Dear Councillor,

Nottingham residents call for local action ahead of World Ocean Day

We are increasingly concerned at the state of our ocean and local waterways. Our local waterways are polluted, which affects our ocean. In turn, our ocean is overfished, polluted and experiencing unprecedented heatwaves due to climate change.

The ocean is essential to our health and wellbeing, it produces over half of the air we breathe, the food on our plates and plays a vital role in regulating our climate. These problems can feel overwhelming and insurmountable, but we believe there is action that can be taken to help.

The burden of taking care of our ocean is often left to communities at the coast; but they are at the end of line, receiving litter and pollution from inland communities like ours. The River Trent is the third-longest river in England and we are the largest city that it passes through. Actions we take here can have a significant effect. We can help the ocean by becoming better custodians of the River Trent and its tributaries, stopping pollution and litter at source.

The health of our local rivers and waterways has recently become an election issue, and that is unlikely to change until something is done to improve them for people and nature. We call on the Council to recognise that they have a vital role to play in recovering the health of our local waterways and in turn our ocean through increasing awareness of how local actions affecting our waterways can impact both marine life and human wellbeing. We can affect this here in Nottingham - and the East Midlands more broadly - by acting as responsible custodians of the rivers and streams that run through our city. To deliver this, we call on you to table a Motion for the Ocean – penned by ocean experts and already delivering results for people and nature elsewhere in the UK.

Fourteen (14) Councils have so far passed a Motion for the Ocean, but none so far inland as Nottingham City. To be the very first Council in the Midlands to declare a Motion for the Ocean would be a strong statement of Nottingham City Council’s environment leadership, and in line with their existing commitments to mitigate the Climate and Ecological Emergencies.

We, the residents of Nottingham, call on you to table the attached Motion for the Ocean at the next Full Council meeting.