Following decades of decline, the restoration of the canal started with the ‘Big Dig’ in Welshpool in 1969. Since this date, volunteer organisations have been working to reopen the entire 35 miles of canal from the Llangollen Canal via Llanymynech and Welshpool to Newtown.

The work to date has ensured that all 35 miles of towpath are accessible and 60% of the canal has now reopened for boating with 13 miles of canal in the Welshpool area and eight miles in Shropshire now navigable.

Over the last eight years 169 volunteers spent many hundreds of hours restoring the canal and have spent over 300 days relining the canal to make it watertight.

A new three-hectare wildlife habitat has also been created within Aston Locks nature reserve to provide a secure environment for aquatic plants, such as the rare Floating Water Plantain. The nature reserve will also provide homes to a range of wildlife including damselflies, dragonflies, otters, and water voles.

Richard Parry, chief executive at Canal & River Trust, said: “What these volunteers have achieved, with support from Canal & River Trust, is inspiring. They have worked tirelessly to restore this section of the Montgomery Canal from a derelict channel to a wonderful canal that boaters, walkers, and cyclists can now use and enjoy. I would also like to thank National Lottery players for supporting this wonderful project.

David Carter, chair of Shropshire Union Canal Society, said: “Our volunteers have worked tirelessly for eight years on a very complicated piece of construction work of a type not normally done by volunteers. They have overcome several major challenges including very bad ground conditions, a high water table, the need to relocate the resident Great Crested Newts, and covid lockdowns. That they managed to complete the work to deadline, on budget and safely is to their great credit.”

John Dodwell, chair of the Montgomery Canal Partnership, said: “It’s marvellous to see put into place another part of the jigsaw to restore the 200 years plus old Montgomery Canal. It’s special built and natural heritage offers so much to local people and more widely; both donations and volunteers come from many parts of the country. The restored canal is also a boost to the regional tourist industry as visitors come to the area to spend their money.”

John took the opportunity of the reopening to launch a new fundraising campaign to restore the Montgomery Canal past Crickheath towards Pant.

It was the custom when the canals were first dug in the 1800’s to reward the navvies with a barrel of beer. This tradition was observed when over 70 volunteers and supporters enjoyed a barrel of Navigation Ale sponsored by Monty’s Brewery from Montgomery.

Thanks to SUCS Publicity for the photos.

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It offers a new, nationwide model for developing community-owned rooftop solar projects designed to overcome the issues some localised community energy groups have been facing since the government removed the Feed-In Tariff subsidy in 2019.

To achieve the first phase of its target – 100 MW by 2030 – it has recently launched its first share offer to the public. This aims to raise £1.2 million to build three solar installations in the Midlands and continue to develop a pipeline of rooftop arrays.

Jon Hallé, co-founder, Big Solar Co-op, said: “Our starting point is, how do we get solar on more large rooftops in the UK? There are hundreds of thousands of potentially suitable buildings which still do not have solar PV. We calculate that these could contribute at least 5 GW of solar capacity.

“We’ve come up with an offer which is much more appealing to big energy users than commercial rent-a-roof schemes. Our terms are more flexible and as a carbon-first organisation we are not taking big profits out so the savings to host sites are significant.”

The Big Solar Co-op centralises processes and resources such as feasibility studies, solar array designs and legal agreements. This allows volunteers in Shropshire and Telford & Wrekin to focus on finding suitable rooftop sites and make solar projects actually happen.

It also offers more flexible terms to organisations wanting to install solar on their rooftops, and as a community energy organisation motivated by reducing carbon emissions rather than purely profit, its projects are likely to be more appealing to potential host businesses, such as leisure centres, colleges and manufacturing companies.

The first three rooftop installations will be 300 kWp on a food-processing plant in Tenbury Wells; 120 kWp on a farm machinery manufacturer in Ludlow; and 30 kWp on a doctors’ surgery in Birmingham, to include electric vehicle charging powered by the solar array.

A substantial pipeline of other large rooftop sites across Shropshire and Telford & Wrekin and nationally is also under development.

The share offer aims to pay investors a target annual return of 4%, with the first interest payment payable in autumn 2024. The minimum investment is £100 and the maximum is £100,000. Share interest will be tax free for some shareholders under the Personal Savings Allowance scheme and shares can be passed on free of Inheritance Tax.

Kevin Oubridge, Big Solar Co-op local coordinator for Shropshire and Telford & Wrekin, said: “With so many challenges facing organisations across Shropshire and Telford & Wrekin, getting us to do the hard yards of planning, installing and maintaining rooftop solar makes total sense. It’s free, will save them money and reduce their emissions! It’s also a great opportunity for the people of Shropshire and Telford & Wrekin to invest in making a real difference to climate change.

“Our aim is to get 100 MW on rooftops nationally by 2030, which is equivalent to the electricity usage from 30,000 homes, and we’re making a start by targeting businesses and other organisations in Shropshire and Telford & Wrekin. We already have a number of potential projects underway. I am immensely grateful to our supporters who have already invested and hope many more will come on board. It really is an exciting opportunity.”

The share offer opened to pre-registered investors on 24 June and has already attracted over £480,000 in investment. It will close in three months or as soon as the full target is reached.

The Big Solar Co-op is completely owned by members of the public, who either volunteer their time, invest, or both. Investor members will control 25% of votes in the Big Solar Co-op, with the remaining 75% controlled by volunteer worker members.

The Big Solar Co-op is looking for volunteers to get solar on big rooftops locally, so if you know anywhere suitable, get in touch with them directly.

If you want to find out more about volunteering for the Big Solar Co-op email Kevin Oubridge, Shropshire and Telford & Wrekin Big Solar Co-op Local Coordinator, at kevin@sharenergy.coop.

Said Kevin: “We hope to be bringing volunteers on as members in the autumn. All volunteers will be members and co-owners of Big Solar Coop for as long as they continue to volunteer. The legal structure of Big Solar Co-op is specifically set up for this.”

To find out more and download a Share Offer Document please visit https://bigsolar.coop/invest

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