FOLLOWING six months of protests and desperate calls to act now Redditch Council is finally acting to address the crucial issue of climate crisis.

The council's executive committee has ramped up its action plan to address climate change by appointing a climate change panel, which will oversee and critique the council's policies and work to address climate change.

The decision was made at recent meeting.

Councillor Mike Rouse said at the meeting: "We see activists with placards outside our town hall but there are none in here tonight, they have not engaged with us very well so far.

"However, this climate change committee will have wide-ranging powers to access all aspects of council business."

The climate change committee will be chaired by Councillor Brandon Clayton and will be cross-party.

Council Leader Matt Dormer said: "One of our first acts, when we came into office, was to ban the use of single-use plastic and we have continued in this vein to re-enforce our commitment to making addressing climate change central to our policy-making decisions.

"The formation of this committee demonstrates our commitment to this crucial issue of our times."

For the last six months there have been young people holding a monthly strike outside Redditch Town Hall, as well as many other locations around the UK, and the world.

This month the call is going out, across the world, for everyone to get involved.

Local campaigner Claire Davies said: "There has been a lot of talk about the climate crisis, but still, very little action. We have been told that to have any real success in tackling this, the political wheels have to be in motion by the end of 2020.

"Time is running out."