Retired University lecturer John Adams launches the Green Party’s challenge to Owen Paterson by planting a tree outside Hermon Chapel Arts Centre in Oswestry.

John Adams has been chosen by local members of the Green Party to stand as the General Election candidate for North Shropshire. He immediately made his own contribution to the goal of Oswestry Town Council to plant 17,000 trees by 2022, by planting a tree today (11th Nov).

John said: “While the Labour and Conservative parties have gridlocked the country in Brexit turmoil, climate change has been accelerating and threatens far more than our relationship with Europe. Fortunately the people of North Shropshire have elected five Green Town Councillors in Oswestry and, in contrast to Government inaction, they have declared a climate emergency; cut the carbon footprint of the Town Council; investigated a community energy scheme; and launched an ambitious scheme to plant a tree for every resident of Oswestry. On the other hand, Owen Paterson the current MP argued for the repeal of the Climate Change Act and has spoken of the “advantages” of a warming environment. From economic justice to animal welfare the Green Party has developed a wealth of modern innovative policies which represent a distinctive and positive alternative to the failed and frustrated policies of the major parties and, subject to the outcome of a confirmatory vote, will allow the UK to remain a confident and leading member of a reformed European Union”.

Present at the launch were several of the Green Party’s Town Councillors for Oswestry. Speaking on their behalf the current Deputy-Mayor Duncan Kerr said “John’s experience and knowledge of the agricultural sector makes him an outstanding candidate for North Shropshire and we are looking forward to explaining how Green Party policies can create a sustainable and vibrant agricultural economy in North Shropshire. The Green Party has an enviable record of achievement in North Shropshire and as a party we are now second to the Conservatives in the number of elected Town Councillors in the constituency. With your help we can carry this message from the local to the national stage. Our message is clear if you, like us, are serious about climate crisis then show that by voting Green on the 12th December”

Until recently John Adams lived near Market Drayton and was a lecturer at Harper Adams University, having previously moved to Shropshire to study at the then University College in 1987. He has studied and worked in the Agriculture sector since 1984 and has pursued a keen interest in sustainable development during that time. Over the last decade he has followed the science and politics of climate change closely in a personal capacity and welcomes the opportunity to persuade the people of North Shropshire that the time for a Green vote is now.