Council catering plan watered down, say campaigners

Campaign group Plant-Based Councils attended the Shrewsbury Town Council meeting

Campaigners have said while they are pleased a town council has passed a motion to provide plant-based food, they are disappointed it was "watered down".

The motion said Shrewsbury Town Council would serve plant-based food options at its events, and speak to residents about the environmental impact of meat and dairy products.

The original proposal called for all council events to be plant-based by default and use locally-sourced produce where possible.

Shrewsbury Town Council said it recognised that animal products could have an adverse effect on climate change but was also promoting local farmers.

"Members are also conscious of Shrewsbury’s role as the county town of Shropshire, a county with strong agricultural connections," it said.

It added that promoting local meat and dairy producers and reducing its carbon footprint from field to plate was "equally as important".

Christopher James, from campaign group Plant-Based Councils, said although he was happy with the move, he did not believe that some local politicians "understood the scale of the climate crisis".

"When given the chance to show leadership on the issue, or eat a ham sandwich once a year at council events, they chose the sandwich," he said.

He added he believed it had been "watered down" by Labour, Liberal Democrat, and Conservative councillors.

Plant-Based Councils calls on UK councils to promote plant-based eating to their residents, and use 100% plant-based internal catering.

The town council declared a climate emergency in March 2019, and aims to become carbon neutral by 2023.

"Eating animal products, especially beef, has a higher carbon footprint than a plant-based diet and impacts directly on nature through deforestation," said Green councillor Chris Lemon, who put forward the original motion.

"Either councillors don’t understand the science, or they don’t have the courage to act on it."

He pointed to North Herefordshire's Green MP, Ellie Chowns, who had worked with farmers in her constituency.

"Shrewsbury Town Council missed a real opportunity here to lead the way on this," he said.