Lib Dems celebrate Sheffield's Fairtrade status

12.00.00am UTC (GMT +0000) Wed 21st Sep 2005

Sheffield has achieved Fairtrade Status

Liberal Democrats in Sheffield are celebrating that Sheffield has gained 'Fairtrade City' status as a result of their proposal which received cross-party support at the Council in July of last year. Lib Dems are hailing the success as an example of how they are working for Sheffield when not in control of the Council.

The Liberal Democrats original motion, which was proposed at a full meeting of Council on July 28th 2004, directed that the Council facilitate the achievement of Fairtrade City status for Sheffield. The Lib Dem initiative was accepted by the controlling Labour group and voted through.

To gain Fairtrade City status the Council has had to work towards five goals, the first of which is local authority support which was achieved by the Liberal democrat motion. The other objectives were for the Council to offer fairtrade products, fairtrade products to be used by a number of local workplaces, to attract media coverage for fairtrade and to setup a fairtrade steering group.

Cllr Paul Scriven, Leader of the Liberal Democrats, said: -

"I would like to congratulate all the staff involved who made this possible. This is excellent news for Sheffield, its important that we all do our bit to promote fairtrade and help make a difference to global poverty. Sheffield is a leading European City, and as such we should be leading the way and setting examples on global issues such as this"

"The achievement is a testament to the way in which the Lib Dem group continue to work for Sheffield whilst not being in control of the Council. We were extremely pleased when our motion was passed through the Council, and its great to see that one year on a Liberal Democrat objective has been achieved"