EVERYTHING stops for tea and for Bracknell MP Dr Phillip Lee, that couldn’t be more true.
Late last month, he visited Beaton’s Tearooms in Crowthorne to find out how the village is starting to reduce its use of plastics.
He met with local parish councillor James Kay and members of the Crowthorne Reduce Our Waste group, who have campaigned for the last 18 months to reduce the amount of single-use plastics that are used on the High Street.
And the group, founded by Georgie Morris last year, already have plenty to crow about. They were recently awarded the prestigious Plastic Free Community Status by the ocean environmental group Surfers Against Sewage.
The group said that they are now looking at where further reductions in waste can be achieved and whether they can extend their winning formula to surrounding communities.
Dr Lee found the visit inspiring.
He said: “I think everybody realises they consume a lot of plastic packaging, but where CROW have been so successful is in finding ways that it can be reduced without affecting the products or the shoppers. They still have so many ideas and I look forward to being able to help them as they take the next steps.”
And the support from Dr Lee, whose constituency includes parts of Wokingham borough, was welcomed by Ms Morris.
She said: ‘’It was good to speak to Dr Phillip Lee about our work. We believe that everyone can make a difference in the face of climate change and the excesses of waste that our culture encourages. However, there are changes that need to come from legislation and real action from the top.
“We were encouraged that Phillip Lee is supportive of this and hope to see some further changes from our government soon.’’
