00:00So I'm here outside Shropshire Council HQ as the new administration prepares to
00:08be signed in. I'm here with Jamie Russell from Extinction Rebellion and there's a
00:13few campaigners and activists behind us. Jamie do you want to tell me why you guys
00:18have come out here this morning? Yeah sure so it's a coalition of groups that's here this morning as members of Extinction Rebellion, there's people from Upswich Creek which is all about river pollution, members from Shropshire Stand Up to Racism,
00:29so we will come out today basically because this is quite a big day in terms of what
00:33we've been promised. We've got a new council with a Little Democrat administration in charge and they've promised us that this is going to be changed so we're really here just to talk about the change that we really want to see in the next four years. We've had many years of conservative rule and there was really delay and denial and division and we're really hoping now that we can have a very different administration with a different set of priorities very much about community cohesion
00:59inclusion and inclusion, very much about climate and nature action on the climate nature emergency and really just delivering all those things that ordinary people across Shropshire are worried about and what to see happen.
01:10Okay and what kind of reaction have you had from new councillors on their way in?
01:14Yeah well I've had some really good conversation with councillors, I think everyone feels a little bit, all those councillors going in today feel a little bit excited, you know some of them have never been in the same before, some of them are returning. The political landscape is really different, they're going to be deciding in council today I think what committees people will be sitting on,
01:28and kind of sort of what that's about and there's a real opportunity here to change in Shropshire. So things that you know things that we've been talking about for a long time like investing the pension, the £2 billion Shropshire pension fund which is currently invested in arms companies that are facilitating the genocide out in Gaza, investing in fossil fuel companies that are making climate and nature emergency worse. So you know things like that there's a really big opportunity for change. Things like devastating the north west of Leif Road,
01:57which as we all know there's no money for, so we're really hopeful that Dems will talk to the government and get a deal to cancel that, wipe out the debt and invest in the people that you really need in Shropshire.
02:07You know better public transport, cycle lanes, more active travel, all of these things that actually make the town a more pleasant place to live, reduce congestion so that people who need to drive can drive without being constantly stuck in traffic and help those in the Boris communities.
02:21Because lots of people in Shrewsbury don't have a car, so they really need investment in public services like public transport and that really benefits all of us across the county.
