Ramsgate Arts Primary pupils urge MP to take climate change and pollution action

RAPS pupils with the letter

Environmentally aware children at Ramsgate Arts Primary have asked their MP to help improve the planet.

In a written plea to Craig Mackinlay, pupils have urged him to act on climate change and pollution.

The letters formed part of the school’s eco-awareness summit that ran in tandem with the COP26 environmental planning meeting of world leaders in Scotland earlier this month.

The MP replied on House of Commons headed notepaper. He told the children: “Like you, I do all I can to look after our environment. We all want cleaner air, cleaner streets and cleaner seas and rivers – and we can play our part in protecting our environment by walking more often and cutting down on waste.”

He also referred to the problems of litter that ‘blights our towns and roadsides and spoils our enjoyment of both the seaside and countryside’.

Mr Mackinlay praised the young writers for taking time to alert him of their keenness to protect the planet, and he added: “We live in a beautiful part of the world here in Ramsgate and we must do all we can to keep our local area tidy.”

Head of School Nick Budge said the children were delighted to get an official reply from the MP.

He said: “Our girls and boys know the importance of looking after their environment and playing a part in the wider community effort.

“They have learnt that by taking a pro-active stance and contacting their MP their actions are being noticed and listened to in Government. We also teach our children about the importance of democracy and this shows them democracy in action.”

The school also wrote to world leaders with an impassioned plea outline their concerns and inform them of their ongoing projects to help make a difference to climate change and safeguard the future.

As part of a range of activities, Ramsgate Arts Primary also appointed a team of Eco Guardians to help spearhead awareness about sustainability, recycling, litter clearing, protecting wildlife and much more.

Mr Budge added: “At RAPS we will continue to flag up our message that caring for the environment never stops.”

2 Comments

  1. This is the Craig Mackinlay who is a climate inactivist, who believes we should not be trying to achieve net zero, who supports a polluting airport destroying our “beautiful part of the world” rather than pushing for clean green jobs and investment? I’m afraid Mackinlay and his band of dinosaur followers are part of the problem, not part of the solution.

  2. MacKinlay is such a hypocrite. He says ‘we all want cleaner air’ and yet he and Roger Gale both support a filthy, highly polluting air cargo hub in Manston, Ramsgate. We can’t have clean air with planes flying a few hundred feet above our homes. The vulnerable including the children from this school are most at risk from health issues caused by pollution. It is time people woke up to the fact that Manston will cause damage to people’s health and wellbeing, not to mention risking jobs in hospitality and the service industry, and for what? A handful of jobs. Who will want to visit Ramsgate anyway with old freight planes roaring above, especially given the fact we are in a climate emergency and people are rightly concerned about the environment. MacKinlay is laughing in the face of these children, COP26 and his own leader, who wants the UK to be carbon neutral by 2050. Manston would contribute 2% of the UK’s emissions. Many reports including the latest commsissioned by the Secretary of State for Transport have said Manston is not viable and should not go ahead. The children and all residents of Ramsgate and Thanet deserve better from our MP, including the right to clean air!

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